Environment and Public Health: the urbanization of Nossa Senhora do Desterro in 19th century

Abstract

Nossa Senhora do Desterro, capital of the Province of Santa Catarina went through major urban changes in 19th century. Until then it was a peripheral city, despite a strategic shipping routes in the south of Brazil. In middle of 19th century a significant urban and commercial growth occurs, and as consequence, an increase in the problems of public health and supplying. Parallel to this process of development of the urban center of Desterro and the biggest commercial contact with the capital of the Empire, new uses had started to be attributed to the beaches and rivers and some customs had undergone a redefinition process. This has generated debates and questions about practices that until then were common as the sewage disposal on beaches and the laundering clothes in rivers and streams of the city. This text is an analysis of this process of transformation of practices and customs, an examination of the new local perceptions about the ideas of hygiene and social life.