Petroleum has been utilized throughout history, from Neanderthals using it as an adhesive to its role in Noah's Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its extraction transformed light, heat, and power, marking the onset of the modern oil age. This book offers a comprehensive examination of the social, economic, political, and geopolitical forces that shaped this transition. It narrates an extraordinary origin story, tracing the journey from pre-industrial petroleum use to large-scale production in the mid-nineteenth century and the establishment of a robust oil industry by the early twentieth century. This narrative is intertwined with themes of imperialist violence, political disenfranchisement, economic exploitation, and environmental destruction. The near-total eradication of Native Americans in regions like New York and Pennsylvania is a critical yet overlooked factor in the rise of the first industrialized oil region in the U.S. The book also highlights Britain's invasion of Upper Burma in 1885 as an early conflict driven by oil interests and discusses the genocidal subjugation linked to the growth of Royal Dutch-Shell. Additionally, it presents a new analysis of how the British navy's reliance on foreign oil sources may have contributed to the outbreak of the First World War, underscoring oil's profound impact on the modern world.
