As barreiras de Cubatão, Caraguatatuba, Ubatuba e Cunha: limites e possibilidades da documentação

Resumo

The toll-gates of the Province of São Paulo were created by the Decree of March 24, 1835. They were intended to defray the road construction and maintenance expenses which burdened the Treasury. A survey of all the toll-gates of the Province would demand a whole staff of researchers. Therefore we limited our study to four villages only — Cubatão, Caraguatatuba, Ubatuba and Cunha — and to a period of 15 years (1835-1850). Consequently this is a preliminary survey of a larger research project concerned with this kind of documentation. The examined material is kept in the Archive of the State of São Paulo in labelled tins which indicate the village and the year or years of reference with no Information on the quality of the documents therein. A preliminary classification of all the documents was made, box by box, and we may say that the most important ones are Exportation Books, Tax Registration Box, Current Account Books, Revenue and Expenditure Ledgers. This documentation contains data on the movement of 
droves and cattleherds which passed the toll-gates; on the number of freight cars, on the variety and quantity of transported goods; on the quantity and prices of products bought for the consumption of toll-gate guards; on the wages paid to free workers for such Services, and on the sums paid to proprietors who rented their slaves for the road works. This documentation offers highly significant data for the reconstruction of the economic history of the Province of São Paulo during the above mentioned period. It contradicts Caio Prado Jr.’s statement that “The sole and secure statistical source on the domestic trade would be the documents of registros, the so-called ‘dry customs’ (alfândegas secas), and tolls established at river crossings and other strategic areas. But these are certainly lost for ever”.