The owners of the plantations or rubber barons were rich, but those who collected the rubber made very little as a large amount of rubber was needed to be profitable. As rubber plantations grew, labor shortages increased. The rubber boom and the associated need for a large workforce had a significant negative effect on the indigenous population across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. This process gives it superior mechanical properties, and causes it to lose its sticky character, and become stable – resistant to solvents and variations in temperature.Įffects on indigenous population Ī photo of enslaved Amazon Indians from the 1912 book "The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise" Industrial treatment was developed to remove the impurities and vulcanize the rubber, a process that eliminated its undesirable qualities. For example, exposure to air causes it to mix with various materials, which is perceptible and can cause rot, as well as a temperature-dependent stickiness.
Rubber produced in this fashion has disadvantages. However, when it is exposed to the air for 12 to 24 hours, its pH falls and it spontaneously coagulates to form a solid mass of rubber. Latex is practically a neutral substance, with a pH of 7.0 to 7.2. The rubber, which constitutes about 35% of the latex, is chemically cis-1,4-polyisoprene ((C 5H 8) n). The Amerindians in the Amazon rainforest developed ways to extract rubber from the rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis), a member of the family Euphorbiaceae.Ī white liquid called latex is extracted from the stem of the rubber tree, and contains rubber particles dispersed in an aqueous serum. The South Amerindians first discovered rubber sometime dating back to 1600 BCE. At higher temperatures, the rubber became softer and stickier, while at lower temperatures it became hard and rigid. However, the material still had disadvantages: at room temperature, it was sticky. A rubber factory that made rubber garters for women opened in Paris, France, in the year 1803. It was not until the 1800s that practical uses of rubber were developed and the demand for rubber began. Rubber was used as an eraser by the British scientist Joseph Priestley, with "rubber" entering English parlance as a substitute for the term "eraser". He brought several samples of rubber back to France. Around 1736, a French astronomer recalled how Amerindians used rubber to waterproof shoes and cloaks. Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to bring news of this odd substance back to Europe, but he was not the only one to report it. Natural rubber is an elastomer, also known as tree gum, India rubber, and caoutchouc, which comes from the rubber tree in tropical regions. There was heightened rubber production and associated activities again from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War. The rubber boom occurred largely between 18. It encouraged the growth of cities such as Manaus and Belém, capitals within the respective Brazilian states of Amazonas and Pará, among many other cities throughout the region like Itacoatiara, Rio Branco, Eirunepé, Marabá, Cruzeiro do Sul and Altamira as well as the expansion of Iquitos in Peru, Cobija in Bolivia and Leticia in Colombia. Centered in the Amazon Basin, the boom resulted in a large expansion of European colonization in the area, attracting immigrant workers, generating wealth, causing cultural and social transformations, and wreaking havoc upon indigenous societies. The Amazon rubber cycle, or boom ( Portuguese: Ciclo da borracha, Brazilian Portuguese: Spanish: Fiebre del caucho, pronounced, 1879 to 1912) was an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related to the extraction and commercialization of rubber. It includes part of Brazil and Bolivia, along the rivers Madeira, Mamoré and Guaporé, near which the Madeira-Mamoré Railroad was built. Map showing the region of the Amazon which experienced the rubber boom.
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