During the colonial period, livestock and population of the sertão were closely linked. From the sugar cane mills, which were located mainly on the northeastern coast, it was possible for the settlers who lived here to conquer the colony's sertão and start the settlement of this region.
Livestock was initially developed around the sugar cane mills. The cattle raised in these places, cattle and mules, were used in food, in the production of leather for work and domestic utensils, in addition to animal traction in the work to obtain sugar.
With the expansion of sugarcane plantations around the mills, it was necessary to find increasingly distant pastures for raising cattle. To find these environments, the cowboys left for the sertão. Sertão is also defined as the place that is not found on the coast.
The first places from which the cowboys moved were the engenhos located in Pernambuco and Bahia. They sought to go in the opposite direction of the São Francisco River, which came to be known as “Rio dos Currais”. Along the valley of this river corrals and farms were created near pasture areas.
With the development of this economic activity, settlement centers were established, mainly farms. You cowboys who inhabited these farms were generally Mamluks, of Indian and European descent. They worked with the owners of the herds in a similar regime to that of partnership: for every four surviving offspring, one was a cowboy. Over time, some cowboys managed to form their own herd.
There was also expansion towards the north of the colony, with the cowboys occupying territories in Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão.
The occupation of the sertão from cattle raising extended beyond the Northeast and North, mainly with the gold discovery in the region of Minas Gerais. Still following the opposite course of the São Francisco, the cowboys arrived close to mining areas in Minas Gerais territory. Precious metals made the cowboys also head west of the colony, reaching Goiás and Mato Grosso.
Another region that was also occupied by cowboys and cattle ranches was the southern region of the colony. In the pampas, an environment conducive to raising cattle was found. This was the place where livestock farming developed the most.
In addition to the leather taken from cattle, the dried meat (or jerky, as it was known in the south), widely consumed during the colonial period, due to its conservation time. Cattle production grew to supply the colony's internal market, which gained momentum after mining.
O intern market it also led to the creation of routes for the circulation of the goods produced, with mules and donkeys being the means of transport used. In the regions where the farms were located, resting places and commercialization of various products were formed. In addition, towns, villages and cities flourished, including Feira de Santana, in Bahia, and Vacaria, in Rio Grande do Sul.
In addition to the economic and territorial issue, cattle raising also served as the basis for the formation of a country culture, which has its peculiarities in each of the regions in which it developed.
By Me. Tales Pinto
