Eixos de desenvolvimento: as cidades, os vapores e as locomotivas no Norte de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Development in the Northern region of Minas Gerais is bonded to a conjucture of macrosocial contexts that interfere directly in the history of societies. Modernity presented itself to men on the XVIII century through new production means and political thoughts extended to most diverse societies in the world. In Brazil, the desire to insert among the civilized nations unleashed amovement founded in modern byproducts of Industrial Revolution as a mean to develop the country and its society. Machines were used to connect, shorten spaces and optimize production, and with these purposes were drawn two axes of development responsible for the dynamic of cities and its populations throughout the initiative of the imperial government. This work presents itself as a study in which we search, using the historical method, to analyze with help of documental research – disposed in written, oral and image sources – how the Development Axes unified in the São Francisco River and the Railroads affected the development process in the cities of the Northern region of Minas Gerais between the years of 1920 and 1960. To further explore this purpose we defined our study object in the district of Manga – localized in the left bank of the Alto Médio São Francisco – and in parallel we worked with the cities of Januaria, Pirapora and Montes Claros through comparative analysis. The objective of this study is to understand how Manga was presented in front of the development axes aforesaid, highlighting its moment of prosperity and stagnation bonded to them, following the course if settlement and displacement of the utilized axes. To observe, through comparison with the other cities, the responses of the São Francisco axis and the Railroad on the economical and social dynamics linked to these vectors, highlighting differences and convergences relevant to the comprehension of the impact on the cities and its society. Relevance of this study is founded in the need to understand the economical and social dynamics of the region, analyzing it under the line of the sponsors of development on the first half on XX ct. and its implications in the progression of cities and the social imaginary of the population. In the end of the research we observed that in the time-related limit proposed by the two Axes of Development – the São Francisco River and the Railroad – using the steamboats and locomotives in partnership delivering development to the cities and its populations, conditioned to the relevance of its economical activities and political management. During its validity, scenes were mounted and dismounted, attending to the needs of transformation and improvement proposed by modernity. The reflex of this process to cities affected directly the position and dynamics that they presented in the region, although in the imaginary it became a living memory.