Frontier expansion was interpreted in the last chapter as a process of integration into the national economy. This integration was seen to proceed through interrelated changes in both production and market relations: the integration which occurs through the progressive change to commercial production in response to the national market is simultaneously a transition from non-capitalist to capitalist production. This interpretation illuminates the process itself, but does not yet pose the question of the relationship between frontier and national economy; in effect, it suggests what occurs in frontier expansion but not why it occurs. Nevertheless, in proceeding to answer this latter question, it is apparent that the prior investigation of the process has revealed the principal dimensions of the determining structure – at least in the economic realm. Thus the question of the relationship between frontier and national economy is made two-fold: on the one hand, what are the production and property relations which determine frontier expansion and accumulation; on the other, what are the market relations which determine the transfer of value from frontier to national economy? In no sense are either or both sets of relations, which in the reality are not easily separated, to be taken as uniquely ‘determining’: their separate investigation here is simply intended as one step in the presentation of the political economy of the frontier.

This step aims to establish the structural conditions of frontier expansion, and so rejects any idea of ‘natural or ideal determination’ of the process.

The pioneer frontier: specificity and generality

The aim of this book is to reach an understanding of the pioneer frontier in Brazil. The object of study is conceived as the particular process of frontier expansion occurring in the country over the last half century. This concept of frontier in no way corresponds to the so-called cyclical character of economic growth and occupation of land in Brazil. There is, therefore, no intention here of following precedent (Normano 1935; Castro 1969) and presenting the entire economic history of the country in terms of its ‘frontier’ experiences. These growth cycles have been observed to follow the economic booms in different products for export to the world market – such as sugar, gold, coffee and rubber – and have depended on new demands arising within that expanding market over the centuries (Prado 1962a; Furtado 1963). The pioneer frontier, on the contrary, has expanded in response to the demands of the national market and in function of economic accumulation within the national economy since 1930.

It is to be expected that as the concept of frontier gains currency it will lose content. There is already an account which assimilates most of Latin American history to the idea of ‘frontier’ (Hennessey 1978). So it must be clear at the outset that the pioneer frontier is a process of occupation of new lands which is historically specific.

Traditionally in Brazil land is titled long before it is occupied. Unexplored regions in the interior are likely to have complex legal histories and many areas within these regions will be titled more than once. For a long time settlement of the continent was confined to the coast and the colonisers seemed to baulk at the prospect of conquering the vast and unknown interior. During the colonial administration the territory was conceded in law even before its extent could be judged with any measure of accuracy. This initial legal division of the land (into sesmarias) spawned a series of minor concessions. Since that time, for different economic and political motives in different periods, titles have proliferated and as occupation proper has continued to meet with delays and difficulties up till today, few constraints have acted to stem the issue of titles. This titling has created the conditions for conflict over the right to land in nearly all frontier regions.

It is interesting to observe that of the folk figures of the Brazilians the bandeirante looms largest in their history because these explorers broke the cultural and geographical boundaries and carried their forays deep into the heartland. But the bandeirantes did not occupy the land but merely claimed it for the crown; or for the nation. The actual occupation of the land had to wait for the unsung hero of Brazilian history, the posseiro, who was to claim the land by cultivating it.