Carste in SPIX and Martius’ travel reports to Brazil in the nineteenth century and the development of geotourism

Abstract

In the 19th century, European naturalists carried out several trips to Brazil and portrayed the karst landscape and its caves along the route. Such descriptions constitute an important historical and geographical record of these landscapes, which can be used as one of the resources to develop geotourism in these regions. This segment proposes to make more accessible to visitors the geological knowledge related to a geosite with the objective of using it as a tool for interpretation and environmental education, as well as to promote the preservation of the abiotic heritage. Thus, this research seeks to provide an overview of the descriptions by Spix and Martius that are related to karst and caves performed during their voyage through Brazil, between 1817 and 1820. In addition, one aims to reflect on the potential for geotourism in the areas mentioned by naturalists. The results pointed out that these descriptions and the visit of Spix and Martius themselves are not yet used as resources for geotourism use, but they have the potential to be used as a marketing strategy, for example to arouse the interest of visitors.