The paper reviews contributions to the subject of the history of the timber industry in the Atlantic Forest. After a brief explanation of the general concepts and a more detailed one of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, we have a closer look at previous works, which we organized in two major epochs, the so-called colonial epoch, which is characterized by the Portuguese dominion until the end of the 19th century, and the contemporary one, basically including the first half of the 20th century. In this context we analysed in detail the case of Alto Vale, a high valley of the Uruguay River, situated in the west of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, which has been studied by one of the authors, using the methods of archivist research and historic oral tradition. We conclude our work by giving ideas for future investigation.
Timber exploitation; Brazilian Atlantic forest; South-eastern region; Environmental history
