"Corrente de piedade": Caridade e migraçao cearense para a Amazônia (séculos XIX-XX)

This text focuses on the role played by charities in Belém of Pará (Brazil) at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, when population increased owing to massive migration from the northeast region of Brazil. In this context issues such as the fear of migrants, civilization, progress and modernity, organized the efforts of part of the population towards the new arrived. The article thus discusses the diverse meanings given to philanthropy by authorities and local population.