O ouro branco abre caminho: o algodão e a modernização do espaço urbano da Cidade da Parahyba (1850-1924)

The present research deals with the modernization process of the Cidade da Parahyba2, between 1850 and 1924, and its relation with the cotton economy, which represented the main source of wealth accumulation for both the private and the public sectors throughout the First Republic. This study on urban history was developed by focusing on the understanding of the city s spatial formation, and despite its emphasis on the economic aspects involved, other factors that also contribute to the development of the social life were not put aside. The modernization process of the Cidade da Parahyba was also analyzed during the period established for the study according to a chronological and thematic approach that established comparisons with the financial situation of the State, whenever this was necessary, with special attention to the contribution of the cotton economy to the State´s revenues. It was possible to detect a lack of financial help and loans from the federal and municipal administrations for finishing several public works already underway in the capital, since the federal funds allocated to the State of Parahyba do Norte were rather employed in emergency works against droughts and in agricultural development. One can then conclude that the financial resources required for the urban interventions were withdrawn from the State s treasury itself, resources that were collected mainly from activities such as cotton exportation and cotton trading. Another factor shows the interdependence between the urban remodeling and the cotton economy: during the years marked by great droughts or by hard plagues on the cotton plantations, cotton production decreased, as well as the State s finances. The first measures taken by the State s administrators were to halt all projects of urban remodeling in progress in the Cidade da Parahyba, which was, clearly, the most privileged city by the State s presidents during the period analyzed. 2 The city of João Pessoa was named Cidade da Parahyba, a designation that remained until September 1930, when it received its present-day name in order to pay homage to the president of the State, João Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, murdered in the city of Recife in August of that same year. At that time, the State of Paraíba was known as Parahyba do Norte. Since this work is limited to a period of time comprised within the First Republic, the names employed respect the terms used in those days

Escravidão na Vila do Príncipe, província do Rio Grande do Norte (1850/1888)

This dissertation presents a study on the slave population of Vila do Príncipe, from 1850 to 1888, based on the judicial and notarial collection of hand written documents as well as on the Reports of Presidents of the Province of Rio Grande do Norte. The issue that drives the research relates to the reproduction of slavery in a region of cattle breeding colonization. Therefore, the research aims to understand how in a peripheral socio-economic place (in Vila do Príncipe, cattle breeding Seridó) after the prohibition of the African slave trade, the slave relationships subsisted and structured themselves. In the sense, the research analyzed the dynamics of socio-economic slave units and their relationship with space, ownership structure and the slave family.

Natal, outra cidade : o papel da Intendência Municipal no desenvolvimento de uma nova ordem urbana(1904-1929)

The present work regards, as its subject, the management of the urban space. It aims to survey the role assumed by the Conselho de Intendência Municipal de Natal (Municipal Stewardship Council of Natal) in the formation of a new urban order between the years of 1904 and 1929. For a better comprehension of the object of research, the milestone of the time span analyzed in this work was receded to the year of 1890, specifically at the first chapter of this dissertation. In this chapter, we will turn our attention towards an analysis of the referred council, on the regulation of its operation, the relations of this institution with the state government and its mechanisms of action in the city, among other topics. In the next chapter, we will delve into an elite who administrated the city of Natal during the first republic, understanding that the analysis of the formation of a modern city project by the Municipal Stewardship undergoes the comprehension of those who leaded this institution. In the third chapter, we will examine the limits of the municipal management to put into practice its projects to the upraise of a new Natal, between the years of 1904 and 1921. The last chapter, on its turn, presents a new Stewardship, reformulated after a process of administrative streamlining, and a city that transforms itself, especially during the O Grady tenure by receiving major constructions, which alter its main features. We will regard, as the main resources of this study, articles from the daily newspapers A República (The Republic) and Diário de Natal (Daily Natal), dictums, announcements, laws, state decrees and the messages disclosed by the state government. To build a way of analysis, we make use of authors such as Anthony Giddens, Peter Burke and Laurent Vidal, among many others who discuss concepts related to the proposed theme