Family generations, hierarchy and Portuguese immigration in Southern Brazil: aspects and factors of the limitations of social opportunities for members of the family Vieira dos Santos (Municipalities of Morretes and Paranaguá, Province of São Paulo, 1812-1848)

Abstract

This article is a study undertaken on trajectories of four individuals of Vieira dos Santos family, lived in the cities of Morretes and Paranaguá, located on the coast of current state of Paraná, in the first half of the nineteenth century. At the time, the municipalities belonged to the jurisdiction of the Province of São Paulo. The main purpose of this article is to highlight the nature of the economic difficulties and constraints of social opportunities descendants of Portuguese immigrants who settled from late eighteenth century, in coastal areas of Southern Brazil. In this context, they are held three arguments. First, it is show that, in this context of south coastal of Province of São Paulo, credit relations generated indissoluble dependency links. Such bonds were transmitted from one generation to another. Second, it is argued that the realization of internal migration was a practice of the Portuguese – and their descendants – less affluent. Migrations were a result of events such as business failure or trying to start a new branch of business life. Third, it is evident in Southern Brazil small merchants from Portugal did not participate in the marriage market made by their countrymen enriched. In summary, the economic distance between the members of the Portuguese immigrant community implied restrictions on the formation of family ties between them. In this context, it is demonstrate that the immigrants who remained family relationships with the Vieira dos Santos were small traders who made up the entourage of creditors of enriched Portuguese.