Article contents
Cityward Migration in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of Recife, Brazil
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Extract
From early colonial times to the end of the nineteenth century, urban life in Brazil centered in half a dozen coastal enclaves, each containing an area of export-oriented agriculture, focused on a single dominant port city. Three such capitals topped the urban hierarchy—Salvador (Bahia), Rio de Janeiro, and Recife (Pernambuco; see Figure 1). All arose on an economic base of sugar plantations, producing for an international market; Rio added gold exports in the eighteenth century and coffee in the nineteenth. Until just before independence, the Portuguese colonial capital at Salvador held first rank in size, political importance, and commercial wealth. Rio de Janeiro, seat of the central government after 1763, became the national metropolis under the Empire (1822-1889) and the Old Republic (1889-1930); its hegemony was challenged only in the twentieth century by the rise of industrial São Paulo (Conniff et al., 1971; Cowell, 1973).
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , February 1975 , pp. 43 - 63
- Copyright
- Copyright © University of Miami 1975
References
- 14
- Cited by