Industrialization in a german immigrant community in Southern Brazil: Santa Cruz do Sul, 1849-1918

Abstract

This paper aims to approach the historiography of the industrial economic development in a community of German immigrants in Santa Cruz do Sul, a city located in southern Brazil in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, two hundred kilometers far from the State capital, Porto Alegre. The analyzed period is situated from 1849 to 1918, due to the fact that the colony was founded in 1849 and the year of 1918 represents the context in which an economic base had been structured in the community, thus enabling the process of local industrialization. In order to understand how this process succeed, the first part of the paper proposes a historiographical analysis on the German origin businessman in Rio Grande do Sul and, secondly, the study of intellectual production on the economic development of Santa Cruz do Sul within this context.

Keywords

• imigração alemã. santa cruz do sul. história local/regional. desenvolvimento econômico. industrialização.