São Luís, Maranhão – uma cidade portuária com vocação global: história, inventário de conhecimento, uso e ocupação do solo

Abstract

This research aims to reconstruct the history of the port spaces of the city of São Luís, Maranhão, over a long period of time, considering an interdisciplinary perspective that includes the concepts about the dynamic relationship between the ports and the emergence of the city; the analysis of the changes in the landscape correlated to the socio-spatial dynamism; and to carry out an inventory of the port typologies, considering their structure, material and immaterial culture. This project emerged as part of a larger, thematic project, with funding from the Foundation for Research and Technological Development Support of Maranhão (FAPEMA), contributing to the development of empirical research. Eight field activities were carried out, where it was possible to collect data from interviews, photographic records and points by GPS Gamim eTrex10, which included the georeferencing of natural conditions and anthropic interventions in the ports. Land Use and Coverage data in the ports' area of influence were obtained through the Annual Land Cover Mapping project (MAPBIOMAS), in its Collection 9. To establish the space-time interval, a historical series of LANDSAT images with a resolution of 30 meters was used, through which it was possible to determine the classes. In relation to the year 2023, manual vectorization was carried out, which allowed greater efficiency and accuracy. The proposed methodological approaches contribute to a holistic understanding of the port's evolution and its territorial dynamics. The results present the historical evolution that consolidated São Luís as a strategic port space on a global scale, revealing the economic cycles that shaped the city's occupation dynamics over the centuries, the socio-spatial segregation without the resolution of structural issues, and the port identities linked to intangible culture. The spatial-temporal analysis of the use and coverage of ports made it possible to determine that human occupation in areas close to coastal ecosystems has generated imbalances in their biodiversity, especially due to intense processes of disorderly occupation, deforestation, silting, burning and pollution. The knowledge inventory demonstrated the multiple port typologies, highlighting the memorialistic aspects of the processes of formation of these spaces, and the singularities of these ports in relation to the national port context. The survey made it possible to prepare cartography through historical maps that highlight the port vocation of the city.