A CENTRALIDADE DE CAMPINA GRANDE E MOSSORÓ NA REDE URBANA FERROVIÁRIA (1907-1951)

Abstract

The railways were responsible for numerous transformations in the organization of spaces at different scales, both intraurban and interurban. On an interurban scale, the railroad allowed for the reorganization of the centrality of cities, restructuring their hierarchy in the regional urban network. The aim of this article is to analyze the centrality of Campina Grande and Mossoró in the urban rail network formed by the Great Western railway line and the railway of Mossoró, respectively, and the consolidation of these cities as important regional centers. The time limit (1907-1951) was defined from the moment that Campina Grande became a railway town (1907) until the moment when the Estrada de Ferro de Mossoró reached Sousa, in Paraíba, in 1951. The analysis undertaken here it has an approach from the perspective of Urban Historical Geography, which is revealed in the defined temporal demarcation and in the conduction of the analysis with emphasis on the documentary sources consulted, such as: the Anuário Estatístico do Brasil (1908-1912, v. I, Território e População), Anuário Estatístico do Brasil (1937, 1938, 1939/1940, 1953); Anuário Estatístico da Parahyba do Norte – 1916 (1918);  Anuário Estatístico do Estado da Parahyba – 1930 (1931); Anuário de Campina Grande (1925); Relatórios do Ministério da Indústria, Viação e Obras Públicas (1902, 1905, 1907, 1910, 1911 e 1915), Relatório do Ministério da Viação e Obras Públicas (1927), Relatório do Ministério da Agricultura, Indústria e Comércio (1910), as well such as, the sinopse do recenseamento de 1900 and the Recenseamento do Brasil de 1920. The analysis showed that the railway had a different impact on the analyzed cities, while in Campina Grande it consolidated its regional urban centrality, in Mossoró, due to adverse circumstances and the late completion of the railway Mossoró-Sousa, this technical increment was not preponderant in the consolidation of the centrality of Mossoró, although the city constitutes an important centrality in the referred railway line.