The railways are important markers of capitalist modernity of XIX century and product of Industrial Revolution. In countries at centre of capitalism, the emergence of railroads was linked to the process of territorial integration and expansion of industrial production.
And in the countries of periphery, the initial investment in railroads was, in major, related to interests of foreign capital in association with local producers.
Coffee harvest (Década de 1900) by UnknownCentro de Memória-Unicamp
In Brazil, besides the foreign investment, the capital paulista accumulated in coffee economy of XIX century was determinant for emergence of railroad companies genuinely brazilians.
Reprodução de Mapa: "Map Showing The Distribution Of Coffee Culture In The State Of S. Paulo (Brazil) For The Year 1901". by Guilherme GaenslyMuseu do Ipiranga
In the last decades of Empire and all time of Primeira República, the coffee was the main country’s economic activity, which production was centered in São Paulo, especially in area called Oeste Paulista.
Therefore, the belt of historical process called cycle of coffee, that the railroads are inserted in Oeste Paulista, especially in the city of Campinas.
Coffee dryers (Entre as décadas de 1900 e1920) by UnknownCentro de Memória-Unicamp
The railroads arrive in Campinas in the decade of 1870 to support the farmers with the flow of your production, as well as desire of progressive modernity that existed at time, once the railroads was a catalysts of progress and economic development.
Until this moment, however, the cargo transport it was carried out by mules and the tropeirismo was very important for economic activity, both in the sugar cycle and the development of the coffee economy.
Barão de Itapura Avenue (1900) by José de Castro MendesCentro de Memória-Unicamp
Before the arrival of the steam engine, animal traction was the only urban and freight mode. However, animal transport was not very efficient due to the production losses that occurred on the way to the port of Santos and the fact that the maintenance of this modal was expensive
Animal-drawn tram (Entre 1910 e 1911) by UnknownCentro de Memória-Unicamp
With the completion of the railway that linked the Santos harbor to the city of Jundiaí, in the end of decade of 1860, by the english company São Paulo Railway, the things looked to improve, paving the way for other railways to emerge in the interior of the São Paulo State.
Partial View - Panorama of Campinas (1890) by Frisch KowalskyCentro de Memória-Unicamp
Between the end of XIX century and beginning of XX century, Campinas started to become a progressive and modern city, despite the serious social contradictions of a city marked by slavery and the yellow fever epidemics that traumatized it at the end of the XIX century.
DIRECTION
Prof. Dr. André Luiz Paulilo
ASSOCIATED DIRECTION
Dra. Maria Silvia Duarte Hadler
COORDINATION
Ana Cláudia Cermaria
CURATION AND TEXTS
Lucas Resck Menali Costa
TRANSLATION
Vitor Hugo Finatti
REALIZATION
Centro de Memória-UNICAMP
SEPTEMBER 2023
