Civilizações da cana-de-açúcar : dois paradigmas de atividades agroaçucareiras no novo mundo, séculos XVI a XIX

From the Brazilian coast to its inland, sugarcane molded economic, social and cultural landscapes with distinctive identities. The monotony of extensive sugarcane plantations was transformed as this culture started to grow along with other cultivations, with livestock, with several rural industries and with mineral extraction as well. The monopoly of engenho açucareiro was transformed into both, engenhos rapadureiros and engenhos aguardenteiros. These engenhos were immersed in consortiums grounded in the complementarity and interdependence of several actitivies. The fundamental characteristics dictated from the outside of the Colony unfolded into the autonomy and plasticity conformed by both, geographical isolation and decentralization of domestic markets. Distinct sugarcane plantation trajectories forged distinctive historical paradigms and later defined multiple rythms in the moving from the traditional to the modern. The civilization of sugar along the coast, with monolithic and compact inheritance, expanded into the plurality of inland sugarcane civilizations, with fragmentary and diffuse legacies.