The chimera of modernization: from the third district of central mills to the agroindustrial sugar-ethanol complex in São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. 1875-1926

Author(s)

Roberta Barros Meira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2013-02-21

Examining board members

Carlos de Almeida Prado Bacellar; Renato Perim Colistete; Vera Lucia Amaral Ferlini; Carlos Gabriel Guimarães; Pedro Ramos

• Advisor: Carlos de Almeida Prado Bacellar

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the growth of sugar production in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The first part of it deals with the utilization the ideas of the associativism in the area and the construction of central sugar mills. The objective of the second part is to call the attention to the transformation of such central sugar mills into modern mills and the enlargement of the importance of sugar in the secondary area of sugar production. In the last part of this thesis, some characteristics have been analyzed for the introduction of technical improvements in the cultivation of sugar cane. Attempts towards the contribution for a better comprehension of several factors, such as the importance of the internal market growth, the participation of the State in the modernization process of the sugar industry in this area and the interrelation between coffee and sugar are present throughout the whole study, as well as the role performed by other sugarcane sub products, such as alcohol and sugar cane spirits (aguardente). As no isolated context would support the present work, although the limitation of its regional outlines is clear the influence of the worldwide sugar production reality has been explored as well as the one existing in another smaller field, although essential, the North. The beginning of this work has dealt with a less fragmented vision of the sugar-ethanol industry in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo through a set of primary sources obtained by official sources, technical reports and a documentation produced by the sugar producers themselves. (AU)