The road to Belém / William James Ketteringham.

Tese (Ph.D.) - University of California, 1972

The development of a remote and stagnant region possessing little known potential is of great significance. This study investigates such a region in Brazil. The State of Goiás was selected during a field excursion in 1963 as a region of pioneer settlement. Extensive field work in 1965, including a month-long survey with a Brazilian expedition of the Belém-Brasília Highway expanded and focused the study to the region of the highway. Subsequent library research and field trip in 1970-1971 permitted further analysis of the area and a testing of hypotheses. The interior of Brazil has long been a remote region, lacking in potential and sparse in population. The dedication of Brasília as the new federal capital in 1960 inspired national interest in the interior and brought about the end of isolation for much of the region. Roads were built to connect Brasília with state capitals. Two paved highways facilitated movement to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The road to Belém, however, became the symbol of the transformation of the interior and emphasized the significance of roads in regional development. The highway stimulated migration. Migrant farmers cleared forested areas and cultivated them. Grasslands provided some of "the best cattle lands" in Brazil. The highway became a major transit route and truckers, faced with a long and uncomfortable ride, needed services. Hotels, bars and stores opened. Small settlements grew into towns. Nearly one-half million people settled in the region. The region through which the road passed had not been unoccupied or uncliamed. Several towns existed along the banks of the Tocantins and Araguaia Rivers, relaying on the "free transport" of the rivers and serving as trading, administrative or religious centers. The route selected for the highway by-passed these riverine settlements. The river towns remained entrenched in the political and social order which had kept the area stagnant for generations. Migrants preferred the new towns along the highway where they could participate in a social and political frontier democracy. The highway represents, therefore, an example of the importance of social mobility in the development of modern Brazil. Experiences along the Belém-Brasília Highway contrasted strongly with governmental programs in the interior. Studies of federal and state projects tended to support the conclusion that they failed to bring about either the development of an area or to provide technical data and incentive to farmers. The development of northern Goiás resulted from spontaneous, private initiative. The road to Belém brought about the movement of goods, the expansions of ranching and agriculture, and the growth of towns. Migrants from many parts of Brazil came, without government support or encouragement, to a region once remote and stagnant. They, in seeking a new potential for themselves, have helped to transform the interior of Brazil into a rapidly developing region.