Brazil's expanding coffee production in the 1850s…

Brazil's expanding coffee production in the 1850s and 1860s has attracted British investment in railroads to speed transport of the beans to the coast.

The Santos-Sao Paulo Railroad (1868) is the first major breach of the coastal escarpment, which has slowed development of the Southern plateau.

Similarly, in the Northeast railroads begin to cut into the interior from the coast, but generally the pattern is to connect a port with its export-oriented hinterland, creating a series of enclaves that are connected with each other by sea.

Well into the twentieth century, Brazil will lack railroads and highways linking its major regions, urban areas, and economic zones.

The country is laced together by intricate networks of mule trails that move goods and people throughout the vast interior.

Viewed as archaic by modern observers, the mule train trails nonetheless are important in Brazil's formation, tying the various regions together and spreading a common language and culture.