The mandacaru did not blossom: Positivist science at the service of drought control in 1877-1879

Abstract The article surveys the “scientific solutions” proposed to address droughts in Brazil’s semi-arid sertão and frames them within a historical context characterized by scientificism, which then governed Brazilian and Western intellectual thought. It investigates how “men of science” devised theories and practices regarding the region’s nature and sertão society. From this perspective, the article examines the process by which the semi-arid sertão was settled; droughts since the colonial period; the social, political, and economic impact of the great drought of 1877-1879; debates and projects related to the scourge of drought; and the construction of the discourse of drought as a regional and national problem.