O Sertão de Amaro Leite no século XIX

Abstract

This research aims at analyzing the trajectory of Sertão de Amaro Leite based on different discourses built throughout the XIX Century: scientific (Pohl and Castelnau), military (Cunha Mattos) and administrative (reports from the presidents of the provinces), which will increase the knowledge about an understudied region. In the XIX Century, Sertão de Amaro Leite corresponded to a large area located in the center portion of the Captaincy/Province of Goiás. The research was supported by the historiography of Goiás, searching for a meaning for the actions carried out in the region. The results I have achieved allow me to realize that Sertão do Amaro Leite constitutes a dynamic region and is integrated to the events of the Province, the Empire and the world, instead of the propagated isolation which might have prevailed throughout the XIX Century. Its importance during part of the XIX Century transcends its own limits, reason why its conquest was effectively sought throughout the decades for successive governors. Conquering the Sertão meant necessarily dominating indigenous people who lived in the region, reason that guided all the following actions, including the Military Colonization, politics of territorial occupation which promoted frontier defense and control of vast regions by confronting internal and external enemies. This politics was enabled in the Province of Goiás by the implementation of Military Prisons. I have concluded that during all the XIX Century, the Sertão de Amaro Leite, as the majority of the Province before the mining decline, relied on cattle raising. Due to this redirection and its strategic position, the Sertão suffered numerous interventions oriented by the imperial government which resulted in the gradual growth of its non-indigenous population as the indigenous population decreased dramatically, as part of a national integration strategy.