Itapura’s military colony territorial strategy: urban and architectural legacy

ABSTRACT

In the mid-nineteenth century the imperial government employed a plan of occupation of the national territory through the creation of military colonies. Thus, the foundation of these settlements throughout the empire is connected to the problems related to social control and domination, at a time when the maintenance of territorial integrity and, at the same period, a perspective of expansion of the frontiers were posed as most urgent among the tasks of political elites. Itapura and Avanhandava were the two colonies in the province of São Paulo and inherited the homonyms of their strategic implantation sites - the waterfalls of the Tietê river. This paper aims to study the military colony of Itapura in its spatial-constructive aspect. The objective is to analyze the textual and cartographic material of the colony, documentation collected in public archives, mainly plans and projects, bringing to light such primary source. Therefore, with an evident intention of urban planning, it demonstrates that was an ideal that was beyond demarcating and occupying the territory: the aim was to build a projected city, initially with military character and on the banks of the Tietê, which would be the seed of future civil nucleus. Moreover, by comparing the plans of the 19th century colony with the images of its ruins, photographed by the Geographical and Geological Committee of São Paulo in the early 20thcentury, we can verify the architectural exuberance of your buildings and the urban quality of your plan, which is considered innovative for the age.

KEYWORDS:
Military colony; Itapura; Avanhandava; Military colonization; Paulista territorial occupation