Vaga Lume was founded in 2001, resulting from a curiosity about Brazil.  It was initiated from a pilot project on municipalities on the State of Pará, completing its first step in 2002, with a high approval rating.

Differently from exploratory or scientific expeditions, the initial purpose was to set a knowledge exchange between Vaga Lume’s team and the rural population of the Legal Amazon: the team sought to learn about the life of Amazon inhabitants and leave them a contribution.

This contribution would come in the form of a small library set, consisting on a bookshelf filled with literature books together with a formation of Reading Mediators.

The concept of knowledge, historically associated with “enlightenment” was the driving force of this project, which by analogy received the name of Vaga Lume (correspondent to word “firefly” in Portuguese).
Focusing on the “Brazilianness”  and in the curiosity for this continental country and its people, Vaga Lume has choses the Legal Amazon region, comprised of the Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins States and part of the Maranhão State to be its area of operation.

The legal Amazon is a region which corresponds to approximately 60% de Brazilian territory and its area goes far beyond the Amazon Rainforest limits, covering a wide range of coastal vegetation, campos vegetation and cerrado vegetation. The Amazon is famous by its vast territory and its natural resources, such as: biodiversity, ore, wood and water, amongst others. The cultural wealth of the inhabitants of the region, often disregarded, was the main object of curiosity of the project. A cultural and educational expedition to teach and learn from the Amazon population – that’s how the Vaga Lume Expedition Project came to life.