ORIGENS DA PEDOLOGIA DO BRASIL: RESENHA HISTÓRICA

Abstract

This paper presents an outline of the historical background of the Brazilian Pedology, from its infancy,soon after the Portuguese occupation, to the early days of the 20th century, when it emerges as a separatebranch of agriculture and earth sciences in Brazil. In order to achieve a broader vista over the BrazilianPedology, a considerable amount of papers, books, reports and bulletins has been consulted and dealtwith, thenceforth a provisional review is presented and discussed. The slow evolution of analyticalobservations of soils in the field is the overall characteristic of this science as a whole. Some little knownnaturalists/scientists, like the Brazilian Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira and the italian Father Antonil, deserve to be considered as prominent beginners of Brazilian pre-Pedology, whilst more traditional naturalists likeAgassiz and Hartt have poor contributions to the understanding of pedology. Others, like Saint-Hilaireand Burton, have made detailed descriptions of soils in Brazil, but both lack the necessary basic knowledgeto explain many aspects of these soils, in terms of chemical, physical and mineralogical atributes. Theindigenous knowledge is also considered, and some examples illutrate the vast empirical view of soils thatwere entirely lost by their extinction, and can never be traced back. We consider that the Brazilian pedologyneeds a closer interplay between earth and agriculture scientists, in order to achieve a higher stand andanswer the many demands that it now faces.