O tempo antigo nos Faxinais do Tigre: paisagens e rupturas (décadas de 1920 a 1950)

Abstract

Regional history recognizes the Faxinais do Tigre (Guatambu) as an influential route in logging along the Uruguay River since 1910, which caused changes in the local landscape. In addition to dealing with the occupation and colonization of a territory in its specificity, this text intends to investigate and reflect on these changes in landscapes, before and after colonization. The proposed time frame is from 1920 to 1950, the period in which the municipality was organized as a community, village, district and town, with the inclusion of different ethnic groups in the cultural, social, political and economic configuration of the municipality. The starting point of the research was the emergence of some types of crafts characteristics of the caboclo population, while the town was constituted, colonization advanced and the landscape changed. Whether in agriculture, animal husbandry, or extractivism from the forest, the caboclos use these crafts as a means of survival. The arrival of the settlers around 1910 caused the disruption of traditional forms of land use, in which caboclo labor was largely exploited, with the reinsertion of new work activities such as retainers and/or ferrymen, enriching the newly settled settlers - arrived from Rio Grande do Sul. In the relationship of economic exploitation established between settlers and colonized, the concept of caboclo landscape will stand out. The strong presence of the small farm and raising pigs raised in common were practices that were relegated to marginalization and, in some cases, seen as an 'irrational' method of dealing with the land. To present this marginalization, we use the oral testimony of old caboclos and/or their descendants, their experiences, difficulties and memories. In addition to oral sources, the bibliographic survey, research on the municipality, the use of official documents from the local notary, iconographic sources, journalistic clippings, maps, among others, contributed and expanded the understanding of the geographical, spatial, social and cultural changes by which the caboclos of Faxinal do Tigre passed.