Rota menor: o movimento da economia mercantil de subsistência no centro-sul do Brasil, 1808-1831

Résumé

Contrasting with the assumption of traditional historiography, the subsistence economy of Minas Gerais — particularly in the South — presented mercantile features apparent in the regional traffic of primary staple commodities and mainly in the supplying of the Rio de Janeiro market. After 1808, with the establishment of the Portuguese Court in Rio de Janeiro, the local market began to increase its own consumption capacity, draining the surplus from the producing areas. New roads linked the Southern Region of Minas with the town of Rio de Janeiro, thus providing an outlet for surplus production. The increasing merchandise flow led to the formation of an economy based on coffee production in the Paraíba Valley region. Moreover, the movement of “tropeiros” (cattledealers) and tradesmen contributed directly to the establishment of the coffee economy in this area. Landowners and “tropeiros” settled in the region and invested in coffee production. Together with tradesmen and court bureaucrats, who also became  investors, they comprised the emerging class of coffee-owners.