Poder e administração no Maranhão Oitocentista: o caso da Colônia Militar do Gurupi

Study concerning the administrative practices and social relations established by the directors of a microcosm of the brazilian administration: the Military Settlement of Sao Pedro de Alcântara do Gurupi. It investigates, stemming from the diverse historiographical approaches on the thematic and by an exhausting documentary research, the different forms in which the imperial administration in the Second Reign was carried through, taking as both starting and arriving point the Military Settlement of Gurupi. Created in 1853, this colony was an enterprise of the Brazilian government in the Empire, installed in the right edge of the Gurupi river, in the border between Maranhao and Para. The guardianship of the State ended in the year of 1878, excited by the recurrent questionings on the efficiency of this enterprise. This study stems from the historiographical debates about State and power, as well as the debate about the public administration in Brazil. It is based, basically, in primary documentation, resting upon the historical and sociological literature concerning the thematic.