Illegitimacy in the transition between the Empire and the Republic: the case of the state of São Paulo (1886-1900)

Abstract

In Brazil, the study of the condition of legitimacy (affiliation) is a topic that has been studied by the specialized literature, both in the field of History and in that of Historical Demography, especially from the 1980s onwards. The objective of this article is to contribute to the advancement of the debate on illegitimacy, mapping the incidence and the spatial distribution of the phenomenon in the state of São Paulo, at the end of the 19th century, from a different perspective of previous studies, especially in relation to the considered period and the used sources. Thus, data on affiliation in the São Paulo population were analysed from the General Censuses of the Brazilian Population, carried out in 1890 and 1900, in addition to other statistical sources produced for the state of São Paulo. The results point to a different picture in relation to the various zones that make up the state of São Paulo and, although the sources are different, the results corroborate the fundamental role of international immigration, because in the areas where it was more intense, there was a decrease in the percentages of illegitimacy.

Keywords: Illegitimacy; São Paulo; Republican Brazil; Spatial distribution; Census sources; Record vital events