Genocide and Ethnocide in the Amazon Basin during the Rubber Boom (1880 to 1920)

The rubber boom was established between 1880 and 1920. Between those years, latex generated a true economic fever worldwide and the Amazon entered fully into international trade. The reason was that Carlos Goodyear managed to vulcanize this material in 1839 and from that moment on it found application for bicycle wheels, which meant a social revolution, especially in the United States of America and Europe. In a brief time, it was also applied to automobiles. It was a triumph that could satisfy the need of several industries that had been waiting for some time for some lucky inventor to discover the secrets of this material and guide its industrial and commercial application. On the other hand, the raw material, in its two species, was found in the Amazon, but the extraction of latex in its two versions was required: Hevea brasiliensis, and Castilloa elastica. Achieving this meant uncontrolled deforestation in Brazil, because the separation technique was to cut down each tree; but not so in Peru where each specimen was bled, leaving it where it was (Flores Marín, 1987). Likewise, the boom meant enslaving, deporting and murdering people from Amazonian societies. These last aspects are what will be evaluated here along with some proper names of rubber tappers, who were accused of murders, deportations, exterminations, etc.