It took a trans-Atlantic journey for São Paulo historian Daniel Strum, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to find the answers he sought about the sugar trade in colonial Brazil. In the archives of Porto (Oporto) and Lisbon, Portugal, and Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, he found a rich trove of research materials for his project “Sugar in Turbulent Waters: The Trade between Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands (1595-1618).” Based on his Ph.D. dissertation in History defended at the Israeli university, his project is the winner of the sixth edition of the Clarival do Prado Valladares Prize.

By cross-referencing several sources, the scholar has produced a detailed reconstruction of the vagaries of the sugar trade, one of the economic activities that, historically, had the strongest influence on the shaping of Brazil’s geopolitical space. The result will be published in book form at the end of 2011, with the help of Odebrecht.

“The traditional way of writing history has focused on the production of the plantations, slavery, and the occupation of space during the colonial period. There are no specific, methodical studies on the sugar trade, particularly how the existing obstacles were overcome,” says Strum, whose work was selected from among 218 entries.

An Odebrecht Group initiative created in 2003, the Clarival do Prado Valladares Prize encourages historical research on important subjects related to Brazil’s economic and socio-political development. For scholars like Strum, it is an opportunity to share their knowledge with the public. “This award recognizes the vast effort made to understand an activity that has had such an extensive and varied impact on people’s lives,” he observes.