The road to the interior: the importance of supply for the expansion of the economies of Pará and São Paulo in the First Republic

Abstract

The implementation of the Republic in Brazil in 1891, after more than 60 years of imperial rule, brought new possibilities to different states, especially those with significant production of items destined for the foreign market, such as Pará, with rubber, and São Paulo, with coffee. This is because, from that moment on, the federated units began to have the exclusive right to collect export taxes. However, at the same time, a dilemma arose: how to continue a process of expansion in specialized economies with a growing population that demanded an ever-increasing volume of food? With this in mind, this article seeks to explore this issue, observing how the people of Pará and São Paulo dealt with this problem and how it was linked to the need and rise in the Brazilian domestic market.