The article analyzes the reports generated by physicians participating in the Comissão de Linhas Telegráficas Estratégicas de Mato Grosso ao Amazonas (CLTEMTA), or Rondon Commission, that labored in these states between 1907 and 1915. The commission had as its objective the construction of telegraph lines to the borders of Brazil with Bolivia and Peru. The construction activity was also accompanied by scientific studies for the 'productive occupation' of the region and by the writing of medical assessments of the region. These assessments of the so called 'northwest hinterlands' (sertões) highlighted the region's unhealthy climate and the debilitating impact of malaria. The purpose is to analyze the impact of this disease in the works of the CLTEMTA. Our hypothesis is that one of its main effects was the elaboration of medical studies more and more detailed about the possible causes of diseases in that region.
Rondon Commission; Telegraph; Sertão; Diseases; Territory; Medical reports