This article investigates the debates over the location of Brazil’s planned capital as discussed by intellectuals associated with Geography between 1947 and 1960. It focuses on the occupation of the hinterland and on the internal colonization promoted by the March to the West Program beginning in 1938 — with the choice of the capital’s location understood as a product of this colonization. The analysis reveals a triad of possibilities. One of these represented a strategy that employed the notion of an empty space to stabilize the accommodation of divergent class interests, particularly those of the oligarchies opposing the implementation of agrarian reform. This negotiation, and its ultimately moderate outcome, is interpreted here as a form of intermediate politics that could be typified by distinctive Brazilian contours related to spatial organization. The results demonstrate that the site finally chosen expressed the colonizing role of the capital and reflected political affinities with the moderate principles of the March to the West regarding Agrarian Reform. These findings also suggest that this type of developmental solution can become a recurring pattern in Brazil’s history, thereby contributing to the debates on state planning and national development from a geographical perspective. • The planning of Brazil’s capital sought to address the problem of land concentration. • The choice of its location must be understood within the context of the March to the West. • The chosen site represented a moderate solution , particularly regarding the issue of agrarian reform. • The spatial component was fundamental to this accommodation. • This planning followed a gradual pace in addressing Brazil’s national problems.
Larissa Alves de Lira (Tue,) studied this question.