The Rondon Commission, diseases, and politics: "Região do Madeira: Santo Antônio," by Joaquim Augusto Tanajura - another view of the Alto Madeira in 1911

Abstract

Physician Joaquim Augusto Tanajura (1878-1941), head of health services for the Rondon Commission from 1909 to 1912, wrote a paper about the first scientific journeys sponsored by the Oswaldo Cruz Institute. Entitled "Região do Madeira: Santo Antônio," it was published in the newspaper Jornal do Commercio de Manáos on June 5, 1911, at a time when rediscovery of Brazil's sertões had just begun and indictments were starting to be lodged about the state of abandonment and disease in which the interior of the country lay. Through Doctor Tanajura's article, the present text analyzes both the engagement of members of the Rondon Commission in local political dynamics and the era's controversies about construction of the image of the sertão and its inhabitants.