Building Background Knowledge Activity

Coffee Production (Block 1)

Source: A metrópole improvável: por que São Paulo virou a maior cidade do Brasil"
(The Unlikely Metropolis: Why São Paulo Became the biggest city in Brazil)

APA citation: Dall’Olio, C. (2019, January 25). The unlikely metropolis: why São Paulo became the largest city in
Brazil [Review of The unlikely metropolis: why São Paulo became the largest city in Brazil]. Exame.
https://exame.com/economia/a-metropole-improvavel-por-que-sao-paulo-virou-a-maior-cidade-do-brasil/

Your Guiding Question

How did coffee production help the city of São Paulo start to become the largest economic
powerhouse in Brazil?

Coffee: The Missing Product

The 19th century brought great transformations to the national economy. With the transfer of the Portuguese
Court to Rio de Janeiro in 1808 and the end of restrictions on imports, agriculture, commerce, and the country's
developing textile industry found themselves exposed to international competition. The situation worsened
with the decline of traditional crops in Brazil, especially in the Northeast.

It is in this context that the product that would appear, in the following years, was almost isolated in the Brazilian
trade balance: coffee.

Coffee entered Brazil from the North. In the city of São Paulo, the pioneer producer was the military José
Arouche de Toledo Rendon. He planted coffee on the farm he owned on the right bank of the Tietê, known as
“Casa Verde” which would give its name to the neighborhood that formed there.

The grain began to become important when, from Rio de Janeiro, it reached the Paraíba Valley and, there,
discovered soils, temperatures, altitudes, and extensions of land favorable to its massive cultivation.

From 1821 to 1830, Brazil exported 3.178 million bags. However, the city of São Paulo did not enjoy any benefits
from this first coffee expansion, as it was limited to the Paraíba Valley. The entire region, including the São
Paulo part, was taxed to Rio de Janeiro.
 👉 Where did coffee production first start in Brazil? Why didn't São Paulo benefit at all from that
production?

The coffee production in Brazil started in the north part of the country but once it arrived in São Paulo the
production started in a farm on the right bank of Tietê known as '' Casa Verde '' which was built by José
Arouche de Toledo Rendon. Soon other places started to plant coffee as they had found good soil,
temperatures, altitudes and big lands for mass production. The money was limited to the Paraíba valley, Rio
was taxed all of it, so São Paulo had no benefit. The reason for it is because the coffee grain only started to
become important once it was in the Paraíba Valley.

Around the 1860s, wild deforestation and injudicious (unwise) planting caused a decline in production in the
Paraíba Valley. At this time, there were already some plantations in Campinas and, later, in Ribeirão Preto, places
where the grain would find even better conditions and become the number 1 product on the Brazilian export
list.
From 1861 to 1870, coffee exports reached 29.103 million bags. In the 80s of this same century, the number
would be 51.631 million bags, with absolute emphasis on São Paulo production. Brazil has become the world's
largest producer. At the end of the century, the national economy became highly dependent on the
performance of coffee, with the item accounting for more than 70% of exports.

Coffee, although it was cultivated in the “West of São Paulo”, especially in the regions of Campinas and Ribeirão
Preto, produced its greatest effects in the city of São Paulo.

👉 What
Why did coffee production shift from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo?
effect did this have on Brazil's coffee production?

The soil was becoming too overused and plantations weren't going well so it had to shift to other places like
Ribeirão Preto and campinas where there would be better conditions for the grain to grow. This had a great
effect on Brazilian coffee production because the number of bags being produced was doubled and coffee
became about 70% of all exports being made, it became one of the most exported items from Brazil.
An illustrious example of how the city has become the economic and political center of coffee wealth is the
Prado family. The largest coffee producer in Brazil and the world, with just one of its farms in Ribeirão Preto
housing 3.4 million coffee trees, the clan chose to live in the capital of São Paulo.

In addition to being the official residence of most of the country's coffee barons and illustrious politicians, the
city also began to attract workers and businesspeople from all over the world.

Why did this happen? Why didn't the coffee money bear fruit in Campinas or even in Ribeirão Preto, its true
lands of origin? Or why didn't Santos become the main city of the province, creating yet another coastal capital
linked to the port, as was the practice in most of Brazil?

Why was it precisely the city of São Paulo that, in the definition of economic historian Flávio Saes, became “the
capital of coffee capital”?

👉 Why did most of the economic gain go to the capital of São Paulo rather than other cities in the state of
São Paulo?

The city of São Paulo was the main political and economic center of coffee, mainly because of the Prado
family who were the largest coffee producers in Brazil and the world. They had the most coffee barons and
illustrious politicians . It was also the main commercial center (because of how much money they had gained
from the coffee production) and attracted the most business people from all over the world.
 Building Background Knowledge Activity
Development of the Railroad (Block 2)

Source: A metrópole improvável: por que São Paulo virou a maior cidade do Brasil"
(The Unlikely Metropolis: Why São Paulo Became the biggest city in Brazil)

APA citation: Dall’Olio, C. (2019, January 25). The unlikely metropolis: why São Paulo became the
largest city in Brazil [Review of The unlikely metropolis: why São Paulo became the largest city in
Brazil]. Exame.
https://exame.com/economia/a-metropole-improvavel-por-que-sao-paulo-virou-a-maior-cidade-do-
brasil/

Your Guiding Question

How did the development of the railroad help São Paulo start to become the largest economic
powerhouse in Brazil?

Railways: Transport for Development

Railways: transport for development

In the book The Triumph of the City, economist Edward Glaeser observes that transport technologies have
always been decisive for urban form. It shows that, in the past, by combining a strategic geographic position
with infrastructure that reduces transportation costs, cities like New York and Chicago, among others, gained
momentum to grow.

The formula also applied to São Paulo. The city's protagonism in relation to other municipalities in São Paulo is,
to a large extent, linked to the layout of the railways built in the 19th century.

In 1852, a law was enacted that granted benefits to those who invested in roads. Finally, São Paulo had found a
strong stimulus to finance the construction of a system that would take production from the interior to the Port
of Santos more quickly and cheaply. Coffee was the product that finally deserved a means of transport equal to
the wealth it was capable of generating.

The Santos-Jundiaí Railway was inaugurated in 1867. With the first section in operation, a group of farmers
created Companhia Paulista to build a new section that advanced into the interior. In 1872, the road connecting
Jundiaí to Campinas was opened.
The region's coffee, which used to take 3 to 4 weeks to be taken to the port on donkey back, now arrived at its
destination in a few days. The Companhia Paulista would also build the Ituana (1873), Mogiana (1875), and
Sorocabana (1879) roads.

Coffee transportation became much faster and cheaper, which further encouraged production. And São Paulo,
which remained isolated for centuries, began to connect with the main cities in the province and even gained, in
1877, a direct connection with Rio de Janeiro: the Estrada de Ferro do Norte.

👉 How did the city of São Paulo's strategic geographic position and railroad development allow its coffee
production to increase?

São Paulo's strategic geographic position was great because it reduced transportation costs and it allowed
investments to more coffee production in other places. Also coffee transportation became much faster and
easier which encouraged more production. It took less time to transport things to the port of Santos, and the
port exported it worldwide. A law was also enacted which granted benefits for road investors which also
benefited the city of São Paulo economically.

Before the inauguration of the trains, São Paulo's municipal income was very similar to that of Campinas and
Santos. With the new roads, the capital took the lead to become the main city in the province. All trains now
converged on São Paulo and, from the capital, went down the mountains.

The strategic position of the gateway to Planalto and direct communication with the coast made São Paulo an
obligatory route for production and, now, a point of concentration of coffee wealth. The offices of the main
banks, insurance companies, export services, and all bureaucracy were located in the capital.

São Paulo had finally found its source of wealth (coffee) and the stimulus for its development (the train). It had
then become an attractive place to receive what it still lacked: people.

👉 How did the development of the railroad help concentrate wealth in the city of São Paulo and not in
other parts of the state? What was established in the city of SP that would soon attract investments and
immigrants?
All trains converged into São Paulo and then down the mountains, so everything and everyone in those trains
passed through the city. It was an obligatory route for production and transportation of coffee. The
consequences of all trains passing through São Paulo were that it became an attractive place to receive
people and attracted investors, businessmen and immigrants because it was where everything was growing
economically and the city was becoming larger too. In Brazil there were also many job opportunities for
immigrants and São Paulo was one of the main places to find jobs.

CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS

NOTE: To receive a passing grade (D), make sure that..

All comprehension questions are answered and at least more than half are correct in both docs.
Most visualization boxes are attempted in both docs.
Your Canvas quiz is completed and submitted during the time frame provided.

AREAS OF GROWTH LEARNING TARGET AREAS OF STRENGTH

NATIONAL HISTORY 8.3

Situate past events in historical contexts

*Assuming you have met the passing grade criteria above, you will be assessed as follows:
1 out of 3 criteria met: Developing
2 out of 3 criteria met: Proficient
3 out of 3 criteria met: Advanced

Your responses to the comprehension

questions demonstrate accurate
✅ (so far)
understanding of the 4 reasons behind the
city of São Paulo's economic growth.

You use clear and relevant

images/sketches for your visualization
✅ (so far)
reading strategy that demonstrate accurate
historical connections in the text.

You answered the majority of the questions

correctly in the Canvas quiz.