From salt to sodium brandstand: extration, industrialization and salt trade around Lagoa de Araruama ( 1850-1900)
Salt. Industrial development. Region.
This paper is focused on the salt production around Araruama's Lagoon, surrounded nowadays
by the cities of Saquarema, Araruama and Cabo Frio, comprising the period of the second
half of the 19th Century. The main objective of this work investigates the incentives of
the Colonial and late wards Republican Government, to the industrial development of the
area, known by the end of that Century as Salty Lowlands. The wide use of primary information
sources such as newspapers, legal argumentation and industrial patent requests, provided
rich information for a deep analysis of the salt production disputes, concerning both political
and academic environment, either locally or nationally. Herein, we bring the primordial origins
of such well-succeeded regional business, which found its apogee and decadence, within
the 20th Century.