The emergence of port engineering in the light of capitalist modernization in Brazil, 1860–1940

Abstract

This article explores one of the most important dimensions of economic development: the absorption and implementation of port construction techniques and technologies. In it, we examine the process through which Brazil absorbed and developed such techniques, applying them to the construction and equipping of the ports of Rio de Janeiro, Santos and Vitória, three ports that have been active in exporting coffee from the richest region in the country since the nineteenth century. The article also presents an analysis of the development of Brazilian port engineering, the political and corporate activity of the first Brazilian engineers and, finally, the impact of this whole process on the performance of the aforementioned ports. Starting with specific port-themed bibliography, the investigation considered sources such as technical reports and pictures, and also sparse documentation organized under the evidential paradigm, to analyse the period in which the old style colonial ports were replaced by projects for the capitalist modernization of the Brazilian maritime infrastructure, formulated by an emerging national engineering.