Manaus and the Rubber BoomToday, nearly two and a half million people live in the Brazilian city of Manaus. It is one of the largest cities in the country… and it is in the middle of the world’s largest jungle! Even today, the only way in and out of the city is by plane or boat – there are no roads connecting Manaus to the rest of Brazil. Where did Manaus come from? Why is there a city in the middle of the Amazon rainforest?

In 1669, Portuguese soldiers built a fort in the middle of the jungle in order to protect their new land. Eventually, the fort became a trading post between the Portuguese soldiers and the local natives, called mestizos. More and more people started to come to live around the area, and about two hundred years later, in 1856, the growing city was given its name, “Manaus.”

It was the South American natives who first discovered rubber, about 3600 years ago. They had first used rubber as a ball in a game they called Tlachtlic. So, it was in the Amazon rainforest that rubber was first discovered and created, using the sap of the “rubber tree” (Hevea brasiliensis). When the mestizos shared their discovery with the Portuguese settlers, word quickly travelled back home to Europe. Several rich Europeans decided that rubber could make them very rich, so they moved to Manaus and started the first rubber plantations. Eventually, the plantation owners’ greed for more and more rubber led to the capture and slavery of the mestizos.

While the mestizos suffered and many died, rubber became very valuable in Europe, making the plantation owners (now called the “rubber barons”) very rich. By the late 1800s, Manaus

was at the center of the Amazon region's richest period, called the “Rubber Boom.” Manaus was called the “gaudiest” city in the world. The rubber barons became so rich, that they spent their money in strange ways, just to show how rich they were. "If one rubber baron bought a vast yacht, another would install a tame lion in his villa, and a third would water his horse on champagne." Manaus’ population grew to more than 10,000 people; the city built power lines, and provided electricity for the rich plantation owners. Manaus was now larger than most European and American cities of the time, and was one of the first cities in the world to have electricity. A beautiful opera house – the Teatro Amazonas – was built for the rubber barons to see expensive operas and plays from around the world. It was designed with large domes and gold balconies, with marble, glass, and crystal from Europe.

The Rubber Boom lasted in Manaus from 1879 to 1912. The rubber barons protected their wealth ruthlessly, even murdering their workers to prevent them from stealing and selling the seeds of the rubber trees. Finally, the seeds of the rubber tree were smuggled out of the Amazon region. The seeds were planted in south Asia, in India, Thailand, and Malaysia, and Brazil lost its monopoly on rubber. Manaus lost its extravagant rubber barons, and fell into poverty.

In the last 100 years, Manaus has become a very different city, and holds a special place in Brazil’s history. Today, Manaus is the largest city and the most important port along the Amazon river. Manaus has become a city full of businesses and manufacturing, including the production of new ships, soap, chemicals, computers, motorcycles, and petroleum refining, all brought in and exported on large river boats. Manaus is a major center of Brazil’s massive tourism industry, as it is the international entrance to the Amazon rainforest.

Manaus today

The Amazon region, 1562

Collecting sap from the rubber

tree

Teatro Amazonas

The skyline of today’s Manaus