To master the knowledge, to control the territory: a preamble about the Inspetoria de Obras Contra as Secas maps – Northeast/Brazil 1910-1915

Abstract

The need for expansion of the domain into the interior of the northern part of Brazil, in the late nineteenth century, leds the government to designing, in the first decades of the twentieth century, a technical agency to study the region's potential, which data were converted into maps, that based works against long droughts' effects. Unveiling the application of technical and scientific knowledge contained in a cartographic representation, in defining and dominating the northeastern territory is the objective of this work. To archive it, we analyze three graphic pieces made by the IOCS between 1910 and 1915, published in I-G series, dedicated to the regions plagued by the phenomenon of "droughts". The preparation of cartographic material carries within itself an evolution of technical knowledge about the Northeast and the effectiveness of the work undertaken by the Inspectorate, as well as representing the State´s scope and control.