Modernos bandeirantes, antigos interesses: a Expedição Roncador-Xingu e a conquista da fronteira Oeste (1938-1948)

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the circumstances and interests involved in the creation and viability of the Roncador-Xingu Expedition (1943-1948). This enterprise, which was the spearhead of the Brazilian March to the West, a policy promoted during the period known as Estado Novo (1937-1945), aimed to cross the former state of Mato Grosso and reach the sources of the Xingu River, to start a process that should culminate in the economic integration of the region. The scope of this research begins in 1938, when the March to the West policy was created, and ends in 1948, the year that marked the end of the expedition's work. The discovery of the involvement of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) in financing the expedition led to an investigation into the economic interests of the industrial business community of São Paulo at this stage of the March to the West. The research results point out to the links between the territorial expansion and the industrial development project promoted during the Estado Novo, as well as to the overlap between the industrial bourgeoisie of São Paulo and the government of Getúlio Vargas in the post-1937 period. Despite the centrality attributed to economic issues, this is just one of the vectors through which we seek to understand the Roncador-Xingu Expedition. Another is the State, that is, the so-called national interests. And, finally, the culture – that is, public opinion – formed from an entire cultural context interested in the interior of the country. Among the sources used in this research, the use of official speeches and advertisements of the regime about the interiorization project, the news published about the expedition in the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo and the diaries and records produced by the expeditionary and employees stand out. from the Central Brazil Foundation