Between experience and fantasy

nature, agriculture and immigration in Brazil Empire

Abstract

This article deals with the immigration experience intensified in Brazil during the last decades of the Empire, especially to be part of the demand for agricultural sectors. It is intended to contribute to this discussion by reflecting on the creation of a policy to attract immigrants and the prominent position given to nature at this time. To that end, we seek to analyze the appropriation of edenic grounds of Brazilian nature dating back to the colonial period. Thus, looking like comparing the mutual importance of these three factors, nature, immigration and agriculture in the discourses of different actors directly connected to issues like the occupation and defense of the territory and the transition from labor-slave for free labor.