Abstract
The article analyzes the transformations in the rural landscape of the state of Paraná, Brazil, in the 1960s. Fo-cus is given to the environmental disaster (forest fire) occurred in 1963 which killed 110 persons, left thousan-ds of them homeless, and destroyed forests and crops. The relationship between humans and the environment is the main hypothesis for such a catastrophe. It is thus highly relevant to give historicity to such relationships, in order to understand the true meaning of the event and how it is part of a wider context, marked by the eradication of coffee plantations in the northern region and the deforestation in the central region of the state.
Keywords:
environmental disasters; coffee plantations; pine-tree forests; forest fires; landscape; Paraná.