From its inception, certainly as early as 1730, until well into the nineteenth century, Petrolina was known for its function as the place where travelers from the dry interior (the states of Ceará, Maranhão, and Piauí and the Pernambucan municipality of Ouricuri) crossed the São Francisco River to reach Juazeiro and other points in the states of Bahia or Minas Gerais. By i860, it had become a povoada, or village; on June 7, 1862, it was classified as a freguesia (an ecclesiastical administrative unit) and named Petrolina (a reference either to Emperor Dom Pedro II or to the local abundance of stones [pedras]). In the same year its first church was erected, and two years later its first parish priest, Manoel Joaquim da Silva, was appointed. In June 1879 Petrolina officially became a vila, or town, and on April 25, 1893, it was constituted as a municipality. Having been separated from the muncipality of Santa Maria de Boa Vista to the east, it now also adjoined the municipalities of Ouricuri to the north and Afrânio to the west and touched the state of Bahia to the south along the São Francisco River. In 1895 the classification of the municipality's urban center was changed from “town” to “city” and September 25 is now celebrated as its anniversary. Situated in the area now known as the “drought polygon,” Petrolina was some 650 kilometers from Recife, the state capital.