Abstract
The role of geology in the modernisation of Brazil during the Empire (1822-1889) and the First Republic (1889-1930) is remarkable since the 1870s, when related socioeconomic demands and the institutional model adopted were interlinked, reflecting the accentuated growth in the agro-exporting economy of coffee and the intensification of the scientific cli mate marked by positivism and Spencerism The demands posed by coffee economy involved providing a solution for the lack of availability of adequate land for agriculture. The institutional model chosen to face these questions was that of the 'Geological Surveys', a tradition well-established in the Western world. A first national survey appeared in 1875, a second, regional one, was founded in the state of São Paulo in 1886, and a third one, national, and of strongly applied character, was founded in 1907: the 'Geological and Min eralogical Survey of Brazil'. Its trajectory from the foundation until 1934 is the focus of the present paper.
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