The American Wonderland: the Brazilian lands according to the emigrant guides

• Grant number: 15/22922-2
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal researcher: Paulo Cesar Goncalves
• Grantee: Victor Gustavo de Souza
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During the nineteenth century, Brazil has witnessed great changes in social and economic sectors, we can highlight factors such as the prohibition of the slave trade in 1850; the abolition of slavery in 1888; coffee became the main product of the trade balance; and the huge influx of immigrants who stepped into our borders.In this transformation scenario we find the guides for emigrants: apparatuses of the Brazilian immigration policy which had the objective to present the features and benefits of certain locations to attract foreign.This project aims to work with two copies: O guia do emigrante para o Império do Brazil, produced by Sociedade Central de Imigração, in Rio de Janeiro in 1884; and A Província de S. Paulo no Brazil. Emigrante, lede este folheto antes de partir; released by Sociedade Promotora de Imigração, in 1886, in São Paulo.After an initial reading of the documents, the methodology proposes a thorough analysis of its guidelines; listing the similarities and differences of each guide; to investigate those responsible for publications; and understand the speech used by each of the search for aliens.The choice of these two guides is justified, in particular by the different immigration policy that the province of São Paulo developed during the nineteenth century, when compared to the rest of the country. These documents are sources that allow us to study the immigration propaganda in the national and provincial level, each with its own characteristics, but always seeking to meet the core objectives of those who were behind the publications.The propaganda used in this period in several regions of Brazil reveals that the country was looking for different ways to suit the end of slavery and address the lack of labor, either by colonial nuclei (a change goals with the long-term) or by workers to the estates paulistas- the immediate solution that farmers longed.