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Coffee economy: railroads, export and the internal market in São Paulo (1888-1917)

Notwithstanding the decisive weight of values generated by coffee for the financial statements of the São Paulo's railroads between 1888 and 1917, and to the importance of the coffee in this economy, we argues in this article about the relative specialization in agriculturist production verified in São Paulo's lands and the question of the freights of the railroads in this conditions. Our idea is that coffee activity, in its development, demanded the diversification of agricultural cultures, therefore the basic units of production - the coffee farms - were not characterized solely by the cultivation of coffee, being that the nexuses between a production come back to the exportation and another come back to the internal market were given in the relations of work established between employers and employees, and in the forms by which the farmers expropriated its subordinate. The simultaneous increase of the amounts of coffee is verified in the studied case and of foods carried and done business for the Cia. Mogiana in landmarks of the period proposal; however, narrow dependence in relation to the values generated for the coffee transport is perceived. It is pointed, still, the absolute specialization to the level of the credit and the circulation (transports) that characterized this economic complex.

Coffee economy; Railroads; CMEF; Food production; São Paulo


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