The making of the large paulista sugar cane plantation: economic and demographic transformations in Campinas (1790-1808)

• Grant number: 18/05314-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: July 01, 2018
• End date: May 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Carlos de Almeida Prado Bacellar
• Grantee: Carlos Eduardo Nicolette
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present project aims at the structuring and expansion of the sugar industry of Campinas (São Paulo) between the years 1790 and 1808. The first goal is to identify the continuities and particular ruptures to Campinas with regard to local manufacture of sugar, tied to the internal and external market in order to understand how Campinas would find itself inserted in the broader scenario of the capitalist world-system. The second is to analyze in what rhythm happened the making of the sugar system that will emerge in the early nineteenth century as the largest in São Paulo. The third is to understand the demographic transformations of the free population of the village of Campinas after the slave revolution of the colony of Saint-Domingue, since nothing exists about it in the historiography consulted in the period in question. The fourth is to investigate, specifically, the demographic patterns of slavery in this village, in order to know the composition of the enslavement of all subjects, not only of the masters, through the variables of age, origin, marital status and sex. The main documentations used in this proposal are the nominative lists of inhabitants, that exist almost annually for the selected period and are important serial sources to understand the transformations of Campinas. The documents used in the research will be, a priori, the lists of names and from them the economic essential data. They possess information about the village population, such as the ages, place of origin and marital status of the subjects, as well as, in many cases, the profession of fire chief. In addition, there is relevant information on the agricultural production of each fire, both in its characteristic (corn, sugar, rice, etc.) and in the quantity produced. To fulfill the proposed objectives, to accompany the generation of planters along the lists is crucial for this research, since their choices and paths gave the impulse in the assembly of the sugar industry of Campinas.Although the establishment of the sugar complex was not, as a historical fact, neglected by historiography, it should be pointed out that there is no more detained treatment in relation to its demographic effects and its growth rate from the nominative lists of inhabitants - which will be explored more ahead in this project. It will be sought, therefore, to understand the formation of the sugar complex that would become the greatest economic pole of the first half of the nineteenth century in São Paulo and that would make in that province the transition from the great sugar plantation to the coffee cultivation. As main documents are used as nominative lists of inhabitants, also known as packets of population, that exist almost annually for the selected period and show sources as relevant for the transformations of Campinas. The documents that are used in the research are, a priori, as word lists and from essential computer systems. As discussed, information about the village population, such as information, place of origin and marital status of the subjects, as well as, in many cases, a profession of fire chief. Although the establishment of the sugar complex was not, as a historical fact, neglected by historiography, it should be pointed out that there was no more detained treatment in relation to its demographic effects and its rate of growth from lists of inhabitants - face to face. It will be sought, therefore, to understand a formation of the sugar complex that would become a being the largest economic pole of the first half of the nineteenth century in São Paulo and that would make in that province the transition from the great sugar plantation to the coffee plantation. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

NICOLETTE, Carlos Eduardo. In the light of white gold: sugarcane plantations in São Paulo and the construction of the sugar park in Campinas (c. 1790-1818). 2022. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.