CENTRALITY AND URBAN HIERARCHY ON THE RAILWAY FROM RECIFE TO LIMOEIRO, TIMBAÚBA AND CAMPINA GRANDE BRANCH LINE IN THE BRAZILIAN NORTHEAST

Abstract

The railway constitutes an urban network par excellence, since several urban agglomerations are interconnected by the rails. These cities or places have distinct centralities, defined by the functions and influence they exercise in this network and by the capacity they have to attract different flows (goods, passengers, telegraph messages). The centrality of the railway city is as great as its capacity to intensify spatial interactions and expand its radius of influence. The objective of this article is to analyze the configuration of the urban network formed by the Railway line from Recife to Limoeiro, Timbaúba, and the Campina Grande branch line. The analysis of the object from the Urban Historical Geography is reflected in the defined temporal demarcation and the conduction of the synchronic diachronic analysis, with emphasis on the consulted documentary sources, such as: the Anuário estatístico do Brasil (1916, v. I, Territory and Population), Anuário estatístico do Brasil (1917, v. II, Economy and Finance), Anuário de Campina Grande (1925), Anuário estatístico da Parahyba do Norte (1918), Coleção das Leis do Império (1873 and 1876), Coleção das Leis da República (1902), Coleção de mapas históricos de David Rumsey (1908), Estatísticas das estradas de ferro da União e das fiscalizadas pela União (1906, 1907, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1917 and 1922) e os Relatórios do Ministério da Indústria, Viação e Obras Públicas (1902, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1911 and 1915). It is concluded that the implementation of the railway boosted or consolidated the centrality of the cities that make up the studied railway line.