Brazil Slide Series: Collection Intro To Brazil, Slide No. 0055.

Creator

Herbert Knup
Jon M. Tolman

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Publication Date

3-2-2009

Description

Coffee plantation in southern Minas Gerais grown on terra roxa (red earth). With the decline in mining activity at the end of the Eighteenth century, discouraged settlers moved to other areas in southern Minas Gerais and in the São Paulo plateau. Previously São Paulo had been merely a transition area for people passing through to search for gold and precious stones in Minas Gerais, but by the early 19th century cattle ranching and the cultivation of sugarcane and cotton brought new prosperity to the region. The region's fertile terra (red earth; derived from the weathering of diabase or basic igneous rock) proved ideal for coffee because of its porosity and mineral content. The cultivation of coffee would transform the economy of the region and the country in following years.Plantação de café em terra roxa no sul de Minas Gerais. Com o declínio das atividades de mineração no fim do século XVIII, muitos colonos desanimados mudaram-se para outras áreas no sul de Minas Gerais e no planalto de São Paulo. Por muitos anos São Paulo serviu de área de transição das pessoas que, seguiam em busca do ouro e pedras preciosas existentes em Minas Gerais, mas no início do século XIX a criação de gado e o cultivo da cana-de-açúcar e algodão trouxeram nova prosperidade à região. Sua fértil terra roxa (resultante da decomposição do diabásio ou roxas ígneas básicas) mostrou ser ideal para o cultivo de café, por causa de sua porosidade e teor mineral. O cultivo do café transformou a economia da região e do país nos anos seguintes.

Publisher

Latin American and Iberian Institute / University of New Mexico

Rights

Brazil Slide Series Collection: This article is copyrighted by the Latin American & Iberian Institute (LAII) of the University of New Mexico. Rights permission is for standard academic, non-commercial, use of these materials. Proper citation of this material should include title, author, publisher, date, and URL. Copyright Latin American and Iberian Institute University of New Mexico 1988