Redes de serviços postais e os correios em Goiás: gênese, formação e sentido territorial

• Autor(a) principal: Barreto, Marcelo Barbosa
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFG
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/11445
• topic: Serviço postal; Correios; Redes técnicas; Formação territorial; Goiás; Postal service; Post offices; Technical networks; Territorial formation; Goiás; CIENCIAS HUMANAS::GEOGRAFIA

Postal services form a type of network fundamental to the formation and functioning of territories in different parts of the world. The means of circulation of messages and objects have improved over time to modern and sophisticated means of transmitting messages and transporting products. The uneven application of technical advancement in the territory makes it possible that today highly advanced means and obsolete practices for exchanging messages and circulation of goods coexist when we analyze postal services at different scales. In the geographical scope, the analysis of this type of technical network can add important contributions to the study of territories. This research aimed to analyze how this type of network contributed to the process of formation of the territory of Goiás, analyzing its emergence, development and the meaning of this network in these stages as well as in the recent period, whose role has been played by the Brazilian Post Office and Telegraphs - ECT. Through bibliographic review, analysis of maps, old documents, data on fleet, staff and establishments, collected with ECT by the Access to Information Law - LAI, etc., in addition to interviews, it was possible to understand how postal services influenced the formation of the Goiás territory. Such services played an important role after the establishment of the first urban centers in the territory of Goiás-Tocantins. The creation of regular mail at the end of the 18th century and the creation of a postal line between Rio de Janeiro and Belém passing through Goiás, a milestone in the attempt at territorial integration. The expansion of the postal network and the emergence of telegraph networks in the late 19th century was important in terms of reducing the communication gap between the hinterland and the coast. With the arrival of the railroad in the second decade of the 20th century in Goiás, postal and telegraph networks gained even more importance, helping with intensified commercial transactions. The Revolution of 1930 united mail and telegraph in the same folder, the DCT, which functioned until the end of the 1960s as a Ministry of Communications. The creation of ECT in 1969 brought a new logic to postal services, whose format remains today. The fact is that postal services have taken on different functions over time. In the gold century it served to keep information about what was happening in the mines, while the service provided by the troops was more commercial. From the 19th century onwards, it assumed a more universal characteristic, seeking to serve all urban agglomerations. In the 20th century, it served as an instrument in political transitions, such as the 1930 Revolution and the 1964 Coup. From the 1970s onwards, it initially assumed the role of a mail transfer network. In the last three decades, in addition to the correspondence service, it has assisted the Federal Government in important national campaigns and public policies. It is currently one of the main means of e-commerce transportation in Brazil. However, even with its public and universal character, it suffered successive attempts at privatization in the 1990s. After a decade and a half of stability and articulation that allowed universal banking service through its network of branches, the debate on privatization is resumed mainly after the 2016 Parliamentary Coup. If postal services in Brazil are privatized, there is a risk that peripheral populations will be neglected by these and other services provided by the Post Office. The careful study of this network, more than revealing its historical and geographical importance, becomes an instrument of struggle and defense of this network that makes it possible for a resident of distant places in the country to exercise their citizenship.