Translation as Import Substitution: The Portuguese Version of Véron de Forbonnais's Elémens du commerce

This paper studies the context and textual structure of the Portuguese translation of Forbonnais's Elémens du commerce (1754). This analysis is instrumental to understanding the place of this translation in the Portuguese discourse on trade, colonies and political economy in the age of Pombal. The translation of Forbonnais was one of the few to be published in Portugal in the eighteenth century. So, why the Elémens? This paper answers this question by profiling the translator, a key figure in the nomenklatura created by Pombal to promote his commercial and colonial policies. This translation aimed at providing a theoretical background for Pombal's actions to defend Portuguese specialised agriculture against thexploitation of British traders, to substitute imported manufactures with local production, and to put colonial trade under national control. The paper also studies the contemporary debate on translation and its method in order to understand the reasons that led the translator to adopt a ‘paraphrastic style’, a choice that equated translation with a nationalistic politico-economic act, consisting in importing alien contents as ‘raw materials’ and ‘reselling’ them rephrased in what was considered the most ancient and perfect neo-Latin language. In this way, this paper also contributes to the history of translation in the Lusophone area.