Struggles and labor in the inland forests: foresters at the expansion of Brazil’s colonizing frontier in the first half of the 20th century

Abstract

Despite being a prominent figure in advancing the frontiers of expansion in Brazil, the mateiros have received very little attention from the historiography interested in studies involving society and nature. In addition to a disparaging view of the mateiros, especially in studies that criticize the rusticity of the backlands and the ignorance of the country bumpkins, their role and social function were not well defined, which ended up making it difficult for Brazilian social theory to categorize their work. This study sought to analyze the role of the mateiros, their different activities, and representations, as well as the relationship of their activity with the historical context of the natural environment in Brazil, especially in their function as agents of the frontier. To this end, we sought to identify the different representations of this figure, based on sources that describe their participation in the frontier expeditions, both in North and Central Brazil. Historical records from the first half of the 20th century describe different trades and representations of the mateiros. However, they reinforce the representation of the frontier vanguard, highlighting their pioneering contact with the natural world and differing in their attributes and skills.