O contestado franco-brasileiro na obra do Barão do Rio Branco: uma análise das memórias de Rio-Branco sobre a fronteira do Amapá (século XIX)

Abstract

The present work privileged the study of the French-Brazilian Contested, based on the documentation of volume V and VI of the Notebooks of the Baron of Rio-Branco: the question between Brazil and French Guiana, which fell to José Maria da Silva Paranhos to resolve. This documentation is part of 60 Notebooks (of an unknown number), which were deposited in the Baron's room in the Itamaraty building. The volume V analyzed covers the period from May 1900 to April 1901, which corresponds to the final years of the contentious issue between Brazil and France. Volume VI is composed of annexes, such as maps, letters, telegrams, and others used for the defense of the Brazilian cause. The objective is to understand the unfolding of the litigious issue between Brazil and France through the Notebooks of the Baron of Rio-Branco, XIX century, its historical, political and sociocultural process. Some reflections become indispensable to this study, such as: 1) the historical process of the formation of the Contestado Franco-Brasileiro, to understand how the social groups that settled there were organized and lived, at the time of its construction, of the Empire of Brazil with French Guiana; 2) the preparatory process of the contentious issue: the research, how the accompaniment of the process that led to the arbitration of 1897 took place, and the writing of the defense memoirs of the Brazilian cause; 3) the arbitration process in Bern until 1900, with the arbitration award in favor of Brazil. This work is composed of three chapters: the first chapter presents a theoretical and methodological overview of the frontier, with some discussions and misconceptions about the construction of this concept/category. The second chapter presents the theoretical and historical subsidies of the construction of the French-Brazilian Contested. The third chapter aims to demonstrate the importance of the Baron in the consolidation of the Brazilian borders, since the Brazil that is known today was designed by him. As a theoretical and methodological orientation, we opted for bibliographical and documental research with a qualitative analysis. The historical method that sustained the research and the historical events primed the object of investigation and its social, cultural, economic and political specificities of the Contestado Franco-Brasileiro region.