Abstract
This article studies the colonization of São Paulo State in two moments, 1897-1911 and 1930-1944, showing that despite the distinct economic contexts, one of state-supported colonization´s main objectives was to stimulate the accumulation of capital in the dominant economic activities. This is evident considering that 20 out of 24 colonies created in São Paulo between 1877 and 1911 aided the accumulation of capital in the coffee industry, mainly due to the supply of the temporary workers for the coffee plantations, at the moments of peak demand. However after 1930, the creation of colonies concentrated in regions that were heretofore forgotten, through the organization of small agriculture properties. Without doubt, this change of direction occurred at the moment that industrialization became the dynamic center of the economy, bringing the need for the integration and expansion of the internal market. This article argues that the officially-supported
colonization in São Paulo, although presenting different aspects pre and post 1930, served as an important, if secondary, tool in the development of the dominant economic activities. Before 1930, the colonial nucleus promoted the pattern of
accumulation within the coffee industry and, post 1930 the new pattern was based on industrialization. This article views the colonies of the coffee farming period (1897-1911) as the providers of a temporary workforce for the coffee plantations
and the colonies created post 1930 – highlighting the case study of the Barão de Antonina Colonial Nucleus, the most significant colony created in São Paulo during this second period – as a laboratory of new colonial policies encouraging industrialization.