Os vice-reis do norte: reconversao de elites agrárias e a revolução de 1930 (1920-1964)

Abstract

This paper aims at understanding the way the concept of Brazil transformed itself, during the XXth century, from an archipelago structured about «islands» of agro-industrial plantations of coffee, sugarcane, cocoa, cotton, rubber, to a «continent» marked by rapid industrialization and urbanization. Belong these evolutive perceptions of Brazil’s space, attention must be paid to the social and intellectual trajectories of key leaders — be they from the North, during the Thirties (such as Juarez Távora and José Américo de Almeida), or the most significant figure of the national movement, Getúlio Vargas — as these trajectories highlight the evolution of the political arena and the expansion of public institutions. The trajectories of these elites unravel fairly well the diverse alternatives which have marked statebuilding and nation-building in contemporary Brazil.