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The Iron and Steel Industry in Colonial and Imperial Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Edward J. Rogers
Edward J. Rogers*
Affiliation:
San Jose State College, San Jose, California
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Extract

It is a well known fact that Brazil today is the greatest producer of iron and steel in all of Latin America. It is less well known that this industry is one of the oldest in the nation. Any effort to trace the development of this iron-working industry from its earliest sources should take into consideration the contributions of the Jesuits. As early as 1554, Father José Anchieta informed his Jesuit superiors and the king of Portugal of the existence of iron ore deposits in the interior of the captaincy of São Vicente (later São Paulo). Even more important in this respect was a forge established by the Jesuit Mateus Nogueira which in 1556 was instrumental in the manufacture of fishhooks, knives, wedges, shovels and other such implements used in the support of his community. These are claimed to be the first implements made from iron in Brazil.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , October 1962 , pp. 172 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1962

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References

1 “Do Brasil Colônia ao Brasil República,” O observador, ano VIII, No. 93 (Outubro, 1943), 35.

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5 The Spanish province of Catalonia, after which the Catalan forge is named, was already famous in the sixteenth century for the quality of its steel.

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7 Due in part to its high melting point, titanium is difficult to separate economically from iron ore.

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15 Queen Maria died in 1816 and the regent became King João VI.

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23 The arroba, an old Portuguese weight used in Brazil, equaled approximately 32 pounds. The Spanish arroba used in Mexico and South America equalled about 25 pounds. See MacFarland, John S., Foreign and Domestic Weights, Measures and Money (Philadelphia, 1930), p. 17.Google Scholar

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25 Hydraulic bellows were at this time in use in Savoy, the iron-working center of the Italian peninsula since the days of the Roman Empire.

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29 A blast furnace, unlike a Catalan forge, developes the necessary heat to melt the iron ore into liquid. This, in turn, facilitates a greater, more economical production of metal products.

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32 Ibid., p. 110.

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36 “Do Brasil Colônia ao Brasil República,” op. cit., p. 41.

37 Brasil Ministério da Agricultura, Directoria de Estatística da Produção. Gonsalves, op. cit., p. 16.

38 “Do Brasil Colônia ao Brasil República,” op. cit., p. 41.

39 Ibid.

40 Eschwege returned to Europe the same year. This coincided with the return of the royal family to Portugal in April, 1821.

41 Brasil, Ministério da Agricultura, Directoria de Estatística da Produção. Gonsalves, op. cit., p. 19.

42 Ibid., p. 20.

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50 His son, Francis de Monlevade, attempted to establish an ironworks on the same site in the 1890's but the venture perished because of a lack of capital. In 1921 the newly formed Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo-Mineira purchased the old Monlevade estate and in 1936 it built an iron and steel mill which for many years was the largest such enterprise in Brazil.

51 Brasil, Ministério da Agricultura, Directoria de Estatística da Produção. Gonsalves, op. cit., p. 21.

52 “Do Brasil Colônia ao Brasil Republica,” op. cit., p. 44.

53 Ibid., p. 45.