PARANÁ'S GEOMORPHOLOGICAL HERITAGE - THE LANDSCAPE ALONG THE MULETEERS TRACK

Abstract

An important muleteers track passes through Paraná State in a southnorth way showing a strong historical contents connected intrinsically to the landscape, especially to the remarkable geomorphology. Since the beginning of the gold discovery, in Minas Gerais, in the end of the 17th century, the necessity of mules of burden became fundamental for the economic development of the former Portuguese colony. To form an official track for displacing beasts of burden from southern Brazil as far as the gold mining, in the 18th century, there was as main difficulty the definition of a plan of 2000km considering the geomorphological conditioning factors. Nowadays, a touristic project and also a historical ramson, the Rota dos Tropeiros, one of the oldest Brazilian routes which connected southern Brazil to the economic centers, links 16 cities of Paraná. Thanks to this culture and also to the beautiful natural heritage, this touristic project presents a complex relation among historical, social, cultural and natural features. The resulted landscape is a rich and diverse patrimony, conditioned, specially, by geomorphology and its geological substratum. Characteristics of a predominantly gentle relief, plentiful water and pasture in Campos Gerais region have been fundamental for the transport of hundreds of mules and turn impossible divide the cultural elements from the natural ones within an analysis of a patrimony.