ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the logic of place-making during the expansion of Mato Grosso's agribusiness frontier. It is specifically intended to reconcile contrasting interpretations of place dynamics and the connections between place and other geographical categories, such as landscape, spatial frontiers and agricultural development. The chapter clarifies the conceptual framework employed and stimulated by Manoel's figurative language and considers three interpretative concerns that need clarification and will enlighten the analysis of place-based changes. It articulates a single conceptual framework for this chapter able to capture place-making as a multidimensional phenomenon that both includes and excludes social groups according to economic, political, racial and cultural differences, and that has an historical evolution that is far from linear. During most colonial and post-colonial Brazilian history, the north of Mato Grosso was considered a universe apart, mostly occupied by 'intractable' tribes and with little connection with the rest of the country.
