Description

The second half of the 19^th century was a very challenging time for many Italians, even though the era saw the reunification of Italy (1871) and strong economic growth overall.  Southern Italy was largely left out of the Industrial Revolution that transformed the rest of country, while the great socio-economic upheaval it caused in Northern Italy led to a great deal of dislocation.  Millions of Italians thus looked across the Atlantic, to the Americas, seeking new lives and bettor opportunities.

 

The waves Italians who immigrated to the New World, beginning in the late 19^th century, headed to many places in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, etc.

 

Brazil, since the beginning of colonial times, counted Italians amongst its population (ex. the Cavalcanti family came to Brazil in 1560 and is today the largest clan in Brazil by a common ancestor), but until the 1870s, they were numerically negligible.  During the second half of the 19^th century, Brazil’s economy, particularly of its southern and southeastern regions, was soaring, with São Paulo Province (later state) in particular having booms in railway construction, agriculture (notably coffee) and manufacturing.  There was a severe shortage of labour in these regions, especially as slavery was being phased out (it would be abolished in 1888). 

 

Many prospective Italian immigrants possessed valuable skills in agriculture, construction and manufacturing that were desperately needed in Brazil.  From the 1870s, the Brazilian government and industry, from Emperor Dom Pedro II on down, actively encouraged and subsidized Italian immigration, engaging recruiters in Italy, while societies to settle and arrange employment for the new arrivals were created in Brazil.  The first waves of Italian immigration to Brazil occurred in 1875, with the heyday of the trend lasting from 1880 to 1900, when almost one million Italians arrived in the country.  A narrow majority of these immigrants came from northern Italy, with 30% coming from Veneto.

 

Italian settlement in Brazil assumed two distinct forms.  Many immigrants settled in cities, and quickly integrated, often working as skilled labour.  Others settled in isolated rural colonies (colônias de imigrantes), in many cases labouring on plantations (often on coffee estates), had lower living conditions and took longer to integrate.

 

In all, 70% of Italian immigrants to Brazil settled in São Paulo Province, while strong numbers came to Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.  By 1886, São Paulo city’s  population was 13% Italian, a figure that would rise to 34% by 1893!

 

Italian immigration to Brazil slowed after 1902, after horror stories of the poor treatment and poverty of Italians working on coffee estates reached the Italian government, causing it to enact the Prinetti Decree, which abolished subsidized immigration to Brazil.  Indeed, between 1903 and 1920, 306,652 Italians arrived in Brazil, a rate of around a third of the former flow.  While some Italians certainly had a very rough time in Brazil (with thousands even returning to Italy), most fared quite well and remained in the country.

 

Today, ítalo-brasileiros (Brazilians of Italian descent) account for 35 million people, or around 16% of Brazil’s total population, and make up the majority in many cities and neighbourhoods in south and south-eastern Brazil.  Today, Brazilians of Italian background are an integral part of mainstream Brazil, and are amongst the country’s most successful communities, having a profound influence upon culture and the economy.  Many prominent celebrities and four former Brazilian presidents count Italian ancestry.

 

The Map in Focus

 

The present map showcases São Paulo Province, the main destination for Italian immigration to Brazil.  With text entirely in Italian, it was published at the behest of the recruitment organization, the Società Promotrice d’Immigrazione di S. Paolo, having been drafted by the military engineer José C. de Carvalho and published in Rio de Janeiro by the firm of Paulo Robin.  Issued in 1886, it is very early for any Brazilian immigration map, made only a decade after the first wave of Italians arrived in the country; all the others such maps we have encountered date from after 1900.

 

Beautifully designed, and employing resplendent colours, the map shows São Paulo to be a dynamic, rapidly growing place, perfect for Italians looking to start a new life of action and opportunity.  The main map shows all key topographic features; labels all cities and major towns; delineates all major railways and navigable rivers; while shipping lines are shown to run out of the province’s main port, Santos (including those providing connections to Italy).  The registers of text below the title list all São Paulo’s railways (both in operational and under construction), with their length in km, along with the major river steamer routes.  

 

The heavily developed bulk of São Paulo province is shaded in beige, while the sparsely populated northwest, the ‘Terreni Spopolati’ (Depopulated Lands), is shaded in green.  Importantly, places with major concentrations of Italian immigrants, called ‘Nucleo coloniale’, are noted in green, including both urban areas and rural colônias de imigrantes.

 

In the lower left corner is a striking and clever diagram, ‘Distanze in Kilometri dal Porto di Santos’, which shows, in deliberately exaggerated terms, the topography of São Paulo Province; the area’s major cities and towns; the ‘Nucleo coloniale’; and the locations of key mineral deposits (ex. ‘Minas de Ferro’ and ‘Minas de Petroleo’).  The register on the left side shows the elevation of marked places on the diagram; while that on the right notes the average annual temperature (which decreases as elevation increases); while the register on the top shows the distance of each place from the port of Santos, the gateway to the province.  For instance, São Paulo city is shown to be 80 km from Santos, at an elevation of 760 metres, with annual average temperature of 19 degrees Celsius.

 

The inset in the upper left corner, ‘Posizione del Brasile nell’America del Sud’, shows Brazil’s location within the greater context of South America.

 

Interestingly, the present example of the map features the contemporary handstamp on the verso of a Genoa immigration recruiter.  It reads: ‘Per l’Imbarco de famiglie chiamato dovranno dirigersi esclusivamente a Sig. Milanese Pietro / Via Ponte Calvi 4 e 6 / Genova’ [For boarding of families called they must go exclusively to Mr. Pietro Milanese / Via Ponte Calvi 4 and 6 / Genoa].

 

The map was drafted by the military engineer, Commander José C. de Carvalho (his name is signed in print, lower right), who in 1887 was recorded as being one of the directors of the prestigious Clube de Engenharia of Rio de Janeiro.  Carvalho was heavily involved in the railway construction boom and the high-profile 1888 effort to transport the Bendegó Meteorite (which weighed 5,360 kg) from Bahia Province to the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro.

 

Carvalho was especially commissioned by Italian immigration organizations to make the present map of São Paulo, as well another similarly themed map of Rio de Janeiro Province, the Mappa della Provincia di Rio Janeiro fatto organizzare dal Presidente della Provincia… Antonio da Rocha Fernandes Leão pel servizio dell’Immigrazione 1887 (Lith. e Typo. H. Lombaerts & Ca, Rio de Janeiro, 1887), please see a link to this map, courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional de España:

 

http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000270863&page=1

 

A Note on Rarity

 

The present map is exceedingly rare, as it was likely made in only a limited print run, while the survival rate of such maps is very low.  We can trace only a single institutional example of the map, held by the Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo, while we cannot locate any sales records for any other examples.

 

References: Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo [No shelfmark found, but definitely in their inventory]; Emilio FRANZINA and Mario SABBATINI (eds.), I veneti in Brasile nel centenario dell’emigrazione (1876-1976) (1977), p. 78; Lorenza SERVETTI, Vado nella Merica è lì di là dalle colline: Budrio e la grande emigrazione (1880-1912) (2003), p. 55; SOCIÉTÉ DE GÉOGRAPHIE (FRANCE), Comptes rendus des seances de la Societe de geographie et de la Commission centrale (1889), p. 231.