O antigo Porto de Fortaleza: melhoramento e trabalho dos catraieiros e operários da Ceará Harbour Corporation (1875-1900)

Abstract

From the first half of the 19th century, Fortaleza began a process of economic, political and administrative hegemony in Ceará territory. This process was consolidated in the second half of the 19th century, when the city became the province's main exporting center, largely due to the expansion of cotton exports. At the time, the port was in precarious conditions of use, incompatible with the infrastructure network of global capitalism. Aiming to solve the problem, the Imperial Government authorized a concession to the Ceará Harbor Corporation to carry out works in the old port of Fortaleza with the intention of providing greater fluidity in the loading and unloading of people and goods. The research encompasses the physical transformations that occurred in the old port and its relationship with the city, as a stage in the Fortaleza modernization project, for which the construction of foundations for the implementation of capitalism would be essential. The feasibility of this modernizing project was conditioned on the work experience of the workers directly involved in the process of building the port infrastructure and the men in charge of loading and unloading people and goods at the port. These experiences characterize a work routine marked by poor working conditions, low pay and dissatisfaction. In the research, we understand workers as an element to be considered in the assembly of capitalism's infrastructure, in which the port would be a key piece, capable of promoting the fluidity of capital in the province