the mat Project

Introduction

The WebGis “Mapping and Translating Spaces, Cultures and Languages” is developed within the PRIN2022 Project  “Mapping and Translating Spaces, Cultures and Languages.Experiences from the Missions Connected to the Portuguese Empire (1540–1700) – MAT – Ref.: 20222SY2k7 – CUP: B53D23001120006. 

MaT integrates historical methods with approaches drawn from early modern history, linguistics, translation studies, geography and historical cartography, area studies—particularly Sinology and African linguistics—and digital data management. The project develops an innovative interdisciplinary framework for analysing processes of cultural (mis)communication and (mis)translation among communities involved in missions connected to the Portuguese Empire and operating under Royal Patronage between 1540 and 1700.

As Burke and Hsia observe, “All major cultural exchanges in history involved translation” (2007: 7). Among these exchanges, those that took place within the hemisphere assigned to the Portuguese Empire by the Treaties of Tordesillas (1494) and Zaragoza (1529), and structured through the system of Royal Patronage, remain relatively understudied and undervalued. These encounters involved Amerindian, African, and Asian cultures and languages, and relied primarily on Portuguese and Latin—as well as, in certain contexts, Italian—as mediating languages.

We chose to analyze the full spectrum of missions connected to the Portuguese Empire because it spans contexts with long-established written traditions and strong institutional political settings  (e.g. India, China, and Japan), as well as regions where writing systems were weakly codified, unevenly institutionalised, or absent and  (e.g. Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Southeast Asia), either with  or without consolidated political and institutional settings (Sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian kingdoms, for the first scenario, Brasil for the latter).

Across these diverse settings, several recurring structural features emerged: linguistic knowledge was closely linked to projects of domination; power relations were consistently asymmetrical (though not always in favour of European actors); missionaries relied heavily on local intermediaries; and multilingualism functioned as a practical precondition for translation.

Objectives 

MAT pursues three integrated objectives.

First, it compiles a comprehensive analytical catalogue of previously overlooked and geographically dispersed metalinguistic and multilingual sources—such as reports, letters, Christian doctrines, maps, word lists, lexicons, and grammars—that document linguistic practices and/or provide bilingual or trilingual evidence. These materials, largely produced in missionary contexts, are predominantly preserved in Italian and Portuguese religious and state archives and libraries.

Second, the project investigates the emergence of early modern multilingual communities shaped by contact between European and non-European languages and cultures previously unknown in Europe.

Third, within this broader “horizontal” survey, MAT conducts an in-depth “vertical” comparative analysis through two case studies: Sub-Saharan Africa and China. These coeval yet structurally distinct contexts offer paradigmatic examples of diverse dynamics of cultural-linguistic encounter and translation practices in missionary and colonial settings.

By combining extensive documentary mapping with detailed comparative case studies, MAT enables a systematic examination of processes related to the learning, imposition, negotiation, erosion, or rejection of languages and cultures within missionary and colonial contexts. Bringing together historians, linguists, specialists in Chinese and Sub-Saharan African languages, and experts in digital data management, the project documents one of the largest corpora of early modern translation practices and offers new perspectives on the historical significance of linguistic interaction, contributing to contemporary reflections on our multicultural and multilingual “troubled present.”

A defining feature of MAT has been the fully integrated and synergistic collaboration between its two Research Units. All activities were jointly planned, implemented, and evaluated in continuous critical dialogue. The research outcomes are not the mere sum of disciplinary contributions, but the result of their sustained integration, aimed from the outset at bridging traditionally separate research domains.

The two Research Units jointly decided to allocate a significant portion of the funding to the recruitment and training of early-career scholars. The project involved four contracted research fellows (assegnisti di ricerca), two research collaborators, and three master-level trainees from the Universities of Perugia, Florence, and Rome.

Major Outputs

Members of the two operational units of the MAT project have already published one scholarly monograph, six peer-reviewed journal articles, and eleven peer-reviewed book chapters and essays developed within the framework of the project.

In addition to editorial outputs, MAT has developed a permanent project website hosted on the servers of Sapienza University of Rome. The website documents all principal project activities, including the Books of Abstracts of the three international congresses, video recordings of the final conference, and access to all project outputs, including several open-access publications currently in preparation.

MAT has also created a digital, interactive, open-access Web-GIS platform hosted on the servers of the CNR.The platform features an Atlas and Timeline of documented and spatialised cultural and linguistic contacts (1540–1700), including transcriptions from missionary archives currently accessible in Rome. The Web-GIS is designed to remain expandable beyond the formal conclusion of the project. At the time of writing this report, the technical infrastructure of the WebGIS has been completed and its population has begun using data previously organised in a shared database. The dataset currently being integrated includes 1392 references to linguistic encounters and communicative exchanges within missionary contexts, covering at least 40 languages. The component concerning Chinese toponyms is still undergoing technical validation.

The project organised four international conferences in Rome, jointly hosted by the CNR and Sapienza University of Rome. These events brought together 95 scholars from 37 universities, 7 research institutes, and 6 missionary archives, including leading international specialists and distinguished early-career researchers. A central objective of these conferences was formative: to gather broad and in-depth scholarly responses to MAT’s core research questions and to refine its interpretative framework through collective discussion.

Doctoral- and master-level teaching

Further outputs include doctoral- and master-level teaching activities delivered by the PI, the Co-PI, and one member the project MaT on the topics of of the PRIN 2022, including:

Angelo Cattaneo, PhD course (14 seminars) on “Mapping and Translating Spaces, Cultures and Languages (1500–1700)”, Yale University, East Asian Studies Graduate Course (EAST 514), first semester 2024–25;

Angelo Cattaneo, doctoral lecture “World Imaginaries: Colonial and Missionary Landscapes and Networks”, University of Bergamo (PhD Programme in Landscape Studies for Global and Local Challenges), 9 April 2025.

Paolo De Troia, monographic course “Mapping and Translating the Western Countries in Jesuit Geographical Texts”, MA in Chinese Philology (2023–2025), Sapienza University of Rome.

Simone Celani and Paolo De Troia, doctoral lecture La traduzione dello spazio: il trasferimento della conoscenza geografica e cartografica tra Portogallo e Cina, Sapienza University of Rome, 14 December 2023.

Simone Celani, paper “First contact: la narrazione del primo incontro nei documenti portoghesi del XV e XVI secolo), presented at the doctoral conference Contatti e conflitti: modi e forme dell’altro da sé, Sapienza University of Rome, 25–26 January 2024.

Finally, MAT will contribute to the creation of a permanent exhibition that will integrate into the “Eurotales” Museum at Sapienza University of Rome. The exhibition will host and provide public access to the project’s Web-GIS and digital portal, ensuring long-term visibility and dissemination of its research results.

Project submitted to the MUR - 30.03.2022