The origin of the name "Petrolina" comes from the merging of the
original name "Pedra Linda", or "Beautiful Rocks". The
growth of Petrolina and its sister city Juazeiro is the result of the
construction of the Sobradinho Dam and the abundant availability of water for
irrigation in these otherwise desert soils. The region is perhaps the only one
in the interior of the Northeast that has gained population through
in-migration. While the population in the states of Pernambuco and Bahia as a
whole increased by 50.1% between 1970 and 1990, it more than doubled in
Petrolina-Juazeiro.
For many years the economy of
