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Fordlândia
Fordlândia is a district and adjacent area of 14,268 square kilometres (5,509 sq mi) in the city of Aveiro, Pará, Brazil. It is located on the east banks of the Tapajós river roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of the city of Santarém.
It was established by American industrialist Henry Ford in the Amazon rainforest in 1928 as a prefabricated industrial town intended to be inhabited by 10,000 people to secure a source of cultivated rubber for the automobile manufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian government granting him a concession of 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) of land on the banks of the Rio Tapajós near the city of Santarém, Pará, Brazil, in exchange for a 9% share in the profits generated. Ford's project failed, and the city was abandoned in 1934.
The town was mostly deserted, with only 90 residents still living in the city until the early 2000s when it saw an increase of population, being home to around 3,000 people as of 2017[update].
In 1927, the Ford Motor Company announced interest in buying the land in Brazil which now forms Fordlândia to create a rubber plantation. This was done to reduce Ford's reliance on European rubber manufacturing, particularly after Winston Churchill proposed the creation of a "rubber cartel." Ford had utopian visions for this plantation, drawing up plans to create a Midwest-style town around the plantation.
Negotiations with the Brazilian government started[when?] during the visit by then-governor of the State of Pará, Dionísio Bentes, to the United States to meet Ford.[citation needed] An agreement was signed and the American industrialist received an area of about 2.5 million acres (10,100 km2) called "Boa Vista". The agreement exempted Ford from taxes on the exportation of goods produced in Brazil in exchange for 9% of the profits, 7% going to the Brazilian government and 2% of profits to local municipalities.[citation needed]
Seeking workers, several offices were opened in the cities of Belém and Manaus, and, with the promise of good wages, people of the nearby states answered.[citation needed]
The site was developed as a planned community with different areas of the city being designated for the Brazilian workers and the American managers, who lived in the so-called American Village. Significant infrastructure was built, including American-style houses, a hospital and a school. As part of the utopia, a swimming pool, golf course, tennis courts, and a movie theater were also constructed.
Ford's utopian vision included a strict set of rules imposed by the managers. Alcohol, tobacco and prostitution were forbidden within the town, including inside the workers' own homes. American managers would go from house to house to enforce these rules. Workers circumvented these prohibitions by paddling out to merchant riverboats moored beyond the town jurisdiction, often hiding contraband goods inside fruits like watermelons. A small settlement was established 8 kilometres (5 mi) upstream on the "Island of Innocence" with bars, nightclubs and brothels.
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Fordlândia
Fordlândia is a district and adjacent area of 14,268 square kilometres (5,509 sq mi) in the city of Aveiro, Pará, Brazil. It is located on the east banks of the Tapajós river roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of the city of Santarém.
It was established by American industrialist Henry Ford in the Amazon rainforest in 1928 as a prefabricated industrial town intended to be inhabited by 10,000 people to secure a source of cultivated rubber for the automobile manufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian government granting him a concession of 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) of land on the banks of the Rio Tapajós near the city of Santarém, Pará, Brazil, in exchange for a 9% share in the profits generated. Ford's project failed, and the city was abandoned in 1934.
The town was mostly deserted, with only 90 residents still living in the city until the early 2000s when it saw an increase of population, being home to around 3,000 people as of 2017[update].
In 1927, the Ford Motor Company announced interest in buying the land in Brazil which now forms Fordlândia to create a rubber plantation. This was done to reduce Ford's reliance on European rubber manufacturing, particularly after Winston Churchill proposed the creation of a "rubber cartel." Ford had utopian visions for this plantation, drawing up plans to create a Midwest-style town around the plantation.
Negotiations with the Brazilian government started[when?] during the visit by then-governor of the State of Pará, Dionísio Bentes, to the United States to meet Ford.[citation needed] An agreement was signed and the American industrialist received an area of about 2.5 million acres (10,100 km2) called "Boa Vista". The agreement exempted Ford from taxes on the exportation of goods produced in Brazil in exchange for 9% of the profits, 7% going to the Brazilian government and 2% of profits to local municipalities.[citation needed]
Seeking workers, several offices were opened in the cities of Belém and Manaus, and, with the promise of good wages, people of the nearby states answered.[citation needed]
The site was developed as a planned community with different areas of the city being designated for the Brazilian workers and the American managers, who lived in the so-called American Village. Significant infrastructure was built, including American-style houses, a hospital and a school. As part of the utopia, a swimming pool, golf course, tennis courts, and a movie theater were also constructed.
Ford's utopian vision included a strict set of rules imposed by the managers. Alcohol, tobacco and prostitution were forbidden within the town, including inside the workers' own homes. American managers would go from house to house to enforce these rules. Workers circumvented these prohibitions by paddling out to merchant riverboats moored beyond the town jurisdiction, often hiding contraband goods inside fruits like watermelons. A small settlement was established 8 kilometres (5 mi) upstream on the "Island of Innocence" with bars, nightclubs and brothels.