Melhoramentos portuários em disputa: a cidade da Paraíba entre dois portos (1864-1908)

Resumo

Brazil began, in the second half of the 19th century, an infrastructure developing policy, by supporting the creation of railways and the improvement of ports. The province, later state, of Paraíba took advantage of those moment to modernize the port plant, but the local government and the engineers got involved in an intense debate about its better location: the urban area or Cabedelo, distant 17km away. Initially, the works focused on Cabedelo, however as services advanced, and the river was modifying into a navigable channel, discourses favorable to the port of the capital were gaining importance, having as an argumentative point aspects related to the physical-geographic environment. Thus, this article aims to understand the intervention process and the intention of the discourses about the spatial positioning of the port of the city of Paraíba between 1864 and 1908. I will analyze the technical, administrative and ministerial reports, as well as pertinent bibliography based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Envirotech. The debates and actions of the actors involved focused on issues related to the environment, using it as an important element to conduct their decisions and guide the proposals for intervention in a given space.