“É preciso deixar alguma conversa para testificar que vivemos”: a trajetória da família Faria Fraga no alto sertão da Bahia (Caetité 1842-1889)

Abstract

This dissertation aims to discuss the performance of the FariaFraga family in the atop hinterland of Bahia, more specifically, in the city of Caetité between the years 1842-1889. The temporal cut of this study is justified by the involvement of the FariaFraga in two remarkable moments. The first refers to the year of execution of the company Father Manoel José GonçalvesFraga& Cardoso, a firm that came from a significant portion of the family's wealth; and the second deals with a criminal case involving Dr. João José de Faria, who, under the pretext of the advent of the Republic in 1889, invaded the Caetité Municipal Jail and released the prisoners. At this interstice, we perceive how public and private business were closely related, at a time when the slave trade made the FariaFraga rich and influential men. In this context, the rivalries, denunciations, silences and articulations of political elites are also observed in the context of uncertainties that were the last decade of the Empire. As a result of these disputes, the news of the Proclamation of the Republic triggered other tensions, redefining the role of the political elites and, more specifically, the FariaFraga in the atop hinterland of Bahia.