Trabalho, seca e capital: da construção da Ferrovia Paulo Afonso à Fábrica de Linhas da Pedra (1878-1914)

Abstract

The period between 1878 and 1914 was the moment that took place in Alagoas hinterland of the most effective actions to integrate the region to the world market. The first initiative in this direction was the construction of the Paulo Afonso railway, between the municipalities of Piranhas and Jatoba AL-PE. Begun in 1878 and completed five years later, the work included the use of the workforce of thousands of refugees refugees of the great drought of 1877, who worked for the daily ration. Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the region has experienced considerable population growth, there was also a significant economic expansion, especially the cultivation of cotton and livestock. We believe that this structural situation, combined with the economic benefits guaranteed by the oligarchy Malta have solid the main reasons to change the capitalist Delmiro Gouveia of Recife for the Alagoas hinterland. Delmiro ascended economically and socially with the fur trade, buying them in the interior for export, mainly to Europe and the United States. However, when switching to the village Stone was declared bankrupt. In the backwoods of Alagoas Delmiro recompose its capital, and invests in the construction of a hydroelectric plant and a textile industry, the first opened in 1912 and the second in 1914. At around the factory stands an industrial core to house the workers, most of these It consisted of drought refugees emigrants 1915. The core of the stone was presented as an example "model" society, where everything and everyone were on commodity production, including women and children.