Commerce and credit in the Paraíba Paulista valley during the 19th century

Abstract

The coffee culture has assumed a fundamental role in the economical and demographic development of the Paraíba Valley during the nineteenth century. In this period big fortunes have been formed, which were originated in the opportunities open by the coffee-plantation economy. The patrimony reached by the coffee producters resulted not only from the coffee production, but also from the trade and especially from the financing activities which led to a peculiar: the capitalists received as a payment of their debts several farms, althrough these were full of old and little productive coffee-trees.