A agroindústria da cana-de-açúcar na Zona da Mata Mineira

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is analyzing the development of the sugarcane agro industry in the Central sub-regions of the zona da Mata, in the state of Minas Gerais, between the years 1822 and 1907. Inherent distinctions to this kind of production are evidenced in a comparative way. From that, we can conclude there is a link in the economic transformation occurred in the sugar production, in that above mentioned region and growth of the internal market as well as the modernization of the transport sectors, state aids, tax incentives to this business. Such changes, analyzed for a long period of almost a century, allow us to point out the presence of a great number of small sugar-mill in the region, at the beginning of the XIX century and the growth of this activity over the subsequent years, besides its relation with the construction of the Companhia Engenho Central Rio Branco (Rio Branco Central Sugar-mill Company) at the end of the XIX century. Investigating the sugar history in Zona da Mata, in Minas Gerais, in a comparative perspective, allow us to understand clearly the reasons this region became one of the major sugarcane producers in the state of Minas Gerais in the first decades of the XX century.