Planaltina (Federal District) - History

History

Beginning in the first half of the eighteenth century bandeirantes came to this region looking for gold and emeralds. Existing documents do not tell us the exact date of the foundation of Planaltina, but it is believed to be 1790.

According to oral tradition, the first name of the settlement was Mestre D'armas because a blacksmith, expert in the art of fixing and dealing with weapons (armas), settled in the region.

The founding of the nucleus which gave birth to Planaltina is attributed to José Gomes Rabelo, a rancher who transferred from the former capital of the Province of Goiás, to a small lake called Lagoa Bonita, later extending his land to the dwelling known as "Mestre D'armas". A chapel was erected to pay homage to Saint Sebastian, who had supposedly spared the settlers from an epidemic that attacked them at the time. Dona Marta Carlos Alarcão ordered a wooden statue of the saint from Portugal, which was later substituted for a larger one when the church was expanded.

On l9 August 1859 the Assembléia Provincial de Goiás, created the District of Mestre D'armas, which belonged to the municipality of Formosa, Goiás. This date became the official date of the foundation of the city of Planaltina.

In 1891, the Arraial de São Sebastião de Mestre D'armas was raised to the category of Vila by a decree of the governor of the province, Antônio de Faria Albernaz, separating from Formosa.

In 1892 the Vila was officially installed, after the donation of houses for the establishment of the government, the jail, and a school. In this same year the Cruls Commission came to the area to make the first studies for the implantation of the future national capital. The Commission was made up of astronomers, doctors, pharmacists, geologists, botanists, etc. As a result of their work, an area of 14,400 km² was set aside on paper where the future capital would be built. A report was also published giving details on the conditions of the region. Only much later would these studies be put into practice.

In 1910 the name of the town, Mestre D'armas, was changed to Altamir, because of the beauty of the place seen from the surrounding heights.

After 1917, the town began to attract small industries and dried meat producers, tanneries, shoe factories, a hydroelectric plant and a road linking Planaltina to Ipameri. In the same year the name was changed to Planaltina.

In 1922, in the year that one hundred years of Brazilian independence were celebrated, national Deputy Americano do Brasil presented a project to the Chamber of Deputies including in the celebrations the placing of the Founding Stone of the future capital.

The national President, Epitácio Pessoa, made a decree establishing the Founding Stone and designating Engineer Balduino Ernesto de Almeida, Director of the railroad in Goiás to lead the mission.

On 7 September 1922, with a caravan consisting of 40 people the founding stone was placed on Centenário Hill, located 9 km from the town.

In the decade of the thirties there was a cooling off of the movement to relocate the capital, but in 1945 the question was taken up again and Planaltina played host to a commission headed by President Eurico Gaspar Dutra.

In 1955, the commission headed by Marechal José Pessoa Cavalcante established the area and the location of the new capital. The square of the Federal District occupied an area of 5,814 km² and was superimposed on three municipalities of Goiás, one of which was Planaltina, which saw its territory divided in two, with its nucleus remaining inside the Federal District. It lost then its position of a municipality and became an administrative region.

The part that was left in the state of Goiás became known as Planaltina de Goiás, popularly called Brasilinha.

After 1966 Planaltina suffered periodic changes with the establishment of housing tracts (loteamentos) to receive people who could not be settled in the Brasília. Some of these were Vila Vicentina, Setor Residencial Leste (Vila Buritis I, II, e III), Setor Residencial Norte A (Jardim Roriz) and an expansion of the Traditional Sector.

In 1990, after 31 years belonging to the Federal District, Planaltina, like the other administrative regions, voted for governor, senator and district deputy.