“We are all Garimpeiros:” Settlement and Movement in Communities of the Tapajós Small‐Scale Gold Mining Reserve

Scholars have been carrying out research into the urbanization of the Brazilian Amazon since the 1960s. This article addresses the role of small-scale gold mining in urbanization, by focusing on local processes in two mining settlements in the Tapajos Mineral Province: Creporizao and Creporizinho. This analysis addresses why mobility and temporary settlement, which are traditional characteristics of small-scale gold mining, are gradually giving way to longer stays in these mining settlements. Over the years, irregular mining settlements have evolved into formalized villages. These settlements attract increasing numbers of families and service providers. This transition from an irregular and provisional settlement to a more stable and formalized one is not a unilateral process, but takes shape through the interaction of local and informal initiatives and passive–reactive local and federal governments. In addition, settlement permanence is to a large extent constructed around the notion of a “garimpeiro community” in which small-scale gold mining lies at the root of a collectively formed identity. In these villages, links with regional urban centers such as Santarem and Itaituba remain strong. In the context of urban development in the region, Creporizao and Creporizinho can still be seen as mining villages, where settlement remains a strategic choice and a stage in the life trajectory of its inhabitants.[Amazon, Brazil, development, geography, migration, urbanization] Resumen Este artigo aborda o papel da mineracao de ouro em pequena escala na urbanizacao da Amazonia brasileira, enfocando os processos locais em dois assentamentos de mineracao na Provincia Aurifera Tapajos. Nossa analise revela tres tendencias na mudanca de mobilidade para permanencia. Em primeiro lugar, evidencia-se que, ao longo dos anos, os assentamentos de mineracao irregulares cresceram em aldeias formalizadas. Mobilidade e permanencias temporais, caracteristicas tradicionais de mineracao de ouro em pequena escala, gradualmente, da lugar a estadias mais longas em assentamentos de mineracao. Fatores cruciais, identidificados nesse processo, sao a presenca de representacao do governo e de infra-estrutura material. Em segundo lugar, essa transicao de assentamentos de forma irregular e provisoria para uma condicao mais estavel e formalizado nao e um processo unilateral. Este processo esta tomando forma atraves da sinergia das iniciativas locais e informais e um governo local e federal, entendido nesta pesquisa no sentido passivo- reativo. Em terceiro lugar, a permanencia e em grande medida construida com a manutencao de uma “comunidade garimpeira” atraves de ligacoes com centros urbanos regionais.