The newly accumulated empirical data for this book come from a wide variety of sources. The sources and treatment for these variables merit detailed explanation.

Laws and Decrees

In commemoration of its fiftieth anniversary (1992), the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce commissioned a five-volume history of mining in Brazil. The Coletânea da Legislação, from this collection, offers identifying information and the ementa (brief abstract) of federal legislation affecting mining. This publication has served to identify national-level legislation from 1891 to 1946. When consulting the full text of legislation, I have relied on the official Brazilian government website. Accumulating the appropriate legislation from the pre-Republican era and for the state of Minas Gerais required other sources. The comprehensive guide to the legislation of imperial Brazil provided the finding aid to identify legislation by its subject. The official website provides identifying data, ementa and when necessary the text of the legislation. For the legislation from Minas Gerais (Chapter 4 and Appendix Table A.1B), I have relied on the indexation that the library of the state assembly is compiling (as of 2007, which they kindly shared with me). Laws passed but not enabled through subsequent legislation are not included. (However, Appendix Table A.1A, with the most important legislation that fundamentally shaped mining, identifies important laws that were passed, but did not take effect.) I have also excluded legislation that re-authorized, without change, existing provisions.