The aim of this paper is to reconsider the information about occupation of the population of Minas Gerais, in order to rectify the prominence of the textile industry in its economy. The evidence presented here is original and has been derived from a new classificatory scheme based on data provided by two official records, namely the Nominative Lists of the Population of Minas Gerais for the years 1831-32 and the 1872 General Census of the Empire. On the basis of such scheme, it was then possible to reconstruct the occupational structure of the population, and therefore reinforce as well as restore the importance of textiles, and of female labour, in the economy of the time.
Women; textile industry; Economic History
