THE STATE OF PIAUÍ AT THE BRAZILIAN NATIONAL EXPOSITION OF 1908

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, expositions were seen as key tools for national modernization, as well as for identifying the country's natural resources in order to point out their potential uses. Thus, the political, economic and intellectual elites from Piauí started to support the state’s attendance to the event, moved by the belief that the exhibition would bring countless benefits to the region, such as investments from the international capital and the improvement of its industries. In this paper, we describe and analyze the role played by Piauí in the Brazilian National Exposition of 1908, which celebrated the first centenary of the opening of the ports to allied nations. Based on local newspapers, catalogs, and official messages, we argue that the fair represented a key moment for promoting the economic potential of the state which, since the second half of the 19th century, saw itself at the border of progress and claimed for more attention from the federal authorities.

Keywords: Piauí, Exposition, Integration.