FROM THE MARAÚ MARGINS IN IMPERIAL BRAZIL TO THE CREATION OF PETROBRAS: 100 YEARS OF NATIONAL OIL GEO-HISTORY

Abstract

This article aims to present 100 years of geo-history of Brazilian oil. We will not deal here with the description of “long duration”, a geographical or structural time, as it is assumed that such dimension permeates and inexorably encompasses other historical times, and their respective geographical impositions of the environment over civilizations. As a method, backed by Fernand Braudel and Therezinha de Castro, this article was built connected to the medium time of the conjunctures (the oil era) and the short time of historical facts (financial crises, economic embargoes, agreements, coups d'état, and political decisions). It was noticed, in the course of the research, the existence of four distinct phases in the history of oil in Brazil. Phase 1: Oil in Imperial Brazil; phase 2: Oil: from the first republic until its discovery in Brazil; phase 3: Oil: from the creation of Petrobras to the breaking of the monopoly in 1997; and phase 4: Oil: from breaking Petrobras' monopoly to the pre-salt and the new regulatory framework for the sector in Brazil. Here are presented the first two phases, oil in imperial Brazil and in the first republic until the creation of Petrobras.