História agrária do Espírito Santo no século XIX: a região de São Mateus / Agricultural history of Espírito Santo in the nineteenth century: São Mateus

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The nineteenth century agricultural history of São Mateus - located in the north of Espírito Santo State, in Brazil - is the main theme of the present study. A prior thesis is considered that São Mateus played a major role in the formation of the agricultural structure in Espírito Santo during that period, when it showed important specificity in the whole context of the regional agricultural activities. São Mateus specialized the production of manioc flour for exportation, which caused to develop an expressive movement of its fluvial port. Firstly, an attempt to situate São Mateus in a broader context of the agricultural history in the Espírito Santo state has been done, with the general features of the historical process within the three major productive centers of the province - Itapemirim in the south, Vitória, in the middle, and São Mateus in the north - in order to characterize the agricultural structures in the region in the nineteenth century, showing the regional specificities with a highlight on São Mateus. To better explain the object of this study, and to approach intricate topics during the development of that context, an analysis of the aspects of infrastructural conditions in the province has been carried out, mainly the terrestrial, fluvial, and sea ways, that were used for the transportation and commerce of the crops produced in the province. The fiscal activities has also been treated as a specific analysis, in which characteristics have been highlighted on the Espírito Santos tributary structure, the financial situation of the province, as well as its strict dependence of the conjuncture seen in the agricultural production, once the highest tributary rates laid on the agriculture. Under this perspective, a focus is given on the strong influence of the coffee production expansion over the rise of the provincial income from the mid nineteenth century, when a progressive increase of the demand and the resources referring to a necessary infra-structure improvement for the enlargement of the agricultural activities in the province was a must. The study of São Mateusland occupation was strengthened by providing a profile of the regional agricultural structure, for which Parochial Land Records (originated from the Brazilian Law of Lands of 1850), also Land Processes that ran in the subsequent decades, and the official records produced inside the province government, mainly the President of the Provinces Reports have been used. A fair amount of the regional fiscal documentation has yielded a deeper analysis of the movement of the exportations in the São Mateusport complex, formed by the local fluvial port, which was linked to the Barra de São Mateus Village seaport, whose great mercantile activity was related to the manioc flour exportations, and later also to coffee exportations. A constatation has been accomplished that, in spite of the rapid changes in the productive nucleuses in the central and southern regions of the province, where the rhythm of the expansion of the coffee economy had been more dynamic, the region of São Mateus at the north kept the traditional production of manioc flour and its derivates as its main economical activity during the period under study, besides being inserted, even slowly, in the Espírito Santos coffee production boards at the time.

ASSUNTO(S)

agricultural structures 19th century são mateus -espírito santo - brazil século xix são mateus (es) estruturas agrárias

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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