The role of water mills in Brazil

Abstract

This article seeks to recall the importance of the study of the history of techniques for understanding the agrarian structures and cultural landscapes of Brazil. Through the history of hydraulic mills in the country, it seeks to point out the existing potential in the material culture associated and in a historical approach to terminology. Thus three major issues are addressed: the role of the mills in the agrarian structures of the hinterlands, the Mediterranean roots of the techniques involved in the construction of these machines and the importance of remaining millstones.