THE INITIAL IMPACTS OF THE 1850 LAND LAW OVER THE LAND STRUCTURE OF THE CITY OF PARAHYBA

Abstract

The present article seeks to analyze the repercussion of the Land Law (1850) and other norms installed between 1850 and mid-twentieth century, over the land structure in the city of Parahyba. The research is based on the Historical Geography perspective, regarded by Philo (1997) as a sub-discipline whose main goal is to spatialize the phenomena of the past aiming at comprehending the processes that have led the current reality to be this. The starting point is to understand that a critical study is built up by means of interaction of temporal succession along with the spatial simultaneity for an eventual land structure analysis of the main streets of the city of Parahyba to be presented. The urban soil’s privatization process institutionalized by the Land Law (1850) is believed to be an important mark for the comprehension of the city, of urban life and, finally, of the street. Thus, the focus was on the incidence of the Land Law on the main streets of the city of Parahyba which are Rua General Osório (Rua Nova/ Marques do Herval), Duque de Caxias (Rua Direita) and Visconde de Pelotas (Rua da Cadeia). Thus, it is revealed that the norms which provide support to the urban land privatization, salubrity and embellishment of the city have changed not only the land structure but also the morphology and contents of the city and city life as well.