Translated newspapers as political tools in the Portugal of the Seven Years’ War

Resumo

The aim of this article is to shine a light on three translated newspapers published in Portugal during the Seven Years’ War to understand how they, similarly to ‘non-translated’ newspapers, were used as political tools. The publications in question are Observador Hollandez (1757–1758), Mercurios Historicos de Portugal (1759), and Gazeta Extraordinaria de Londres (1762a), all of which addressed the ongoing European conflict. The decision to invest in the publication of these works can be understood in the context of Pombal’s reforms, which aimed to present Portugal as a politically and economically stronger nation. As we will observe, however, the events of the Seven Years’ War led to a readjustment in policy, and what previously seemed to be a desire to display economic independence, especially from England, turned into needing this country’s help to stop the Spanish invasion, as more or less immediately illustrated by the evolution of the publication and the differences in the content of the aforementioned newspapers.