The Unmappable Sertão.

This article traces the intellectual history of the sertão as a concept that not only signifies distinct geographical and topographical traits but also Portugal's projection of cultural Otherness. Though the sertão remains inextricably bound to Brazilian culture, this article seeks to demonstrate the Portuguese roots of the sertão, especially as manifest in Portuguese cartography from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The cartographic history of the sertão deepens our understanding of Portugal's cartographic imagination, colonial expansion, exploration of Brazil's vast interior, and encounters with indigenous peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]