Royal St. John of Ipanema Iron Foundry

Coordinates: 23°25′32.41″S 47°35′46.38″W / 23.4256694°S 47.5962167°W

Royal St. John de Ipanema Iron Foundry as known Ipanema Iron Foundry or Factory, Fazenda Ipanema was the first ironworks in Brazil. It is located in Sorocaba region, near city of Iperó, state of São Paulo. Ruins of the twin blast furnaces are well preserved.

History

Background

This important industrial enterprise was the result of a careful planning by the Portuguese Crown, built and operated from 1810 to 1821, continued by the Brazilian Imperial government from 1822 to 1889, closed in 1895 and reopened in 1917 because of the First World War, to be finally closed in 1926.

The occurrence of magnetic iron ore at the Araçoiaba Hill, was recognized since 1590 by Afonso Sardinha (father and son). There, in what was called Furnas Valley (now Iron Creek, Ribeirão do ferro), they did install a bloomery for making iron by the direct method, recognized asthe first attempt to iron manufacturing on American soil.

Until the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family to Brazil, in 1808, the manufacture of iron was monitored in the Colony, having been allowed only in restricted periods. The venture started by Afonso Sardinha (father and son) worked where the Portuguese Crown allowed, especially after them, Domingos Pereira Ferreira.

Since the reform of the University of Coimbra, professor of chemistry Domingos Vandelli encouraged many of his students to study mineralogy and metallurgy. The Portuguese crown sent several of his former students to travel within Europe. Jose Alvares Maciel was a year and a half in Birmingham, England, and Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva and Manuel Ferreira da Camara toured France, Germany, Italy and Sweden for 8 years. Back from trip, Bonifacio was commissioned to restore the factory iron d'Alge Foz, Portugal, where he engaged the German metallurgists Frederico Luiz Varnhagen and Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. Manuel Ferreira da Camara and Aguiar Sá Bittencout returned to Brazil with the project to deploy an Iron Factory in Minas Gerais. With the coming of the royal family to Brazil, the two Germans were invited to contribute to the implementation of other venture steel in Brazil.

The Royal St. John of Ipanema Iron Foundry

D. Rodrigo de Souza Coutinho, minister of D. John VI, instructed Varnhagen and Martim Francisco de Andrada e Silva to design a modern factory to use the iron ore from Araçoiaba. The project was completed in July 1810, estimated at 60 contos. The proposal emphasized the need to bring in European experts experienced in technical steel.

The company was established by Royal Charter from December 4, 1810 as a mixed capital company shareholder with 13 shares belonging to the Portuguese Crown and the 47 private shareholders of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia.

Besides the presence of deposits of magnetite, it was decisive in the choice of location the plenty of wood that would feed the furnaces, and water, still the main driving force in the beginning of 19th century. Thus, the ironmaking activities in hill of Ipanema are related to the dam built in the waters of the River Ipanema.

To deploy it created the District of Ipanema and brought the region a team of Swedish technicians, hired in December 1809, led by Carl Gustav Hedberg . The Swedish team brought books, equipment and tools, but did not start building the blast furnaces that were expected, but instead they build four smaller furnaces for the direct method. These ovens have now disappeared, as a much bigger building was built later on in that site, the so-called Fábrica de Armas Brancas. After getting in disagreement with the managing committee, In 1815, Hedberg was replaced by the German Ludwig Wilhelm Varnhagen (father of Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen), this time clearly commissioned to build the blast furnaces of the factory.

Varnhagen came to Portugal at the invitation of the Portuguese government to direct the Foz de Alge ironworks in 1803. He then traveled to Brazil in 1809, after the royal family and the entire Court moved to Rio de Janeiro. The Royal Iron Mill of São João de Ipanema was yet another of those consequences of the arrival of the Royal Family to Brazil in 1808. Varnhagen was successful in the following seven years. He was able to show that the iron plant at Ipanema could be productive and profitable.[1] TheReal Fábrica de Ferro St. John's Ipanema marked the beginning of the production of iron by the indirect method (producing pig iron) in the country. For short periods it produced a ton and a half of iron per week, producing ammunitions and war material, wire, spades, nails, axes, sickles.

When the Portuguese king D. João VI decided to go back to Portugal, Varnhagen followed him, in 1821.

Later, the army showed concern and interest towards the national steel industry, so that by mid-nineteenth century, Lieutenant Francisco Carlos da Luz was assigned to coordinate both the technical as the financial sector the establishment of such industry.

Under the guidance of Johann Bloem, from the Blast Furnaces of the Real Fábrica de Ferro de Ipanema came out guns and ammunition to the Liberal Revolt. It also produced many of the necessary items to Brazil in the nineteenth century of pans iron mills sugar and coffee, railings, bars, ladders, luminaries, etc. with winning articles in national and international fairs, at the time.

The Iron Factory was again supported by the Brazilian Imperial Government from 1865 to 1889, under the leadership of Joaquim de Souza Mursa.

Considered the birthplace of the national steel industry, the Real Fábrica de Ferro de Ipanema retains less than 20% of its original set. Its twin blast furnaces still exist today and are in the custody of ICMBio through the National Forest of Ipanema, in Iperó.

Official documents of the factory are archived, and mostly for free consultation at different institutions: National Archives National Library of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and File State Public São Paulo (São Paulo).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Manuscripts

External links