De Ribeira Grande à Cidade Velha: abordagem histórico-geográfica na compreensão da formação e função do espaço urbano no período do século XV ao século XVIII

Abstract

The Portuguese Crown, over the course of a few centuries, established an expansionist regime of its power, colonizing territories and feeding a slave trade as exploitative labor force. In this context, in 1460, the islands of the southern region of Cape Verde Archipelago were discovered, including the island of Santiago, where, in 1462, the attempt at settlement would begin, more specifically in the captaincy of Ribeira Grande, today Cidade Velha. In this context, Ribeira Grande became the first European city in the tropics, and it is also the object of study in this research. The objective, therefore, was to understand which agents and processes were decisive in the organization of the urban space of the City of Ribeira Grande and in the direction of its functions, between the XV and XVIII centuries, and how those contributed to the decline of this colonial city.Understanding the relationships inherent to this historical period is important because it was a time in which numerous territories were formed, including Brazil. This country, in turn, established strong connections with Ribeira Grande through the slave trade. The research was based on diachronic analysis and referred to bibliographic, documentary, geocartographic and iconographic study for its completion. The historical-geographical analyzes of the space revealed that, throughout the time frame considered, the City of Ribeira Grande went through 4 (four) moments of change that directly impacted the conformation of its urban area, as well as the function of its space as a Capital City of an archipelago. The first moment corresponded to the third quarter of the XV century (1462), until the following three decades, when the settlement formed by the incipient, typically commercial agglomeration near the port area began. The Church, the Portuguese Crown and economic aspects were the main agents producing space during this period. The second moment, in the middle of the XVI century, was the phase in which the expansion of the settlement and commercial and residential buildings occurred, in addition to the emergence of 2 (two) new residential areas, the City Council and a defensive system,still in its initial phase. The third moment comprises the period that goes from the second half of the XVI century to the middle of the XVII century and consisted of the city’s greatest investment and growth. Here, large religious facilities were built and, alongside them, other urban facilities. And, finally, the fourth moment, from the second half of the XVII century to the XVIII century, was the period in which Ribeira Grande suffered more attacks from corsairs and pirates, resulting in greater investment in the construction of fortresses. The city also went through socioeconomic crises, arising from changes in overseas commercial relations, which culminated in its decline and the rise of Vila de Praia to the status of Capital City.