Esta pesquisa trata da formação e urbanização do município de Varginha, situado no Sul de Minas Gerais, do período de sua emancipação (1882) até 1920. Varginha foi uma das cidades sul-mineiras emancipadas num contexto de expansão da atividade da cafeicultura pelo estado, sendo elevada à categoria de vila justamente quando o Brasil como um todo passava por modernização de padrões de consumo, com destaque para o processo de urbanização, ou seja, a transição do século XIX para o século XX. Abordou-se o processo de urbanização do município por meio, sobretudo, de atas de Câmara, registros de imóveis e inventários post-mortem pertencentes ao município, formado pela cidade de Varginha e, na época, os distritos de Pontal e Carmo da Cachoeira. Com as atas da Câmara Municipal, foi destacado o processo de urbanização local conduzido pelos vereadores, com a aprovação de projetos e leis relativos às melhorias urbanas; por meio dos registros de imóveis, partindo de análises das transações de imóveis rurais e urbanos, foi possível compreender como parte da população lidava com as transformações do espaço urbano; por fim, com a utilização dos inventários post-mortem, considerando a estrutura de riqueza do conjunto de inventariados e de membros da elite, entendemos quem eram as personagens que mais se beneficiavam das transformações urbanas. Com esses três grupos de fontes primárias além de demais fontes e bibliografia empregadas na dissertação foi possível reconstruir a História Econômica de Varginha, dando atenção para as especificidades de seu processo de urbanização. Varginha passava por transformações em seu espaço urbano, porém, ao mesmo tempo, contava com grande peso de atividades ligadas ao campo, daí o processo de urbanização marcado pela presença de uma elite agrária. / This research describes the development and urbanization of the city of Varginha, located in southern Minas Gerais, from the period of their emancipation (1882) until 1920. Varginha was one of the emancipated towns from the south of Minas Gerais in a context of expansion of the coffee growing activity by the state, it was elevated to a village just when Brazil as a whole was undergoing modernization consumption patterns, highlighting the process of urbanization, that is, the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Its urbanization process was dealt with, mainly, by using records of the city council, property registrations and postmortem inventories belonging to the municipality, which was formed by the city of Varginha and, at the time, the districts of Pontal and Carmo da Cachoeira. With the records of the city council, the local urbanization process conducted by city councilors was highlighted, with the approval of projects and laws relating to urban improvements; by the property records, from analysis of rural and urban real estate transactions, it was possible to understand how a share of the population dealt with the transformation of urban space; finally, with the use of postmortem inventories, considering the wealth structure of the set of inventoried and members of the elite, we understand who were the characters who most benefited from the urban transformations. With these three groups of primary sources in addition to other sources and references used in the dissertation it was possible to reconstruct the Economic History of Varginha, focusing on the specifics of its urbanization process. Varginha was undergoing changes in its urban space, but at the same time, had a great amount of activities related to the countryside, hence the process of urbanization marked by the presence of agrarian elite.

Esta pesquisa trata da formação e urbanização do município de Varginha, situado no Sul de Minas Gerais, do período de sua emancipação (1882) até 1920. Varginha foi uma das cidades sul-mineiras emancipadas num contexto de expansão da atividade da cafeicultura pelo estado, sendo elevada à categoria de vila justamente quando o Brasil como um todo passava por modernização de padrões de consumo, com destaque para o processo de urbanização, ou seja, a transição do século XIX para o século XX. Abordou-se o processo de urbanização do município por meio, sobretudo, de atas de Câmara, registros de imóveis e inventários post-mortem pertencentes ao município, formado pela cidade de Varginha e, na época, os distritos de Pontal e Carmo da Cachoeira. Com as atas da Câmara Municipal, foi destacado o processo de urbanização local conduzido pelos vereadores, com a aprovação de projetos e leis relativos às melhorias urbanas; por meio dos registros de imóveis, partindo de análises das transações de imóveis rurais e urbanos, foi possível compreender como parte da população lidava com as transformações do espaço urbano; por fim, com a utilização dos inventários post-mortem, considerando a estrutura de riqueza do conjunto de inventariados e de membros da elite, entendemos quem eram as personagens que mais se beneficiavam das transformações urbanas. Com esses três grupos de fontes primárias além de demais fontes e bibliografia empregadas na dissertação foi possível reconstruir a História Econômica de Varginha, dando atenção para as especificidades de seu processo de urbanização. Varginha passava por transformações em seu espaço urbano, porém, ao mesmo tempo, contava com grande peso de atividades ligadas ao campo, daí o processo de urbanização marcado pela presença de uma elite agrária. / This research describes the development and urbanization of the city of Varginha, located in southern Minas Gerais, from the period of their emancipation (1882) until 1920. Varginha was one of the emancipated towns from the south of Minas Gerais in a context of expansion of the coffee growing activity by the state, it was elevated to a village just when Brazil as a whole was undergoing modernization consumption patterns, highlighting the process of urbanization, that is, the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Its urbanization process was dealt with, mainly, by using records of the city council, property registrations and postmortem inventories belonging to the municipality, which was formed by the city of Varginha and, at the time, the districts of Pontal and Carmo da Cachoeira. With the records of the city council, the local urbanization process conducted by city councilors was highlighted, with the approval of projects and laws relating to urban improvements; by the property records, from analysis of rural and urban real estate transactions, it was possible to understand how a share of the population dealt with the transformation of urban space; finally, with the use of postmortem inventories, considering the wealth structure of the set of inventoried and members of the elite, we understand who were the characters who most benefited from the urban transformations. With these three groups of primary sources in addition to other sources and references used in the dissertation it was possible to reconstruct the Economic History of Varginha, focusing on the specifics of its urbanization process. Varginha was undergoing changes in its urban space, but at the same time, had a great amount of activities related to the countryside, hence the process of urbanization marked by the presence of agrarian elite.

« Nulle part n'existe un aussi grand nombre d'agronomes qui consacrent leurs talens et leurs veilles à découvrir et à répandre les vérités utiles, ni un aussi grand nombre d'excellens ouvrages sur l'agriculture, et nulle part il n'y a un aussi grand nombre de fermiers ignorans et incapables de comprendre ce qu'il leur importeroit le plus d'apprécier ». Tel est le panorama de l’agriculture française dressé en 1821 par Désiré Ordinaire, membre de la Société d’agriculture du Doubs. Cette image d’une France agricole peu capable d’innovation – à l’exception des grands propriétaires agronomes – est longtemps restée ancrée dans la pensée des chercheurs, qui trop souvent ont considéré que l’agriculture a commencé à se développer avec le productivisme des années 1960. Selon nous, le « développement agricole » est pourtant un processus plus ancien, qui trouve ses fondements dans des initiatives individuelles ou collectives parfois précoces. Après avoir précisé le concept de « développement agricole », nous nous sommes donc appliqués à démontrer qu’au XIXème siècle déjà, l’agriculture française est dynamique. L’exemple du département du Doubs permet alors d’étudier les modalités du passage à la spécialisation pastorale. L’analyse des acteurs du développement agricole au cours des XIXème et XXème siècles, adossée aux méthodes prosopographique et micro-historique, autorise à proposer des éclaircissements sur les changements du monde agricole et sur leur chronologie.Au final, le suivi de plus de 800 individus – membres de la Société d’agriculture, des comices et des chambres consultatives, des syndicats et des mutuelles, ou encore des lauréats de certains concours – permet de préciser et de périodiser l’émergence des élites agricoles, acteurs du développement. Ces élites n’ont pas forcément fait le choix de la spécialisation pastorale, révélant ainsi un processus complexe entre agricolisation et pastoralisation. / « There is nowhere such a large number of agronomists who devote their talents and their days to discover and spread useful truths, nor such a large number of excellent works on agriculture, and there is nowhere such a large number of ignorant farmers, incapable of understanding what it would be important for them to appreciate ». Such is the panorama of French agriculture drawn up in 1821 by Désiré Ordinaire, member of the Agricultural Society of the Doubs. This picture of agricultural France with little ability to innovate – except for the great landowner agronomists – has long been fixed in the minds of researchers, who have often considered that agriculture started to develop with the high productivity of the 1960s. We believe that « agricultural development »is, however, an older process, rooted in individual or collective initiatives which were sometimes very early. After clarifying the concept of « agricultural development », we therefore seek to prove that French agriculture had already been dynamic during the nineteenth century. The example of the Doubs department enables us to study how it moved on to pastoral specialization. The analysis of the actors of the agricultural development during the 19th and 20th centuries, backed by prosopographical and micro-historical methods, allows us to throw light on the changes in agriculture, on their chronology.Finally, the monitoring of over 800 people – members of the Agricultural Society, of the country fair and consultative chambers, of the trade unions and mutual insurance companies, or else prizewinners – enables us to specify and date the periods when the agrarian elite, the actors in this development, emerged. This elite did not necessarily choose pastoral specialization, thus showing a complex relationship between agriculturalisation and pastoralization.