Historia Naturalis Brasiliae

Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (English: Brazilian Natural History), originally written in Latin, is the first scientific work on the natural history of Brazil, written by Dutch naturalist Willem Piso and containing research done by the German scientist Georg Marcgraf, published in 1648. The work includes observations made by the German naturalist H. Gralitzio, in addition to humanist Johannes de Laet. It was dedicated to Johan Maurits, Count of Nassau, who was the patron of the project during the period of Dutch rule in Brazil.

The research of the work focuses on the coast of the Northeast, during its occupation by the Dutch West India Company. Marcgraf and Piso had started their field research of the area in 1637. The work covers tropical diseases and indigenous therapies, but Piso depicts the indigenous peoples of Brazil as barbarians who lack scientific education. Piso and his contemporaries thought that the indigenous peoples would be unable to contribute to any studies on medicine and botany.

The book had wide circulation in Northern Europe, and was admired for the illustrations accompanying the text. The work remained unsurpassed until the 19th century. In Denmark, Ole Worm followed the book's organizational structure when documenting the natural history of Denmark. He reused some of the book's illustrations n his own work, Museum Wormianum. Carl Linnaeus and Albert Aublet also reused the work of Macgrave in several of their texts and images.