Before we delve into its production and other details; let’s take two world history topics related to rubber.
Story of Amazon Rubber Boom and Rubber Theft
Amazon Basin covers almost 40% of the South American continent and it is shared by eight countries viz. Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Out of these, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru were the ONLY exporters of natural rubber before the Hevea plants were cultivated anywhere else in the world. For at least thirty years (1879–1912) Natural Rubber is known to have underpinned one of the most important development booms in these countries particularly Brazil.
This so called Amazon Rubber boom happened at a time when industrial revolution was expanding.
…show more content…
This is how the rubber boom really got started. The huge demand was met by the rubber trees of Amazonia. The region which was hitherto poor and sparsely populated suddenly saw heaps of wealth. Many banks and companies opened in Brazilian towns of Belem and Manaus; and the poor jungle towns soon become rich, sophisticated, progressive urban centres, with a cosmopolitan population that patronized the theatre, literary societies, and luxury stores, and supported good schools. In Brazilian history, this period is called “Belle Époque” period and its splendour has been widely portrayed in art and literature of that country.
With a 42,000 tonnes of rubber output, Brazil became the ruler of the world rubber market by the end of 19th century. However, in the meantime, Rubber Tree seeds were smuggled by British from Amazonia to the Botanical gardens of London. There, more resistant varieties were developed through grafting and then they were sent to British Colonies in Asia, particularly Malaysia, Singapore and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). {Brazilians still lament on this episode and call it Rubber
Globalisation has been crucial to the economic and social development of Brazil. In the late twentieth century Brazil face years of economic, political and social instability experiencing high inflation, high income inequality and rapidly growing poverty. However after a change of government in the 1990s and large structural changes in both the economic and social landscapes, the brazilian economy has been experiencing a growing middle class and reduced income gap. Since the start of the 21st century, brazil has benefitted from the move to a more global economy.
“Latin America includes the entire continent of South America, as well as Mexico. Central America, and the Caribbean Islands. Physical geography has played an important role in the economic development of Latin America.” (Doc A and Doc G) Latin America has many unique cultural characteristics, industrial products, agricultural products, and human activity.
Initially, Portuguese traders began to export the brazil wood tree, Brazil’s namesake, for the luc...
Forced labor system in Amazonia, isolated their workers—often being seParáted from others, working long trails and seParáted from their family. Based on primary accounts of explorers of the Amazon during the Rubber Boom, there are documented accounts of forced laborers being sick from European diseases, their native wives were sexually assaulted and their children were sold as servants. Survivors experienced a loss of their ethnic identity and forced from their lands. Because conditions were unfavorable to the rubber tappers, Rubber Barons had a constant fear of employees leaving without paying their debts. To insure tappers would not return to their previous homes Rubber Barons “exerted greater control over their labor forces by building portage roads around the rapids and patrolling the only safe passages downstream.” Many of the patrols would be armed, forcing laborers to produce rubber at higher rates and making sure they would not leave without paying off their debts.
= Mass production was also a key factor in the Boom. The new use of 'assembly lines' meant that production was far cheaper and faster. The first to start using this technology was Henry Ford, a car manufacturer. By 1925, Ford was producing one car every ten seconds, this meant more profit for America, and many jobs were available for people to work doing one job on the assembly line.
The job was quick and straightforward, resulting in an increased rise in production and therefore 'boom' in economy. America's great regional diversity made it seem likely that the 'boom' was always going to occur. An example of a newly formed industry in the East was the motor car industry. The car... ... middle of paper ... ...
Introduction Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America. It is the 5th largest country worldwide in terms of both areas (more than 8.5 Mio. km2) and inhabitants (appr. 190 million).
In the article "Deep in the Amazon, an unseen battle over the most valuable trees" i found a quote that supports my claim,“Making diagonal cuts in the bark from the rubber tree to make sap” . This quote supports my claim because they make diagonal cuts in the rubber tree so it won't harm the trees and make them die quicker or it won't produce weaken rubber. This explains how rubber tappers don't hurt the rainforest and how they care for the trees in the
Before 1930, the Brazilian economy was dominated by a number of agricultural and mineral products for export. The world economic depression of the 1930s encouraged the government to diversify the economy, particularly through industrialization. Consequently, the importance of agriculture and mining has fallen significantly. A major objective of Brazil's industrialization policy was to replace imported manufactures with Brazilian-made ones. It is now able to export goods such as iron ore, soybeans, footwear, and coffee. Its imports include machinery and equipment, chemical products, oil, and electricity.
In the current economic times the development and growth of any economy has come to a near stop or at least to a drastic slow down. The face of the global economic environment has changed and many new countries are starting to change the way their country and the rest of the world does business. One such nation is Brazil, who has turned around their own economic troubles and is becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world (World Factbook). Brazil has started developing its economy and using the opportunity to achieve a level of respect in the world.
The boom began as a result of America’s immense industrial power. This was caused in large part by the First World War and the unique nature of America’s involvement therein. For most of the war America did not actively participate, and instead lent money and exported arms, munitions and food supplies to the Allies (Walsh 187). They also took the opportunity to expand their markets in the colonies of the warring countries, and they reaped economic benefits. Furthermore the war conveniently destroyed their industrial competitors; after the war, many countries’ industries were impoverished. Their industries in steel, coal, oil and textiles remained strong after the war, and their chemical and film industries developed; America was the industrial leader of the world (Walsh 186). Moreover the growth and actions of these businesses were left unregulated by the predominantly Republican gover...
Conversion of the tropical forest into cropland and pasture began a long time ago in Ecuador, before their secession from Spain. Their major crop was cocoa, which was grown along the waterways to be exported out as their main source of trade. Due to the fact that after World War II expansion accelerated throughout the northwestern section of the forest, a highway system was put into construction. At this point in time, the Ecuadorian Amazon consisted of a few small towns that had been established in valleys and at the base of the mountains. Indigenous g...
2. Burns, Bradford E. . A History of Brazil: Second Edition. New York: Cornell University Press, 1980.
The 500th birthday of modern-era Brazil was celebrated in 2000, recognizing April 1500, the date that the first Portuguese explorer, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, first landed on Brazilian shores on the north-east coast of Bahia (Fausto). Like many post-colonial countries, Brazil’s official “birth” is only representative of the date that Europeans arrived, not taking into account the fact that many Amerindians already inhabited the vast nation. Nonetheless, following the year 1500, the Portuguese established Brazil as a major trade route and economic zone for the cross-Atlantic European trading companies, as plantations and economic enterprises began to spring up across the lands. Some of the major economic advantages found in the land’s resources were sugar and tobacco plantations, wood and gold, which was in plenty of supply especially in the 17th century (Fausto). With the growing number of plantations also brought a significant amount of slave trade from Africa, a situation which contributes to the complicated identity that has existed throughout history for Brazilian citizens. The Portuguese were able to manage...
In the early 1970's, the Brazillian military urged people to allocate to new land in hopes of more modern society that would allieviate poverty and encourage social stability in other areas of the country by having the people move to what they thought was empty land. They ignored the already in place indigenous people that have for many centuries, as we learned in the book "Nature Across Cultures", have shaped the past and the development of the Amazonia through Indigenous knowledge. The ancestors of their ancestors are responsible for creating the vast