Development & Conservation 39 Commodity Extraction: Rubber Boom, 1860-1910
In the mid-nineteenth century, the commoditization of rubber ignited foreign interest in the Peruvian Amazon (Barham & Coomes, 1996). European explorers were aware of the natural rubber in the Amazon as early as 1743 and indigenous tappers3 were familiar with its extraction (Weinstein, 1983). Natural rubber was used in products such as raincoats and erasers, but it had several undesirable qualities—it was extremely sticky and broke down easily—that limited its value (Weinstein, 1983). This changed drastically with the discovery of the vulcanization process in 1839 (Barham & Coomes, 1996). Vulcanization removed the undesirable qualities of rubber, providing the Western world, which was in the early years of industrial revolution, with an ideal material for manufacturing items such as tires and gaskets (Weinstein, 1983). This discovery was to have direct effects on land use in the Western Amazon. With the commoditization of Rubber, the Peruvian Amazon became a prime target for Western extraction. Rubber barons claimed land, investment poured into the area, railroads were constructed, and native tappers were conscripted as the principle extractors of rubber (Weinstein, 1983). The local populations in the Amazon had never recovered from disease, so the influx of workers migrating to the area contributed to a growing population. However, foreign interest was restricted to rubber; they were not concerned with the land or the labourers. Indigenous workers were used, not to develop the area, but because “Amazonian settlers simply did not have access to large numbers of African slaves” (Weinstein, 1983). European and US prospectors’ interest in the area was based solely on profit. With no way to make them accountable for their actions, prospectors often exploited their workers to the fullest extent possible.
3 Rubber tapping involves a process similar to maple syrup extraction. Rubber trees are located and incisions are made into the tree such that rubber latex flows out into a receptacle attached to the tree.
Since the Americas lacked both regulation and understanding of the environment, areas with natural commodities were unsustainably exploited. Mahogany was completely exhausted in most areas, as was seagull guano in the Chincha islands. Rubber, however, was an exception because of the Amazon’s inhospitable environment. Rubber trees are naturally spread sporadically throughout the forest (Barham & Coomes, 1996). Attempts to create plantations failed because rubber trees are extremely susceptible to fungal leaf diseases when clustered at significant densities (Sharples, 1936). Rubber tappers had to travel through the forest finding and tapping individual trees for the duration of the Boom (Barham & Coomes, 1996). In effect, the inhospitable nature of the Amazon led to a reduced ecological impact compared with other areas containing valuable resources in the Americas (Barham & Coomes, 1996). Recession: Post Boom, 1910 – World War II
The hostile physical environment of the Amazon was both the environment’s saving grace and the initiator of the boom’s collapse (Weinstein, 1983). Henry Wickham smuggled some seventy thousand rubber seeds from the Amazon in the late nineteenth century; by the early twentieth century, numerous plantations were set up in around Asia (Trager, 1876/2006). In these Asian climates, rubber trees fared extremely well. They were not subject to the diseases which prevented plantations of rubber from being established in the Amazon (Barham & Coomes, 1996). Compared with the Amazon, Asian plantations offered a much more efficient means of extraction. Supply increased exponentially and the world market was flooded with rubber (Barham & Coomes, 1996). By 1910, the price of rubber fell ninety-five percent after reaching peak prices just years before (Barham & Coomes, 1996). The availability of rubber meant that Amazonian rubber was no longer competitive—the boom was over (Barham & Coomes, 1996). Investment in the Peruvian Amazon had been restricted to the one commodity. Little had been done to improve the area, excepting the development of