A dynasty of the national capital: the enrichment of Lacerda Franco family and the diversification in Sao Paulo coffee econoy

Author(s)

Gustavo Pereira da Silva

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Economia
• Defense date: 2011-07-12

Examining board members

Ligia Maria Osorio Silva; Maria Alice Rosa Ribeiro; Pedro Geraldo Tosi; Flavio Azevedo Marques de Saes; Renato Leite Marcondes

• Advisor: Ligia Maria Osorio Silva

Abstract

The present work elucidates the formation of wealth in the Paulista economy during the nineteenth century through the business of one of its most important families, the Lacerda Franco. To this end, we begin with the reconstruction of socio-economic origin of family in the early nineteenth century, in the paulista villages Jundiaí and Atibaia growing food, producing spirits and raising livestock - activities aimed at the domestic market. The capital earned will then be transformed into sugar cane and coffee, joining the great circuits of accumulation of the imperial economy between 1830-1850. In the second half of the nineteenth century, we see the redistribution of patrimony between the family members of the Lacerda Franco and the formation of companies which were mainly family members. These companies - agricultural societies, commissioners and export firm, industry and bank - formed in most, regardless of third party capital. They were strengthened in the coffee exporter complex of São Paulo, and even dominate some sectors such as coffee exports through the Port of Santos in 1885-1886. The strength and diversification of investments of the family Lacerda Franco show the strength of the native capital in the nineteenth century, the figure of the representatives of big coffee capital, individuals who, despite their capital origins in the field are embroiled in enterprises related to the more diffuse production and trade in the nineteenth century, allowing the formation of a diversified and portentous wealth, as the analysis of various documents from the farm Montevideo (Araras-SP) and the farm Paraizo (São Carlos-SP) allow us to grasp (AU)