Nos caminhos do Vale: O (des) envolvimento no Jequitinhonha

Abstract

The Jequitinhonha Valley, located at the northeast of Minas Gerais, is a region on which many studies have been addressing, given the uniqueness of this regional space, which meets in its territory dichotomies such as poverty and wealth, abundance and scarcity, andrising economic decline . In historical terms the genesis of the formation of this area dates back to the first occupation of routes Captaincy of Minas dos Matos Gerais, even before its creation in 1720. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, the Jequitinhonha Valley acquires the status of "problem area", despite its historical importance to the stateeconomy and its rich culture. Thus poverty, social exclusion and natural limitations leveraged several studies and political projects of regional development, largely guided by attempts to generate income and improve the living conditions of this population. But what is the Jequitinhonha Valley? What are the elements of "geo-history" of this economic place that is remembered while the abandonment and cultural wealth? What is the local people look on the space it occupies? To what extent is the involvement of local actors in regional development? The interpretations and analyzes consist in an attempt to capture the development based in the engagement in the Valley, through the elucidation of its economic past, and impacts on social and spatial organization of the introduction of economic activities forged in the wake of "conservative modernization" since the second half of the twentieth century. The economic occupation of this region so unique in Minas Gerais conditioned to Geography: High Jequitinhonha in the mountainous terrain of the Espinhaço, where hugeamount extracted gold and diamond; Middle Jequitinhonha, soils rich in salts, occupied by extensive cattle ranching; Low Jequitinhonha in the areas of forest gave way to subsistence crops, and occupied the hills with cropping grass, plant adapted to scarcity of rains typical of the region, the farms of cattle.