title: The expansion of the economic frontier and the diffusion of violence in the Amazon.
abstract: Over the last few decades, the occupation of the Amazon and the expansion of large-scale economic activities have exerted a significant negative impact on the Amazonian environment and on the health of the Amazon's inhabitants. These processes have altered the context of the manifestation of health problems in time and space and changed the characteristics of the spatial diffusion of health problems in the region. This study analyzed the relationships between the various economic processes of territorial occupation in the Amazon and the spatial diffusion of homicidal violence through the configuration of networks of production, as well as the movements of population and merchandise. Statistical data on violence, deforestation, the production of agricultural items, and socio-economic variables, georeferenced and available for the 771 municipalities of the Legal Amazon were used in this study. The results suggest that the diffusion of violence closely follows the economic expansion front, which is related to deforestation and livestock production but has little relation to grain production, demonstrating steps and typologies of recent occupation in the Amazon that promote violence. These spatial patterns reveal environmental and socio-economic macro-determinants that materialize in geographic space through the construction of highways and the formation of city networks.
authors.affiliation: National School of Public Health (ENSP)-Fiocruz, Street Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480-Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21041-210, Brazil. ptfeitosa@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Patrícia Feitosa
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Information Laboratory Health-LIS, Laboratory GIS, Avenue Brasil, 4365 Pavilhão Hai ty Moussatché, Sala 231-Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21045-900, Brazil. diegoricardox@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Diego Ricardo
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.affiliation: Space and Territory Health Laboratory, Department of Geography, University Paris Ouest Nanterre Defense, 200 Avenue, Republic Nanterre, Paris 92000, France. stephane.rican@u-paris10.fr.
authors.forename: Stephane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rican
authors.affiliation: Information Laboratory Health-LIS, Laboratory GIS, Avenue Brasil, 4365 Pavilhão Hai ty Moussatché, Sala 231-Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21045-900, Brazil. vanderlei.matos@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vanderlei Pascoal
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: de Matos
authors.affiliation: Information Laboratory Health-LIS, Laboratory GIS, Avenue Brasil, 4365 Pavilhão Hai ty Moussatché, Sala 231-Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21045-900, Brazil. xris@fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Christovam
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barcellos
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D001938:Brazil; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: pioneer area; spatial analysis; spatial diffusion of disease; violence