Bridging the archipelago: Cities and regional economies in Brazil, 1870-1920

This dissertation explores the origins of the regional inequality which emerged in Brazil during the second half of the 19th century. The first chapter of the dissertation surveys the literature on regional linkages and regional growth. Models of regional balance and regional imbalance are compared and contrasted, and a discussion of the institutional context of urbanization, finance, and the role of the state serves to complement the economic models and resolve some of their seeming contradictions. Chapter Two charts out the economic topology of the regional islands which made up the economic archipelago of 19th century Brazil. Analysis of demographic and industrial data demonstrates the concentration of industry in the urban centers of the Southeast. Rank-size analysis of the 1920 census data reveals the emergence of an integrated urban network in the Southeast of Brazil which contrasts starkly with the relative lack of urbanization in the Northeast. Chapter Three illustrates the growth in interregional trade which led to the increasing connection of these regional "islands" over the course of Brazil's First Republic. The pattern of urban hierarchies is seen to be consistent with a system of national and regional entrep...