The railways in Ceará: an analysis of the conformation and consolidation of the urban network (1873-1926)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the urban network of the Province/State of Ceará based on the configuration of the Ceará railway network, formed by the Baturité Railway and the Sobral Railway. To analyze the centrality and hierarchy of railway cities in the urban network, we chose five unique conditions: 1 – population of railway cities, 2 – the condition of end of tracks; 3 – revenues collected by stations, 4 – the administrative division of the network of cities that make up the railways in Ceará, and, finally, 5 – the architectural grandeur of the railway station building. The established time frame (1873-1926) includes the year of inauguration of the first railway section in the province of Ceará, in 1873, until the year 1926, when the Baturité Railway reaches Crato, a city located in Cariri, Ceará. The research has an approach in Urban Historical Geography (Abreu, 2000, 2006; Maia, 2014, 2019; Vasconcelos, 2009). The methodology consists of analyzing various documentary sources found in different memory institutions available in electronic media and physical collections. The results indicate that the implementation of the railway made it possible to consolidate some railway cities as important regional centers, such as the cities of Sobral, Baturité and Crato.