Use this tool to approximate the locations of places that existed in Imperial Brazil.

In the table below, you will find districts (comarcas), cities (cidades), townships (municipios), parishes (parochias), villages (povoações), rivers (rios), and mountain range (serras).  Once you know the district in which your place is located, you can view its map and approximate location by today's (and Google's) standards. The sidebar to the left allows you to search or browse by district or street name.  We are in the process of uploading more maps (about a two-thirds of Rio de Janeiro's streets and eight sets of provincial districts are online). There are links to more district maps temporarily stored below the table. Eventually, every provincial district and most of Rio de Janeiro's streets, as they existed in the nineteenth century, will be online. 

This may take a minute to load, depending on your connection speed.


District maps from the  "Atlas do Imperio do Brasil" by Candido Mendes de Almeida in 1868.

Map of Alagoas (13.5 MB) and districts:

1. Capital (Maceió)
2. Camaragibe
3. Porto Calvo
4. Imperatriz
5. Atalaia
6. Alagôas
7. Anadia 
8. Penado
9. Mato Grande

Map of Bahia (14.4 MB) and districts:

1. Capital 
2. S. Amaro 
3. Abrantes 
4. Conde 
5. Itapicurú 
6. Inhambupe
7. Freira de S. Anna 
8. Cacoeira 
9. Nazareth 
10. Valença 
11. Camamú 
12. Ilhéos 
13. Porto Seguro 
14. Carvellas 
15. Maracás 
16. Cayteté 
17. Rio de Contas 
18. Jacobina 
19. Monte Santo 
20. Joaseiro 
21. Chique Chique 
22. Urubú 
23. Rio de S. Francisco 
24. Montes Altos
    

Map of Parahyba do Norte (14.2 MB) and districts:

1. Capital
2. Mamanguape
3. Pilar
4. Campina Grande
5. Brejo d'Arêa
6. Bananeiras
7. S. João
8. Serra do Teixeira
9. Pombal
10. Piancó
11. Souza
    

Map of Pernambuco (13.3 MB) and districts:

1. Recife
2. Olinda
3. Cabo
4. Pau do Alho
5. São Antão
6. Nazareth
7. Goyana
8. Itambé
9. Limoeiro
10. Rio Formoso
11. Palmares
12. Bonito
13. Caruarú
14. Brejo da Madre de Deos
15. Garanhuns
16. Tacaratú
17. Flores
18. Cabrobó
19. Boavista

Map of Sergipe (13.5 MB) and districts:

1. Capital (Aracajú)
2. Larangeiras
3. Itabaiana
4. Villa Nova (Part I)
5. Villa Nova (Part II)
6. Estancia
7. Lagarato
8. Maroim
9. Capella

[more provinces soon]

Credit: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.