Porto Nacional

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Coordinates: 10°42′28″S, 48°25′01″W
Porto Nacional
Location of Porto Nacional
Country	Brazil
Region	Norte
State	Tocantins
Mayor	Paulo Alves Mourão (PT)
Area
- City	4.464,11 km²
Population
- City (2005)
- Density	10.3 inhabitants per km²/km²
Time zone	UTC-3 (UTC-3)

Porto Nacional is a Brazilian city in the Tocantins state. It be situated a latitude 10º42'29 " South and to a longitude 48º25'02 " West. Notable for the farming potential, Porto Nacional sees in the growth of the capital Palmas, distant 60km, a chance to put into motion the commerce local and to allow to greater flow of capital in the city.

1 Tourist points
2 History
3 Library
4 Links

[edit] Tourist points

Historical center - Endowed with narrow streets and building almost all constructed in sec. XIX.
Lake of Usina do Lajeado - Consisting in propitious place for nautical sports and fishing, located in front of the city.
Cathedral Ours Lady of the Graces - Constructed by Dominican frats, came from France, its basic first rock was placed in day 7th of May of 1884.
Avenida Beira Rio – Special Road, constructed with more than 3Km of extension, in the edge of the city.
New Beach of Porto Real - Endowed with infra-structure, place of cultural and sportive events during the season from June to September.

[edit] History

Established at the beginning of century XIX, it was directly on historical and culturally to the river Tocantins. Throughout that century and of the XX, the main way of access was the river. Boats plough the Tocantins carrying merchandises between Porto Nacional and Belém or Pará. With the construction of highway BR 153, in years 1970, the flow of people and merchandises passed to the terrestrial way. After the construction of the Hydroelectric power plant “Luiz Eduardo Magalhães”, in the Lajeado city, the city left to coexist with the river to coexist with the lake. It is followed, below a text with interpretations on the history of the sprouting of the city: “Alegoria of the aboriginal violence in the identity construction: The case of Porto Nacional - YOU.” (author) Giraldin, Odair (Anthropologist) The interpretations on the relation of the myth-history of the foundation of Porto Nacional with action of violence, had been inspired in the following affirmation of Leach: “All the human societies beings, great or small, elaborated or simple, have its traditional histories. They are true or false, or partially true and partially false, all these histories function as origin myths, as documents of the existence human being; they explain to the initiate or the beginner as she is that `we' start and as is that `we' arrive what we are today” (Leach, 1982:58 - 59). According to existing verbal tradition currently in Porto Nacional, the origin of the city (that in its beginning if it called Porto Real) was given in the following way: Pontal was attacked by the Xerente and the majority of the population was deceased. The survivors had run away and crossed the river Tocantins, some of them to swim, and had been if to establish in the right edge of the river, next to the house of an canoeiro Félix Camoa. From now on, they had left to pan and they had passed to the commercial activity, sailing for the Tocantins, until Belém. This same version in offers the book to them of Durval Godinho, “History of Porto Nacional”. Commenting the sprouting of Porto Real, this historian affirms that: “To such official measures appeared in the first lustrums of the passed century, other propitiators circumstances of the fast development of Porto Real had been joined. One of them, even so lamentable one, was the painful slaughter of Pontal, whose survivors, in a painful exodus, had fixed themselves definitively in Porto Real” (Godinho, 1988:17). My interpretation, however, indicates that this verbal tradition does not correspond total to the facts, as if it can perceive in a crossing with the documentary sources. But it has, however, an explanation for this apparent confusion, as we will see ahead. The foundation of Pontal occurred in the first half of century XVIII. Studious of the colonial history of Goiás, the academic spread of Luis Palacin (1976: 36) and Marivone de Matos Chaim (1974: 25), confirm the date of foundation of Pontal in 1738. Pontal was born inside of this process of discovery of mines in the northern region of then the captainship of São Paulo, having been established four years after Natividade (1734), two years before Arraias (1740) (Chaim, 1974:25) and eight years before the Carmo, whose foundation must date of 1746 (Palacin, 1976:36). In this interpretation, Pontal appeared from minatory to the river Tocantins and had its existence in the same conditions that the excessively that region, at that time. Pontal existed at least during one hundred years in center of the mountain range of the same name (Godinho, 1988:10), region known currently for the local inhabitants as Valley of the Gold to about forty kilometers of the current city of Porto Nacional. Porto Real, in contrast, was only created many years later, in way to the historical process of opening them rivers Araguaia and Tocantins to the fluvial navigation in the end it century XVIII and beginning it XIX. Pontal was a pleasant place, everything indicating that it had the same splendor of the Carmo and Natividade. It carried through gold mineral prospecting and, after the end of the interdiction of the navigation of the river Tocantins, occurred in the end of century XVIII, also carried through active commerce with Belém of Pará (Godinho, 1988:183). The village was composed in a main street, with about three hundred meters of extension, and one another secondary, perpendicular one to the first one. It counted on about fifty houses, made use throughout the two streets and two churches: of Saint Antonio and the church of Santana. In this last one it had the image of Christ crucified, who is currently in the Cathedral of N.S. of the Graces, in Porto Nacional. In 1824, the opinion of Cunha Mattos, he counted on forty and nine houses, inhabited for a population of one hundred and forty three free people and thirty eight slaves. Therefore, one hundred eighty people. These information of Cunha Mattos are based on a statistical survey that it ordered to carry through in December of that year. So far this list of the inhabitants of Pontal was the only source on the population of that village. However, these information of Cunha Mattos are being now reevaluated, a time that was located a new list of inhabitants of Pontal, for which if extend the number of inhabitants of that village around 780 people. For the vestiges found in the place of the massacre, can itself be perceived that the majority of the houses was of adobe, covered of roofing tiles and with slice of ceramics, fellow creatures to the found ones currently in older houses of Porto Nacional. In this way, I believe that in the two first decades of the century XIX, Pontal it had infrastructure better that Porto Real. While that one had the majority of its houses covered of roofing tile, in 1819 most of the houses of Porto Real was covered of straw (Pohl [1821] 1976). In fact, the inhabitants of the Pontal trading with gold mineral prospecting in diverse places in the outskirts of the village. But in 1810, a group was panning in the Matança river, gold place sufficient, when they had been attacked by the Indians, probably Xerente, and had been all deceased. I believe that it was that attack that remained in the memory as an extremely hard fact, and must have contributed so that some families, from now on, abandoned the Pontal, changing itself for where it was the detachment of the Porto Real. But this slaughter was not, probably, the determinative factor for the extinguishing of that village. It must be emphasized well that the attack occurred in it pans of the brook Matança and not in the village of the Pontal. This still continued existing for much time, as the information that appear in some documents of century XIX. It remains, however, that question: why it remained in the verbal tradition the version of that Porto Real was created from the attack of the Xerente to the village of the Pontal? For my interpretation, the history of the attack remained as being the founding act of Porto Real and the extinguishing of Pontal, because it served as a element that made possible the formation of an identity (Cardoso de Oliveira, 1976:4 - 5; Barth, 1976) for the inhabitants of Porto Real. Moreover, being the foundation marked for the act of the supposed violence of an aboriginal group against the local population, a speech was created that served for the population of the region to justify the situation of mutual hostility between it and the diverse local aboriginal groups. A allegory was created that, repeated some times, fulfilled a function mnemonic, that is, made to crystallize in the popular mentality that the attitudes of the aboriginal people are hostile against the “colonizadores”, “civilized”, the “Christians”, justifying itself, thus, to the ideological level, the attacks that the proper “whites” carried through against the aboriginal villages, which had happened throughout all the second half of first century XVIII and of the following century. According to information of the Advice of State, congregated in fifteen of May of the 1832, Xerente they had attacked three times in the immediacy of Porto Imperial, Pontal and Monte do Carmo, having commanded itself that a flag with interpreters was sent to try to convince more not to repeat them to it such attacks. In January of 1834, the Xerente had attacked the farm of Thomaz de Souza Villa Real, killing its nephew. Immediately afterwards, they had attacked next to the village of the Pontal and had killed, in its small farm, the Judge of Peace, its woman and three slaves. In its escape, they had led I obtain five prisoners of the family of the Judge dead. The inhabitants of Pontal and Porto Imperial had formed, then, a flag, financed with money destined for the government for the Catechizations and Civilization of the Indians and had pursued them. They had found a village, that was attacked, becoming free thirteen “whites” that were kept prisoners of the Xerente. Moreover, they had captured nineteen Xerente children. These, the spite of the order of the Advice of Government so that they were sent to the Capital, had been distributed by the Judge of Orphans of Porto Imperial between the local inhabitants. In retaliation, the Xerente had made some attacks to the farms next to Porto Imperial. Ahead of the permanent conflicts, as much with the Xerente how much with the Avá-Canoeiros, these more inhabiting to the south of Porto Imperial, the Provincial Assembly deliberated to authorize that a military body of up to two hundred squares, divided in two divisions was formed, being that one would have to attack the Avá-Canoeiros, whereas another one would attack the Xerente. The first division, that would have to attack the Avá-Canoeiros, was, in contrast to its objective, turning in the outskirts of São Félix, hunting cattle meat that lived wildly in the region. The second division destined to explore it the cities of Natividade and Porto Imperial. This was not turned aside, total, of its objectives. Of the city of Natividade a body of sixty squares was formed, commanded for Manoel Albuquerque. From Monte do Carmo, ninety and five squares had marched, under the command of the lieutenant colonel Vicente Ayres Da Silva. Captain Thomaz de Souza Villa Real, congregated one hundred and sixteen men of Pontal and Porto Imperial. All the three groups had gone down the river Tocantins until the estuary of the river Sono, of where the first group would have to follow the edges of this river until reaching the “Campos do Duro”, (actually Dianópolis), São Miguel and Almas. As the group of soldiers would have to follow for the right edge of the river Tocantins, until arriving in Porto Imperial, whereas third it would follow for the left edge of the Tocantins, until reaching Pontal. Congregated all in the estuary of the river Sono, before following the three planned routes, two hundred and seventy and squares they had attacked a village the left edge of the Tocantins. Due to tactical ability of the Xerente, them they had not suffered no low, taking refuge itself in a mountain range next to the village. Of the negotiations that if had followed, the squares had obtained to rescue six “whites” that were prisoners of the Xerente. These negotiations had been, in the truth, plus a strategy of the Indians to be able to place to the one except for the women, children and old. After to gain the time that needed, had suspended the negotiations. They had been attacked in the mountain range, but they could not have been pursued and they had escaped. After the three bodies of squares remaining fourteen days in the village, being two hundred and seventy and squares fed with the production of “roças” of the Xerente, so great was the planted area, was decided to abandon the village, not without before destroying the remain of “roças”. But this abandonment of the village was a strategy of the commanders of the operation, therefore they as soon as knew that the Xerente could come back toward it, the soldiers if they removed. After to divide two hundred and seventy and squares in the three divisions previously planned, captain Thomaz de Souza Villa Real, with its one hundred and sixteen soldiers, came back to attack the village. He obtained to capture more fourteen Xerente children. In its report of 1838, the President of the Province of Goiás, Luiz Gonzaga de Camargo Fleury, informed that the conflicts with the Xerente not yet had finished. The spite of if trying to impose they a territorial limit, forcing them it to remain below of the Lageado, the Xerente still attacked the farms of the region. Thus, in 1838, another time Thomaz de Souza Villa Real was authorized to form a flag and to attack the Indians.

[edit] Library

BARTH, Frederik (1976) – Los Grupos Étnicos y sus Fronteras. La organización social de las diferencias culturales. México, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
CARNEIRO DA CUNHA, Manuela (org.) (1992) - Legislação Indigenista no Século XIX. SP, Edusp/Comissão Pró-Índio.
CARDOSO DE OLIVERIA, Roberto (1976) – Identidade, Etnia e Estrutura Social. SP, Livraria Pioneira Editora.
CHAIM, Marivone de Matos (1974) - Os Aldeamentos Indígenas na Capitania de Goiás. Goiânia, Oriente.
DOLES, Dalísia (1973) - Navegação pelo Araguaia e Tocantins. Goiânia, Ed. UFG.
GODINHO, Durval C. (1988) - História de Porto Nacional. S/Ed.
LEACH, Edmund 1982. A Diversidade da Antropologia Lisboa, Perspectivas do Homem / Edições 70.
MAYBURY-LEWIS, David (1964) - A Sociedade Xavante. RJ, Francisco Alves.
MOTT, Luiz (1989) - “Conquista, aldeamento e domesticação dos Índios Gueguê do Piauí: 1674-1770”. Revista de Antropologia. 30/31/32:55-78.
PALACIN, Luiz (1976) - Goiás: 1722-1822. Goiânia, Oriente.
POHL, Johann Emanuel ([1821] 1976) - Viagem ao interior do Brasil (1817-1821). SP, Edusp / BH, Itatiaia.
PRADO JR., Caio (1992) - Formação do Brasil Contemporâneo. 22 a ed. SP, Brasiliense.
RAVAGNANI, Osvaldo M. (1989) - “Aldeamentos Goianos em 1750 - Os Jesuítas e a mineração”. Revista de Antropologia. 30/31/32:111-132.
TAUSSIG, Michael (1993) - Xamanismo, Colonialismo e o Homem Selvagem. Um estudo sobre o terror e a cura. RJ, Paz e Terra.