Os saveiros da Baía de Todos-os-Santos: entre as técnicas e as reminiscências.

Abstract

his study focused on understanding the articulation of the trajectory of saveiros present in Todos-os-Santos Bay (BTS), Bahia, since the 16th century, with the socio-spatial transformations of their surroundings and surroundings, based on narratives and reminiscences of saveirista masters. To understand the reasons that led to changes in the use of sloops as technical objects and integral parts of local culture. The analyses and descriptions have been made considering the perspective of the technical system of Milton Santos (2020 [1996]), revealing the historical production of reality in its entirety. In this sequence, the notion of technique linked to saveiros was used as a mediator between man and the environment, as well as from a historical perspective of Walter Benjamin’s open materialism, which considers a construction of past experience. The sloop was an element of unification between the old region of Recôncavo Baiano and the capital, it was the maritime vessel responsible for fulfilling several functions in transporting production from the interior to Salvador and, later, exported to other states and countries. The dominant techniques in the region were essential for its economic development; the physical configuration of the Bay and the surrounding municipalities required techniques that made exploration of the area viable. The end of the 19th century was a period of intense technical transformations that were consolidated as milestones in the modernization process: railways, steam engines, new transport infrastructures, more advanced vessels, in addition to new production and cultivation techniques that made up this new scenario surrounding the Todos-os-Santos Bay. In this context, capitalism expanded its borders and imposed the need for adaptations both in spaces and in the practices and behaviors of individuals, stimulating a reconfiguration of social and economic relations. The geographic space of Todos-os-Santos Bay and the surrounding municipalities began to be redefined based on the new techniques installed. The movement that previously took place via sea and river routes now takes place within these municipalities via highways. The narratives of the saveirista masters evoke a past in which saveiros played a central role in the landscape of Todos-os-Santos Bay; demonstrate a clear awareness of the historical and economic relevance of saveiros to the city of Salvador and its neighbouring municipalities; recognize the technical transformations that contributed to the gradual decline of this vessel and admit, nostalgically, that if it were not for their role in transporting construction materials to islands and other difficult-to access areas, saveiros would probably have already disappeared. In this hiatus, reminiscences of a recent past still sound in the municipalities of Maragogipe, Jaguaripe and “sail” through the waters of Todos-os-Santos Bay.