The period between the end of the rubber boom and the onset of the colonisation frenzy that began in the 1960s was a time of relative stasis in the Amazon. The governments negotiated the final configuration of their international borders with a series of treaties that formalised the facts-on-the-ground that had been established during the rubber boom. Amazonian rubber production did not disappear, at least not in Brazil, where the government subsidised an industry that employed tens of thousands of individuals. Revenues fell from US$ 2.8 billion in 1910 to less than US$ 175 million by 1925, while domestic consumption stabilised at between 15,000 and 20,000 tons per year. Most of the migrants stayed and adapted to their new home. The collapse in the price of rubber coincided with an increase in demand for the Castanha do Para. Known in international commerce as the Brazil nut, it became popular in the United States in the 1920s, when families included it as a treat in the traditional Christmas stocking. Although harvests could be quite variable (Figure 6.6), the duopoly provided seringueiros with a level of economic security and probably avoided a mass exodus. Between 1910 and 1920, the population of Pará fell by only about 10% (50,000), but it increased by 30% in Acre (18,000) and 1.5% in Amazonas (5,000). The population stabilized at about 1.4 million in the five jurisdictions of the Northern Region until the next major geopolitical event that changed its future. Natural rubber production reached a historic…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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