In the second half of the 18th century, the farm served as a temporary shelter for the cattle that came from Bahia to supply Pernambuco sugar devices with animal power.

The proprietors of the Fazenda Grande, captain Jose Maciel Pear tree and his wife D. Joana de Souza Silveira, had donated their lands to the Bom Jesus dos Aflitos, in 1778, in the notary's office of the Farm Riacho do Navio.

After four days the "Sociedade Progressista Arborizadora" was created for the florestanos João Gomes Barbosa and Alfredo Barros, being the first one called by Álvaro Ferraz, in its book Floresta, Pai dos Tamarindos.

The municipality contains part of the 625 hectares (1,540 acres) Serra Negra Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit created in 1982.

Its exuberant nature, also with some typical flora species of the Amazon region, was studied by important researchers, among them professor Vasconcelos Sobrinho.

It contains part of the 1,485 hectares (3,670 acres) Maurício Dantas Private Natural Heritage Ecological Reserve, created in 1997 to protect an area of caatinga vegetation.