Talk:Amazon rubber cycle

Name

Should this article be moved to a title that reflects that it is about a Brazilian rubber boom - rather than a worldwide phenomenon? --Peta 04:04, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest instead that the experience of other countries be added to this article. This article is a translation of the Portuguese Wikipedia article, which only discusses Brazil. However, the Spanish one is such a translation but then adds information about Peru. That should be added here, plus information about Bolivia. Rigadoun (talk) 03:39, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

I am about to move this article to the new title, "Amazon Rubber Boom". The article acknowledges that countries other then Brazil were affected, but it is very clear that this article is not really about rubber booms in Southeast Asia or anywhere else. Moreover, the term "Amazon Rubber Boom" seems to be a common one in the titles of other works, e.g. [1] [2]

Sentence from lead

I've removed the following sentence from the lead, as it is grammatically incorrect and I don't know what it's trying to say, because the article is about to be featured in DYK. Suggest it isn't put back without correcting before the article comes off the main page. The lead appears to flow ok without it.

At the same time, the federal territory of Acre, now a state, the territory of which was acquired from Bolivia by purchase for two million pounds sterling in 1903.

Espresso Addict 08:18, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Effects of the rubber boom on indigenous people of the Amazon

At the moment, this is a very one-sided article, as it discusses the rubber boom in the Amazon (and mostly in Brazil only) from the point of view of the colonial states and western countries.

However, the rubber boom also had a deep and irreversible effect on most of the indigenous people of the Amazon, with many going extinct or suffering from large increases in their numbers due to the incursions of the rubber planters and traders. This happened not only in Brazil, but also in Peru, Ecuador and Columbia. This article needs a separate section for the effects of the boom on indigenous people. -62.78.187.149 (talk) 21:17, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

It certainly needs editing and cleaning up. It reads as a strident indictment without historical objectivity,let alone verification, or even references.

Unsourced material about the indigenous people

There is no source on the part about the indigenous people beeing nearly wiped out because of the rubber boom. The article states that one rubber farm started with 50 000 indian workers, who were rounded up from tribes. Where only 8000 survived. The site used a reference don't say anything about this. I think we can agree on the fact that indians were mistreated, but the numbers and the facts in this article don't seem very truthful. Olehal09 (talk) 03:37, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

I think "we" can agree to no such thing. Just like the assertion in the article to which you object, no proof/reference is offered! Tapered (talk) 04:46, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Oops. Olehal09 is permanently blocked. Tapered (talk) 04:48, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:31, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

Corruption during the rubber boom

This is primarily a note to myself to reference in the future while working on this article, however anyone viewing this information has permission to make their own contributions with said information.

• Percy Fawcett, 1906 near the Peruvian-Bolivian border: "No Government inspector who valued his skin would venture into the rubber country and send back an honest report. The arm of vengeance was long, and in the Montaña life was held very cheap." See rest of the quote for a judge in Acre accepting a bribe rather than investigating a murder that influential people were involved in. Page 44 of Exploration Fawcett, 2010 edition. This whole quote is also located on Fawcett's Wikiquote article.

• Quote by C. Reginald Enoch, 1912: "The indictment of Peruvian officials in the Hardenburg narrative is extremely severe, and they are contrasted unfavourably with the Colombians. In reality there is little to choose between the methods of the representatives of any of the South American republics as regards the administration of justice in remote regions. Power is always abused in such places by the Latin American people, be they Peruvians, Colombians, Bolivians, Brazilians, Argentinos, or others. Tyranny is but a question of opportunity, in the present stage of their development. Justice is bought and sold, as far as its secondary administrators are concerned... Furthermore, there are other rubber-bearing regions in the Amazon Valley where hidden abuses are committed, in the territory of other South American republics; and Peru does not stand alone, and atrocities are not confined to the Putumayo." Quote found in The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise, 1912, pages 39-40.

• Quote by Walter Ernest Hardenburg, 1912: "César Lúrquin, the Peruvian Comisario of the Putumayo. This miserable wretch was openly taking with him to Iquitos a little Huitoto girl of some seven years, presumably to sell her as a “servant,” for it is a well-known fact that this repugnant traffic in human beings is carried on, almost openly, there. His position was a sinecure, for, instead of stopping on the Putumayo, travelling about there and really making efforts to suppress crime by punishing the criminals, he contented himself with visiting the region four or five times a year—always on the company’s launches—stopping a week or so, collecting some children to sell, and then returning and making his “report.” Quote found in The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise, 1912, page 191.

Questions:

• Does English consul-general David Cazes refusal to report on slavery or the El Pensamiento affair constitute corruption? Cazes was actively trading with Julio Arana and until 1910 Cazes made no mention of Arana's seizure of El Pensamiento [which occurred in 1908]. Cazes also hired Carlos Zubiaur as the captain of steamship Beatriz. Zubiaur was wanted for murder near the Pacific coast prior to his involvement in the Putumayo genocide. Cazes told Casement that he was aware Zubiaur had perpetrated manslaughter against a crewmate of the Liberal, however Cazes still hired Zubiaur.

Quote by Roger Casement on Cazes, in reference to the questions above: 'Three Barbadians had once complainted to him as Consul of the character of their employment on the Putumayo alleging they were illegally forced to hunt the Indians. Cazes seems to have taken no steps to verify or to elicit further information on this obviously important point - but he spoke to Julio C. Arana (this must have been 1908 or earlier) and said there must be no more complaints - Arana promised to do anything C[azes] wished as regards Barbadians and paid off and sent home some of them who complained. Beginning with knowing practically nothing, as the days have shown me more and more capable of eliciting the truth. Cazes had again and again admitted, incidentally, a pretty extensive knowledge of what was the state of things on the Putumayo. ... "Cazes, as a Consul, is useless. He convinces me more and more of his indifference to right. For instance he told me only today of seeing young [Amadeo] Burga brutally beating his Indian servant in Hotel Cosmopolita once. He interfered and protected the man. Burga said: "Why, it is my Indian" - and Cazes never hinted at these things to me (or to FO I fancy) when I first came. He knew a very great deal of the Putumayo and kept it quiet - like everyone else in Iquitos. The Arana influence was too strong - and he was a trader and sold to them." Arawoke (talk) 16:43, 24 July 2024 (UTC)