Beyond Latifundia and Fazendeiros: Toward a History of the 1850 Land Law that Does Not End with Coffee Barons

• In Event: Imperial Policies and Politics: Continuing Debates in the History of Brazil

Abstract

The 1850 Land Law represents a watershed in the history of Brazil and not only because it was the first landed property legislation in more than 200 years. Scholars agree that this landmark law, whose first bill they date to 1843, cemented elite control over landholding thus sealing a pact between coffee barons and statesmen. Indeed, the relatively peaceful period known as the Conciliação that began in 1852 could be partly attributed to the fact that the land question had been finally solved, to the satisfaction of many and regardless of political creed. But this understanding misses key aspects in the “pre-history,” context and projective aims of the 1850 Law. This presentation will provide an overview of hereto unexplored legal precedents in order to underline previously neglected dimensions of the 1850 Land Law. Focusing on the legislative proposals and the finally approved stipulations in the Law that dealt with foreign and corporate landholding rights, the presentation will address how land legislation worked in synergy with other legal measures approved at the same time to formalize dynamics that gave companies, including those owned or run by foreigners, a competitive edge even over coffee barons.

Author

• José Juan J Pérez Meléndez, University of Chicago