Frontier Gois, 1822-1889

This book examines the development of the state, the nation, and the economy on the far western frontier of Brazil during the period of the Brazilian Empire. The author argues that the province of Gois, although physically in the center of Brazil, was effectively the far edge of the Empire, thanks to poverty and poor communications. Gois thus provides a useful test case of the limits and effectiveness of nation-building and state-building and of economic integration into national and international economies during these years. The inhabitants of Gois successfully struggled to develop an interprovincial export trade in cattle at the same time as local elites negotiated a durable and largely peaceful political compromise with the central government. Smuggling and tax evasion were key to the development of the economy, yet politics remained pro-government and largely unruffled by partisan strife until the last decade of the Empire.