Misplaced Pages

#114885

131-824: The Peruvian Amazon Company , also known as the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Co. , was a rubber boom company that operated in Peru during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Headquartered in Iquitos , it gained notoriety for its harsh treatment of Indigenous workers in the Amazon Basin , whom its field forces subjected to conditions akin to slavery . The company's exploitative practices were brought to light in 1912 through an investigative report by British consul-general Roger Casement and an article and book by journalist W. E. Hardenburg . The company of

262-733: A daily publication. By that time, Saldaña Rocca founded a second publication named La Felpa , which was four pages long and contained a political cartoon to make its point. The very first issue of La Felpa contained four different pictures titled "The Crimes of the Putumayo: Flagellations , Mutilations, Tortures, and Target Practice," to describe how the natives were being treated. The last issue of Saldaña Rocca's newspaper came out on 22 February 1908, just three weeks after Hardenburg arrived in Iquitos. The local authorities at Iquitos raided Saldaña's printing store and destroyed some of

393-542: A friend of Julio C. Arana. Rey de Castro's editing process aimed to portray the newly founded company as a "civilizing force". Several paragraphs were removed from the Spanish copy of the book that would be used as the Peruvian Amazon Company's prospectus. One paragraph removed from Robuchon's original manuscript referred to the natives' feelings regarding their exploitation. "The Indians care nothing for

524-580: A gambling debt at a later date. The company advanced credit to the employee who was owed the money from gambling and transferred the debt onto the company books. Most of the employees in the region, including the Barbadians and "muchachos de confianzas," had "wives," and some of them also had children. These dependents were a significant factor in the debts owed to the Peruvian Amazon Company. In July 1903, Eugène Robuchon met Julio Cesar Arana in Iquitos, who hired Robuchon to map out his rubber territories in

655-452: A legacy to this bright economic period, the recession caused by the end of the rubber boom left profound scars on the Amazon region. There was a massive loss of state tax income, high levels of unemployment, rural and urban emigration, and abandoned and unneeded housing. Those who remained in the region had few expectations for the future. Deprived of their income, the rubber workers remained in

786-562: A level of control over the Putumayo River basin that any traveler that desired to traverse the territory would have to depend on the company for transportation, as well as permission to access the territory. The Peruvian Amazon Company's territory in the Putumayo was part of the Amazon rainforest and a small mountain range. Walter E. Hardenburg, Roger Casement, and several other sources of first hand information described territory in

917-459: A long overland journey to the Caqueta river . From there, he planned to take a canoe to another tributary. It was on this part of the journey, near El Retiro, that Eugène Robuchon disappeared; he had recently turned thirty-three years old. It took thirty-seven days before a search party reached Eugène's last known location, however, the explorer was nowhere to be found. Rumors emerged that Robuchon

1048-464: A monthly connection from Iquitos to Liverpool and New York. In a few years, Arana would be shipping a third of the total rubber exports in Iquitos to Liverpool, Le Havre , Hamburg , and New York . In 1900, Arana was exporting 35,000 pounds of rubber a year. By 1906, he was exporting 1.4 million pounds of rubber. Sometime in 1900, the Larrañaga, Arana y compañia was formed from the partnership with

1179-576: A navigation enterprise that linked the Mamoré and Madeira Rivers. Shortly afterwards, he realized the real difficulty of this undertaking. He changed the plans to construction of a railroad. Negotiations advanced and, by 1870, Church received permission from the Brazilian government to build a railroad along the rubber territories of the Madeira River. The Madeira–Mamoré Railroad became known as

1310-586: A population of 4,376 people. El Encanto was founded shortly before the 1900s by rubber tappers looking to take advantage of the local natives as a work force. The rubber boom had drastic effects in the Putumayo region, where El Encanto is located. The land owned by Arana was split into two 'departments': La Chorrera on the Igaraparaná and El Encanto, headquarters for sections on the Caraparaná. By 1904,

1441-498: A runway available only to military and official planes, established during the Colombia-Peru War . By river the closest towns with airport access are Puerto Arturo, Peru from downstream, and Puerto Leguízamo ( Putumayo Department , Colombia) upstream. The majority of the inhabitants in the area are Huitotos indigenous tribes. The municipality has an area of 10,724 square kilometres or 4,141 square miles. In 2005, it had

SECTION 10

#1732764803115

1572-600: A sextant. A wrecked raft was also found that Brown confirmed to be Robuchon's, but the raft had no clues. Whiffen and his group returned to La Chorrera on 22 February 1909, with the disappearance of Robuchon still unsolved. Whiffen concluded that Eugène probably died in March or April 1906. Whiffen was tracked down by the British Foreign Office in 1909, who requested the captain to send a report of his experiences. Thomas Whiffen explained that he had passed through

1703-551: A simple way to transport the rubber, the engineers José and Francisco Keller organized a large expedition. They explored the rubber region of the Madeira River to find the most productive region and the most effective course for the railroad. Although the idea of river navigation was complicated, in 1869, the North American engineer George Earl Church obtained from the Bolivian government a concession to create and explore

1834-567: A solid mass of rubber. Rubber produced in this fashion has disadvantages. 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. Industrial treatment was developed to remove the impurities and vulcanize the rubber, a process that eliminated its undesirable qualities. 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. The rubber boom and

1965-442: A store were sold by the company at extortionate rates. Roger Casement believed that some of these goods were sold at over 1,000 per cent of their worth. Originally, the company stipulated it would provide these necessities; however, employees found this was often not the case. The contract also stated that the company would provide a free trip home. However, any debts owed to the company would have to be paid off first, and even then, it

2096-532: A young age to act as enforcers for the company. The Barbadians and their native counterpart often acted as the executioners of the plantation managers, and were used to terrorise the workforce into compliance. These Indians were not station hands or laborers engaged by the company: they were forest Indian, members of the various tribes dwelling in the districts. They are not asked if they want to work rubber; they are forced to do it, just like slaves. If they do not bring in rubber they are flogged, or put in chains, or in

2227-440: Is an elastomer , also known as tree gum, India rubber, and caoutchouc , which comes from the rubber tree in tropical regions. 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. Around 1736, a French astronomer recalled how Amerindians used rubber to waterproof shoes and cloaks. He brought several samples of rubber back to France. Rubber

2358-403: Is extracted from the stem of the rubber tree, and contains rubber particles dispersed in an aqueous serum. The rubber, which constitutes about 35% of the latex, is chemically cis-1,4-polyisoprene ((C 5 H 8 ) n ). Latex is practically a neutral substance, with a pH of 7.0 to 7.2. However, when it is exposed to the air for 12 to 24 hours, its pH falls and it spontaneously coagulates to form

2489-523: The Amazon Basin , the boom resulted in a large expansion of colonization in the area, attracting immigrant workers and causing cultural and social transformations. Crimes against humanity were committed against local indigenous societies, including slavery, rape, torture and genocide. 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

2620-789: The Arana Brothers , which had sought capital in London, merged with the PAC in 1907. Peruvian rubber baron Julio César Arana ran the company in Peru. British members of the board of directors included Sir John Lister-Kaye, 3rd Baronet . The company operated in the area of the Putumayo River , a river that flows from the Andes to join the Amazon River deep in the tropical jungle. This area, inhabited by numerous Indigenous peoples ,

2751-542: The Boer War . This injury allowed Whiffen to travel to the Putumayo while still in service. Near the end of October 1908, Whiffen and his expedition found the remains of a deserted shelter, which John Brown confirmed as Robuchon's last camp. John Brown originally accompanied Robuchon on his trip as well but left Eugène to find help for the French explorer. Eight "broken photograph plates" were unearthed along with an eyepiece of

SECTION 20

#1732764803115

2882-542: The Government of Colombia issued a formal apology to the indigenous communities of the Amazon basin for allowing the forced enslavement and systematic brutality they endured during the rubber booms of the 19th and 20th centuries which, in the Amazon region of Colombia , resulted in the death of about 60,000 indigenous people. Anthropologist Klaus Rummenhoeller describes widespread prosecution of Bolivian natives, as

3013-475: The "Devil's Railroad", on account of having caused the death of around six thousand workers (in legends said to be one dead worker per railroad tie attached to the rails), was constructed by the United States corporation of Percival Farquhar . The construction of the railroad began in 1907 during the government of Afonso Pena and was one of the most significant episodes in the history of the occupation of

3144-640: The 'cepo' or stocks. A stock device known as the cepo was also used to punish the natives who did not meet quota. The device was used laying a victim on their backs and spreading their legs apart before restraining them by interring the legs in holes that were cut into the cepo, sometimes the face of the victim was pointed to the ground. According to Roger Casement, the victims would stay in this device for "hours, sometimes for days, often weeks, and sometimes for months in this painful confinement". Managers at Matanzas, Abisinia, La Sabana, and other plantations demanded five arrobas of rubber every three months. One arroba

3275-403: The 19th century, rubber began to exert a strong attraction to visionary entrepreneurs. The activity of latex extraction in the Amazon revealed its lucrative possibilities. Natural rubber soon achieved a place of distinction in the industries of Europe and North America, reaching a high price. This caused various people to travel to Brazil with the intention of learning more about the rubber tree and

3406-476: The Amazon, revealing the clear attempt to integrate it into the global marketplace via the commercialization of rubber. On April 30, 1912, the final stretch of the Madeira–Mamoré Railroad was belatedly completed. The occasion was commemorated by the arrival of the first train to the city of Guajará-Mirim, founded on that same day. First, the price of latex fell precipitously in the world market, making

3537-569: The Andes and descend into Amazonia as part of their journey. They met Colombian General Pablo Monroy , stationed in Pasto , who had information about the Putumayo river. He warned them it was dangerous, informing them that Colombia and Peru had recently entered a modus vivendi to pull back garrisons and military authorities from the region. The General believed that the Peruvians were not adhering to

3668-523: The Beni region, a U.S. minister said they were harsh but the scarcity of labor in the region made it less so than in the Putumayo. Many indigenous groups in Bolivia interned themselves into the jungle, abandoning their land and agriculture in the hopes of escaping the slavers. Many natives from the Beni, Madeira, and Mamoré regions were enslaved, so that they could work collecting rubber, or transportation along

3799-564: The Booth Steamship Company to Pará and eventually reached Liverpool. Despite their intentions, Hardenburg and Perkins never reached their original destination in Bolivia to work on the Madeira-Mamoré Railway. On 22 September 1909, a small London-based watchdog magazine named Truth ran an article with the headline "The Devil's Paradise": A British-owned Congo," which detailed Hardenburg's experiences and

3930-736: The Indian people of the Amazon during the height of the rubber boom were like nothing that had been seen since the first days of the Spanish Conquest. During the first rubber boom in Colombia, natives from the Cofán , Siona , Oyo , Coreguaje , Macaguaje , Kichwa , Teteté , Huitoto , and other nations were indebted and exploited as a work force by various patrons. The Caqueta , Putumayo, Napo and Vaupés Rivers were active areas of rubber extraction during this time period. On 23 April 2024,

4061-504: The Indians, would prove an interminable task, so many are the crimes committed in this devil's paradise." Among other cruelties, Hardenburg, Saldaña, and the ex-employees of the company, implicated the company with crimes such as: kidnapping and engaging in slave trade, forced concubinage, the murder of native men, women, and children, as well as Colombians, burning people alive, dismemberment, torture, cruel and unusual punishments, starving

Peruvian Amazon Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

4192-615: The Larrañagas. Shortly after Benjamin Larrañaga's death in December 1903, Arana bought out Rafael Larrañaga 's share from the company: "taking advantage of their ignorance and stupidity to rob them scandalously". Arana employed manipulation, deceit, and force to acquire the property of other entrepreneurs in the area. The Calderón brothers at El Encanto and Hipólito Perez , who owned Argelia, lost their property to Arana due to manipulative business arrangements. Subsequently, José Cabrera,

4323-585: The Peace for Peru in the Putumayo River basin. The American consul-general to Iquitos in 1907, Charles C. Eberhardt , was able to obtain a list that contains the documented numbers for the indigenous populations throughout La Chorrera's district prior to December 3 of 1907. The list, contained in one of Eberhardt's consular dispatches, was reported with the following figures: Within the Putumayo region, two distinct types of rubber were produced and exploited. Castilla elastica yielded caucho negro, or black rubber, and

4454-587: The Peruvian selvas inherited the memory of a catastrophe proportional to the genocides of the Final Solution and the Armenian massacres ." Rubber had catastrophic effects in parts of Upper Amazonia, but its impact should not be exaggerated nor extrapolated to the whole region. The Putumayo genocide was a particularly horrific case. Many nearby rubber regions were not ruled by physical violence, but by

4585-605: The Peruvian government in 1903 and 1906: these crimes were witnessed and reported by Catholic missionaries as well as several men employed by the Peruvian government. While writing in 1907, Charles R. Enock claimed that the Peruvian Government had, for a long time, been aware of the brutal exploitation of indigenous people by rubber merchants and collectors. Several government reports and articles written on this subject, both by travelers and government officials, were published prior to 1908. Enock stated that since

4716-489: The Peruvian rubber patrons employed two labor systems, one of these systems was referred to as enganche [ por deudas ], or hooking by debt. Enganche was typically employed with Mestizo workers, Varese wrote that the debt was "an eternal debt that the worker would never be able to repay." The second system of labor was used against indigenous people and entailed "simply enslaving" a large number of young indigenous men and women and then relocating them from their homeland. One of

4847-432: The Peruvians. For their safety, Hardenburg and Perkins lied, stating that they worked for a large American company, so hurting them would have diplomatic consequences. Later, Hardenburg was sent on to Iquitos without Perkins and there he spent three months with no news about his companion. They were reunited on 22 April, with Perkins still wearing the same clothes he had on from their last encounter. Perkins recounted that he

4978-411: The Putumayo River basin, the territory owned by the Peruvian Amazon Company was specifically contested by Peru and Colombia . The presence of Arana's company in this area reinforced Peru's claim to the territory, as the Peruvian agents of the company were occupying the land and the company had monopolized the region, essentially removing Colombian competition from the area by 1908. The company exerted such

5109-598: The Putumayo are forced to work day and night at the extraction of rubber, without the slightest remuneration except the food necessary to keep them alive. 2. They are kept in the most complete nakedness, many of them not even possessing the biblical fig-leaf. 3. They are robbed of their crops, their women, and their children to satisfy the voracity, lasciviousness, and avarice of this company and its employees, who live on their food and violate their women. 4. They are sold wholesale and retail in Iquitos, at prices that range from £20 to £40 each. Rubber boom Centered in

5240-420: The Putumayo as difficult to navigate on land. Both Hardenburg and Casement implicated Peruvian government officials in the region with accepting bribes from the Peruvian Amazon Company, Casement also noted that several of those officials were simultaneously employed by Arana's company while holding government positions. The company's general manager at La Chorrera, Victor Macedo, even held the position of Justice of

5371-430: The Putumayo region of Peru as a British consul from 1910 to 1911, documented the abuse, slavery, murder and use of stocks for torture against the natives: The crimes charged against many men now in the employ of the Peruvian Amazon Company are of the most atrocious kind, including murder, violation, and constant flogging. According to Wade Davis , author of One River : The horrendous atrocities that were unleashed on

Peruvian Amazon Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

5502-427: The Putumayo region twice in the previous year. The first time, the company knew about his movements in advance, and Whiffen believed that the company removed any evidence of abuses. He thought "prisoners were liberated, floggings ceased, and outwardly affairs assumed a peaceful and humane aspect." On the second journey through the region, he discovered "Hidden in the forest beyond the houses, stocks and whipping posts." In

5633-460: The Putumayo region within a span of twenty years. The rubber collected by the Peruvian Amazon Company was extracted by the forced use of indigenous labour. The company used multiple approaches to entrap the natives of the region into gathering rubber for them. Barbadian overseers and the ' muchachos de confianza ' watched over the native population and made sure they did not run away. The 'muchachos de confianza' were indigenous males recruited from

5764-438: The Putumayo, but by the time of Hardenburg's journey, only three remained. The rest had been absorbed or taken by force. López warned them not to take the boat from El Encanto and instead aim for Remolino , a Colombian settlement five days further down the river. From Remolino, they proceeded to another Colombian settlement named La Reserva. David Serrano owned La Reserva and agreed to help Walter sell his boat and buy anything he

5895-498: The Putumayo. In 1896, Julio César Arana , the owner of a small peddling business based in Iquitos, began trading with Colombian settlers in the region. Shortly after, a business partnership was arranged between Arana and Larrañaga who at the time owned La Chorrera along the Igara-paraná river . Arana adopted the common practices of the local Colombians in the region at the time, who made it their business to enslave and exploit

6026-540: The Putumayo. Eugène was a French professional explorer who travelled to South America with the hopes of producing ethnographic , zoological , and botanical documents, including photographs. In a letter to his father, Eugène wrote that Arana had "shown great kindness" to him and his family. During his time mapping the territory, Robuchon collected a number of artefacts and took many photographs. In August 1905, Robuchon sent his wife and family back to France while he continued his work. Around 14 November, Robuchon descended on

6157-585: The Ucayali River and affected all of the indigenous groups in that area. The displacement and decimation of Conibo and Yine natives on the Ucayali and Urubamba River eventually led to the Asháninka demographic becoming the largest indigenous group in that region. Some native groups agreed to accept "advances" of supplies that rubber firms offered, in exchange these natives would extract rubber for

6288-435: The agreement. Monroy also told them that they could travel on a launch from El Encanto , 500 miles down river, to Iquitos. From there he could continue on his journey as well as save weeks of effort. They loaded up on supplies and travelled 150 miles over rough terrain before reaching a navigable point in the Putumayo river. On 22 December 1907, they met Jesús López, a Colombian rubber tapper who provided further insight into

6419-472: The ambassador Joaquim Francisco de Assis Brasil , in part financed by the "rubber barons," led to negotiations with Bolivia and the signing of the Treaty of Petropolis , signed November 17, 1903, during the government of president Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves . While it halted conflict with Bolivia, the treaty guaranteed effective control by Brazil of the forests of Acre . Brazil was given possession of

6550-450: The architecture and culture; and the two cities enjoyed their greatest economies and influence in the 19th century. The Amazon Basin was the source in the era for nearly 40% of all Brazil's exports. The new riches of Manaus made the city the world capital in the sale of diamonds. Thanks to rubber, the per capita income of Manaus was twice as much as the coffee-producing region ( São Paulo , Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo ). As payment for

6681-426: The associated need for a large workforce had a significant negative effect on the indigenous population across Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela , Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. As rubber plantations grew, labor shortages increased. 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. The rubber barons rounded up all

SECTION 50

#1732764803115

6812-502: The atrocities perpetrated in the Putumayo. The article sparked public outrage in England, revealing that a British-based company was profiting from a slave trade and appeared to be responsible for atrocities. In response to Hardenburg's allegations, the Peruvian Amazon Company ordered a five-man commission to investigate the region's "commercial prospects." The British Foreign Office seized this opportunity to send their own representative on

6943-582: The beginning of rubber exploitation in the Peruvian Amazon, authorities were aware of the sale of indigenous people in Iquitos and else where, as well as the constant trafficking of indigenous women. Hildebrando Fuentes , the prefect of Loreto between 1904-1906, described the practice of Correrias , or slave raids in a report to his government. Fuentes noted that many of the indigenous people in Peru were being killed during these correrias and in writing he referred to these raids as "the great crime of

7074-427: The bones of the victims can be made to disappear." Saldaña Rocca only received silence from the courts. Two weeks later, on 22 August 1907, he published the first issue of his newspaper La Sancion publicly attacking Arana. The paper had a variety of articles, covering local news, court reports, port movements, and in nearly every issue of the paper Saldaña published new revelations about Julio César Arana. He published

7205-523: The border of the Putumayo was changed thanks to the Salomón–Lozano Treaty : Julio Cesar Arana, Miguel S. Loayza, and Carlos Loayza initiated a series of forced migrations. Between 1922 and 1930 groups of natives from the right bank of the Putumayo were resettled in the Ampiyacu basin of Loreto, Peru: so the three of them could retain their work force. At least 6,719 indigenous people were moved from

7336-585: The commission, selecting Roger Casement, who served as Consul-General for Britain in Brazil. Casement had previously investigated atrocities in the Congo Free State , where rubber was also harvested by forced labour . Years later, in 1912, Hardenburg released his book The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise . He drew from his own personal experience in the Putumayo and other firsthand accounts to shed light on

7467-469: The company and is unable to leave the region until they can pay off this debt. The procedure was for "commissions" or patrols of whites (armed with the Company's rifles) to go out and collect Indians by force, shooting those who ran away, while the rest, in the words of one of the Company's documents, were "reduced to obedience." When so "conquered" or "reduced" they were set to collect the wild rubber of

7598-516: The company employees. Even a few of the station chiefs like Abelardo Agüero were in debt to the company. Many of the Barbadian employees were in debt to the company and under a contract that would not allow them to leave the region until the debt was paid. In Roger Casement's own words, "There is little doubt the men have been robbed." Some of the Barbadian men were swindled out of a portion of their pay. Their contract stipulated that they would receive

7729-531: The company's operations. Among other atrocities, Hardenburg revealed that with every ship that left the Putumayo with rubber, five to fifteen native boys and girls were also transported to Iquitos. There, in the capital of the Department of Loreto . Hardenburg concluded his book with the following statement: "to relate all the crimes and infamies committed in this tragic region by this company and its employees in its almost incredible persecution and exploitation of

7860-494: The contents of the petition the courts ignored: and to corroborate, from the very beginning Saldaña included eyewitness accounts. These were firsthand accounts coming from ex-employees of Arana's company, detailing the coercive and abusive system: describing the torture, maiming, and killing of the enslaved natives. In the first issue of La Sancion , Saldaña included a letter and firsthand account from Julio Muriedas , detailing crimes at La Chorrera: and crimes committed at Matanzas by

7991-543: The employees ransacked the house and stole his rubber, they returned to the boat carrying away his wife as well as their small son. David later learned that his wife was forced to become a concubine to Miguel Loayza while their son was used as a personal servant for Miguel. The abuse against Serrano caught the attention of the Colombian government, which sent a police inspector named Jesús Orjuela to investigate. Hardenburg decided to go with Orjuela to El Dorado, where Loayza

SECTION 60

#1732764803115

8122-408: The end of the 19th century. The Brasilian Army, led by José Plácido de Castro , was sent into the area to protect Brasilian resources. The newly proclaimed Brazilian republic was drawing a considerable profit from the lucrative rubber trade, but the "Acre question" (as the border conflicts caused by rubber extraction became known) preoccupied it. Intervention by the diplomat Barão do Rio Branco and

8253-482: The enforcers of the company were at risk of losing their own lives if they were not obedient and did not carry out instructions. Whiffen was later accused by the company of blackmail. Before he founded his newspaper publications, at the age of 43, Benjamin Saldaña Rocca petitioned a judge to proceed with criminal charges against 18 employees of J.C. Arana y Hermanos. The petition contained excerpts and details of

8384-559: The equipment before escorting Saldaña out of the city. Walter Ernest Hardenburg and Walter Perkins were two American engineers who journeyed to the Putumayo region between 1907 and 1908. They previously worked on the Colombian Pacific Railroad , and were on their way to Bolivia to work on the Madeira-Mamoré Railroad which was designed to connect northern Bolivia to Brazil. They decided to cross

8515-403: The equivalent of £5 a month, and at the time £1 equalled 10 Peruvian soles and 50 cents. However, they were only paid 10 Peruvian soles per pound and not the remaining 50 cents per pound. Multiple depositions given to Walter Ernest Hardenburg and Roger Casement stated that the company violated many of the promises on their contract. Food, medicine, and other important items that could be found in

8646-637: The export of rubber, the workers were paid in pounds sterling (£), the currency of the United Kingdom, which circulated in Manaus and Belém during this period. Developers in Bolivia in 1846 began to promote the idea of constructing a railroad along the Madeira and Mamoré Rivers, to reach ports on the Atlantic Ocean for its export products. It has never reached the coast. Rivers had long been

8777-513: The fabrico, all five puestas are carried and transported from the station to either the La Chorrera or El Encanto headquarters, where the rubber then shipped to Iquitos. The company practised the enganche por deudas system, or "hooking by debts". Enganche entailed getting a person that is working for a company in debt, and keeping them in a perpetual state of indebtedness. In this way, the employee or local indigenous people become dependent on

8908-582: The firms, and in this way many natives became indebted to these firms. Natives along the Ucayali and Urubamba that did not agree to extract rubber were often targeted by slave raids. By 1891, most of the Piro natives along the Urubamba were indebted to patrons. The work force in the form of slaves had at this time been converted into a commodity as part of the economy of the region. The correrías after indigenous slaves were common in all parts and involved all of

9039-477: The first four and a half centuries following the discovery of the New World , the native populations of the Amazon Basin lived practically in isolation. The area was vast and impenetrable, no gold or precious stones had been found there, as neither colonial Brazil nor imperial Brazil was able to create incentives for development in the region. The regional economy was based on use of diverse natural resources in

9170-506: The first prominent expeditions into the Putumayo River basin during the 19th century started as a business venture by future Colombian president Rafael Reyes in 1875. The group found the region richly inhabited by rubber trees and an abundant potential work force to collect that rubber. Members of that original expedition like Benjamin Larrañaga , Crisóstomo Hernández , the Calderón brothers, and other Colombians established themselves along

9301-464: The forest... Advances ("pagos") of European goods were made to them, and they were then regarded as debtors to the Company, and forced under pain of merciless flogging to work off these debts in rubber... These debts were a transferable and saleable asset, and with the debts was transferable also the right to work the Indians. If they ran away, they were hunted down by bodies of armed men and brought back ; and it appears that Peruvian law would sanction

9432-547: The full extent of the devastation caused by the rubber boom in this area may never be known. "Correrías" are rapid slave raids which became institutionalised during the rubber boom around the turn of the century, to obtain labourers for the rubber extraction. A patron would give a small group of slave hunters Winchester rifles, which were in great demand, in return for which Ashéninka settlements were attacked and all individuals potentially capable of working taken captive, that is, preferably children and young women, who were taken to

9563-426: The handing over of such debtors to their employers. Any tampering with Indians thus regarded as debtors to an employer was a grave offence on the Putumayo, it was the cause of frequent quarrel between Colombian and Peruvian squatters, who each accused the other of carrying off or attracting away "their Indians" from their legitimate masters. The system of debt bondage affected not only the indigenous work force but also

9694-450: The horrible acts of violence committed against the natives who collect rubber for the company. Saldaña urged the judge "as the bones of thousands of Indians who have been murdered lie scattered round the houses of the sections such as Matanzas , Ultimo Retiro , La Sabana , Santa Catalina, San Victor and all the other dependencies of El Encanto and La Chorrera . ... a visit of inspection [should] be undertaken as soon as possible, before

9825-689: The indigenous groups of the Ucayali. With the booming economy of rubber extraction, in 1880 human exploitation and perversion reached new heights. Slave raids into the Peruvian side of the Madre de Dios River and its tributary the Manú River began around 1894. This was largely due to the development of the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald . Hundreds of natives from the Toyeri and Araseri ethnic groups were massacred around that time because they would either not allow

9956-476: The intentions of this forced relocation was to cultivate submission in the enslaved indigenous population. Elderly indigenous individuals were typically killed because they were unable to easily adapt to the new circumstances brought on by forced migrations and therefore they were viewed as disruptive elements. In certain areas of the Peruvian Amazon, correrías primarily captured women and children while men were eliminated. Beatriz Huertas Castillo wrote that this

10087-426: The key to navigation and travel through the Amazon Basin. An initial proposal was based on travel up the Mamoré in Bolivia and down the Madeira River in Brazil. However, the river course had substantial obstacles to industrial-level transport: twenty cataracts obstructed navigation. Constructing a railroad to bypass the problematic stretches of the rivers was the only solution. In 1867, in Brazil, also trying to develop

10218-403: The manager Armando Normand . Muriedas relayed that Normand applies 200 lashes or more when the enslaved natives don't arrive with the correct weight of rubber. When the natives flee, Normand suspends them by their hands and feet before applying fire. This torture is induced so that the children will tell where their fathers are hiding. La Sancion was intended to run twice a week but soon became

10349-516: The meeting in El Dorado. Orjuela and Hardenburg were thrown onto the "Liberal" as captives, where Hardenburg was surprised to be reunited with Perkins. The ship continued on towards El Dorado, which they also destroyed. Upon arrival at El Encanto, Hardenburg protested his arrest, before being informed he would be allowed to leave to Iquitos when the "Liberal" was ready to sail. Due to their treatment, Hardenburg believed they were going to be murdered by

10480-456: The mountain". These raids also managed to capture many indigenous people, which were then trafficked to Iquitos or nearby rubber camps. According to Fuentes, indigenous people were being sold at Iquitos for prices ranging between £30-£50 and the majority of the indigenous population in Iquitos consisted of people captured during the correrias. Anthropologist Søren Hvalkof stated that the correrias after native peoples were common in all areas of

10611-446: The municipal market, and the customs house , in the case of Manaus; and the fish market, the iron market, Teatro da Paz , corridors of mango trees, and various residential palaces in the case of Belém, constructed in large part by the intendant Antônio Lemos . These technologies and construction did not take place anywhere else in south and southeast Brazil of the time. The European influence later became notable in Manaus and Belém, in

10742-514: The natives and forced them to tap rubber out of the trees. One plantation started with 50,000 natives but, when discovered, only 8,000 were still alive. Slavery and systematic brutality were widespread, and in some areas, 90% of the native population was wiped out. These rubber plantations were part of the Brazilian rubber market, which declined as rubber plantations in Southeast Asia became more effective. For indigenous people throughout

10873-567: The natives as a work force to extract rubber. Often, if a weight quota imposed by the caucheros was not met by the indigenous rubber collectors, the resulting punishment ranged from execution, dismemberment, starvation, or potentially flagellation where the victim is left to die from their festering wounds. The Huitotos , Resígaro , the Andokes , the Boras, and other tribes were forced to work for Arana and other rubber companies he associated with in

11004-477: The natives to death, as well as other illegal acts. Hardenburg compared the company's actions to the Congo atrocities, mentioning a similar system of terror. Outlining the actions of the Peruvian Amazon Company in the Putumayo, he states: I am in possession of definite documentary evidence which, I think, justifies me in making the following statements as to the results of this system:— 1. The pacific Indians of

11135-485: The owner of Nueva Granada on the Caraparaná River, was coerced into selling his estate at a disadvantageous price to Arana. He was intimidated "by threats of killing him, by shooting at him from ambush, by forcibly taking away his Indians, and by the other methods for which this company is known". In 1905, Arana travelled to London with the aim of attracting investment. The Peruvian Amazon Rubber Company, Ltd.

11266-461: The package of documents from Saldaña. He corresponded by letter, investigating the operations of the Peruvian Amazon Company. Hardenburg collected twenty testimonials from various individuals, all of whom swore to their authenticity before a notary in Iquitos. Recognizing the danger of remaining in Iquitos, he departed the city in 1909, carrying with him his book manuscript, the testimonials, and Saldaña Rocca's documents. Hardenburg travelled by boat from

11397-444: The patron as his personal property. Adult men were more difficult to control and thus they were preferably killed, to avoid witnesses and possible reprisals. These parties frequently consisted of Indians, who had long been subjugated by the patron through debt bondage. The Ashéninka, Yíne and Conibo were all active in these correrías. But colonists also participated as leaders of raiding parties. Anthropologist Stefano Varese noted that

11528-473: The peaceful resolution of this issue, the capital of Acre was named Rio Branco after the Brazilian diplomat. Two of the municipalities in the state were named Assis Brasil and Plácido de Castro , after the ambassador and another key figure. Belém , the capital of Pará state, as well as Manaus , the capital of Amazonas , were the most developed and prosperous cities in Brazil during the rubber boom. They were located in strategic sites, and prominent men in

11659-614: The periphery of Manaus, searching for new work. Because of the lack of housing, in the 1920s they built the cidade flutuante ("floating city"), a type of residence that was consolidated in the 1960s. El Encanto El Encanto is a town and municipality in the Amazonas Department of Colombia . It is located in the mouth of the Cara Paraná River , a tributary of the Putumayo River ( Içá ). El Encanto can be reached by air or river. The local navy base has

11790-555: The photographs would be used in a newspaper as evidence of crime in the Putumayo. These images provided visual testimony to the abuses and atrocities occurring during the Putumayo genocide. Captain Thomas William Whiffen ventured to the Putumayo region in April 1908, with one of the main intentions of his trip being to solve the disappearance of Robuchon. Whiffen was a British military officer who had been wounded during

11921-512: The political situation. He informed the pair that the Peruvians were harassing and violently expelling Colombian settlers. He added that these actions were being carried out by the Peruvian military, under the command of the Peruvian Amazon Rubber Company. López believed that the company's goal was to acquire all Colombian concessions by any means necessary. Years ago, there were dozens of Colombian rubber stations along

12052-452: The preservation of their rubber trees, and rather desire their destruction ... they think that the whites who have come into their dominions in quest of this valuable plant will go away when it has disappeared ... With this idea, they regard with favor the disappearance of the rubber trees, which have been the cause of their reduction to slavery." Some of the photographs Robuchon took circulated around in Iquitos, generating rumours. Eventually,

12183-443: The process of latex extraction, from which they hoped to make their fortunes. Because of the growth of rubber extraction, industrial processing and related activities, numerous cities and towns swelled on waves of immigrants. In 1855, over 2,100 tons of rubber was exported from the Amazon; a figure which reached 10,000 tons by 1879. Belém and Manaus were transformed and urbanized. Manaus was the first Brazilian city to be urbanized and

12314-602: The railroad, but as of December 1, 2006, the work remains unstarted. The Madeira–Mamoré Railroad, finished in 1912, arrived too late. The train was no longer profitable after the price of rubber fell. The Amazon was already losing primacy in rubber production, as the British government had planted rubber trees in its colonies in Malaysia , Sri Lanka , and tropical Africa. These rubber trees were planted from seeds that Henry Wickham had smuggled out of Brazil in 1876. In 1899 it

12445-522: The rails, leveled ground, and bridges, reclaiming a large part of the way that people had insisted on clearing to construct the railroad. The railroad was partially taken out of service in the 1930s and completely in 1972. That year the Trans-Amazonian highway (BR-230) opened. Today, from a total of 364 km of length of railway, about seven remain in active use, used for tourist purposes. The people of Rondonia have fought for revitalization of

12576-570: The region by Bolivia in exchange for territories in Mato Grosso , a payment of two million pounds sterling, and the compromise of constructing the railroad to connect to the Madeira River. This would enable Bolivia to transport its goods, primarily rubber, to the Brazilian ports of the Atlantic at the mouth of the Amazon River . Initially Belém in Pará was designated as the destination. Because of

12707-473: 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. The first rubber boom and genocides occurred largely between 1879 and 1912. There was heightened rubber production and associated activities again from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War . Natural rubber

12838-469: The region were "secretly the paid servants of the company". Another revelation provided in his report was that many of the atrocities were committed by natives, against the natives under the command of company employees. According to Whiffen, the company 'took on' and armed native youths of a tribe, who would then be used against another rival tribe, "thus putting them perhaps at the mercy of their hereditary enemies". These young natives who were forced to act as

12969-457: The region, but development was concentrated in coastal areas. The Industrial Revolution in Europe led to demand for uses that natural rubber could satisfy. At that time, it was exclusively found in the Amazon Basin. It was a desirable commodity, valued at a high price, and thought to create wealth and dividends for whoever would dare invest in the trade. From the beginning of the second half of

13100-504: The region. Before the rubber boom reached the Putumayo, the city exporting the largest amount of rubber from the Amazon was Pará on the coast of Brazil . Under the influence of Arana, Iquitos claimed that title. In 1898, a commercial house was established in Iquitos by Arana. At the time, the city was already a major center of export for Amazonian rubber. The following year, the Booth Steamship Co . of Liverpool established

13231-473: The result of Nicolás Suarez 's company around 1902. The region was scoured for labor from multiple slave raids. The raids resulted in the destruction of homes, the capture of men, women, as well as the killing of children and the elderly. British minister Cecil Gosling stayed in the Suárez estates for five months, and referred to the labor system as "undisguised slavery." In response to the slavery allegations in

13362-674: The river." One day, four months into Hardenburg's stay in Iquitos, he was approached by Miguel Galvez , whom he had never seen before. Galvez revealed that he was the son of Benjamin Saldaña Rocca , a courageous newspaper owner who had recently fled from Iquitos and was now working in Lima . Before departing the city, Saldaña had gathered all of his documents, which he entrusted to the mother of his son. At his father's urging, Miguel Galvez delivered them to Walter Hardenburg, believing that Hardenburg would continue to challenge Arana's actions. Hardenburg began gathering corroborating evidence to accompany

13493-541: The rivers. Some of the exploited groups include: Mojos , Tacana , Araona , Harakmbut , Mashcho-Piro , and Cashinahua . Pando is Bolivia's only department fully covered by the Amazon vegetation. The worst abuses against the indigenous populations of Venezuela during the rubber boom occurred under Tomás Funes starting in 1913. Over the next nine years, Tomás Funes and his armed gang destroyed dozens of Ye'kuana villages, and killed thousands of Ye'kuana natives. Other villages were either resettled, or fragmented. For

13624-461: The rubber "balls", before sending them downriver. Flight into the thicket was a successful survival strategy and, because natives were engaged in credit relations, it was a relatively common practice to vanish and work for other patrons, leaving debts unpaid. Reports of enslavement and barbaric crimes perpetrated by rubber merchants on the Ucayali and Marañón Rivers first came to the attention of

13755-411: The rubber industry built their numerous and wealthy residences in each. These citizens created the demand that led to both cities being electrified and given running water and sewers. Their apogee was reached between 1890 and 1920, when they acquired electric trams, avenues built on cleared gullies, as well as imposing and luxurious buildings, such as the polished Teatro Amazonas , the government palace,

13886-489: The rubber patrons to pass through their lands, or they would not agree to extract rubber for these patrons. Most of the Mashco-Piro demographic was slaughtered in 1894. Some of the surviving Mashco-Piro, Toyeri and Araseri natives were pressured into fleeing from their ancestral territory. An unknown number of their villages were destroyed, and this region was never subjected to a systematic inquiry or investigation so

14017-411: The same report, Whiffen included a first-hand account from John Brown. In one incident, Brown relayed when two plantation managers had a tribal chief in custody at Morelia. The managers had a shooting competition, where they tried to shoot the chief's genitals. Afterwards, the native was "despatched according to the ordinary method". Referring to the rubber collecting system in the region, Whiffen stated it

14148-464: The second to be electrified (the first was Campos dos Goytacazes , in Rio de Janeiro). The increase in uncontrolled extraction of rubber was increasing tensions and close to provoking an international conflict. The Brazilian workers advanced further and further into the forests in the territory of Bolivia in search of new rubber trees for extraction, creating conflicts and skirmishes on the frontier towards

14279-477: The settlement came under the control of Julio César Arana and what would become the Peruvian Amazon Company . The companies efforts to extract rubber and profit culminated in the Putumayo genocide : enslaving, abusing, starving, exhausting, and murdering local populations. At the time of Roger Casement's visit to the Putumayo, the station was under the control of Miguel S. Loayza . Before

14410-480: The staff of his Peruvian Amazon Company . These criminals gained total control over the Putumayo by 1908, maintaining around 40 plantations. The managers of these plantations imposed a quota onto the natives: and failing to meet quota could have resulted in flagellation, dismemberment, or execution on the spot. Even though 237 arrest warrants were issued for employees of the company, very few faced any justice for their crimes. Roger Casement , an Irishman traveling

14541-548: The storehouse and almost two thousand kilos of rubber. La Reserva was the second stop on this excursion: previously, the soldiers attacked La Unión and massacred the Colombians there. La Reserva was burned to the ground and all the rubber brought aboard the ships. The two boats travelled downriver to El Encanto, and on the same day, 12 January, they intercepted the boat Orjuela and Hardenburg were on. The two had made several attempts to contact Miguel Loayza who never showed up to

14672-587: The trade of rubber from the Amazon unviable. Also, the transport of products that could have been transported by the Madeira–Mamoré Railroad were taken by two other railroads, one in Chile and the other in Argentina, and the Panama Canal , which became active on August 15, 1914. Added to this, the natural factor, the Amazon forest, with its high level of rainfall and rapid growth, destroyed entire stretches of

14803-453: The tropical world, white sails on the ocean's horizon have often presaged death. For the Indians in the Amazon's green 'ocean' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, death was heralded by the arrival of steam launches or gunboats bearing armed men hungry for rubber. Technology had moved on from the time of the conquistadors, and killing and slave-driving had become more efficient. Reclusive tribesmen living today in remote corners of

14934-459: The voluntary compliance implicit in patron-peon relations . Some native peoples benefited financially from their dealings with the white merchants. Others chose not to participate in the rubber business and stayed away from the main rivers. Because tappers worked in near complete isolation, they were not burdened by overseers and timetables. In Brazil (and probably elsewhere) tappers could, and did, adulterate rubber cargoes, by adding sand and flour to

15065-404: The world market and demand for it fell. This rapidly resulted in the stagnation of the regional economy. There was a lack of entrepreneurial or governmental vision to find alternatives for development. The "rubber barons" and economic elite followed the money, leaving the region to seek their next fortunes elsewhere. Although the railroad and the cities of Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim remained as

15196-495: Was "absolutely that of forced labor with its necessary and attendant evils". Whiffen also provided some information about the political situation in the region. He believed that the company was in control of the region, with "no effective administration or occupation by the Peruvian Government". Whiffen also stated his belief that the commissario of the Central Government at Lima, as well as the few Peruvian soldiers in

15327-480: Was a located near the border of Colombia and Peru. Between the Andoques , Boras , and Huitoto populations over 40,000+ natives were wiped out for rubber profits. Slave raids were a common practice where many were killed or captured. Many of the natives died from starvation, which was used as a punishment against them at times. The worst perpetrators of the genocide include the rubber baron Julio César Arana and

15458-413: Was because: "they would never form as malleable a workforce as the children, who were more easily and fully assimilated". One of the most atrocious cases of abuses during the first rubber boom, culminated in the Putumayo genocide. From the 1870s until the mid-1910s Colombians and Peruvians enslaved and exploited the indigenous population of the Putumayo River . During the rubber boom, the Putumayo River

15589-518: Was contested at the time among Peru , Colombia , Ecuador . Some of the Indigenous populations that were affected by the Peruvian Amazon Company during the Putumayo genocide include the Witoto ( Huitoto ), Bora , Ocaina , and Andoque tribes. The Cinchona boom and the start of the rubber boom incentivised exploration as well as settlement of previously uncolonised land in the Amazon. One of

15720-462: Was equal to 15 kilos or 30 pounds. At times, this was an unobtainable quota. Conditions in the Putumayo region allowed for two to three fabricos a year. A fabrico represented a harvesting period, usually consisting of 75 days. A fabrico was further divided into five periods referred to as puestas, occurring every 10-15 days when the Natives delivered the rubber to a nearby company station. At the end of

15851-525: Was estimated by John Ferguson that there were between 1,500 and 1,600 acres of land cultivated with various different types of rubber trees in Ceylon alone. These plantations were able to produce latex with greater efficiency and productivity . Consequently, with lower costs and a lower final price, the British Empire assumed control of the world rubber market . The Amazon's rubber was undercut in

15982-476: Was held as a house prisoner by Loayza, who coerced him into signing a document stating he was being well treated. He also disclosed that the Peruvians later caught up with David Serrano when they returned to La Reserva again and torched the buildings. The soldiers bound the hands of David Serrano and 28 other men behind their backs before shooting them to death. "They not only shot them to death, but horribly mutilated their bodies with their machetes and threw them into

16113-484: Was invited to take part in a diplomatic conference. El Dorado was the last Colombian rubber station downriver. On 12 January, a Peruvian gunboat named the Iquitos and the Liberal steamship docked at La Reserva with an unknown number of Peruvian soldiers. The Liberal was a Peruvian Amazon Company steamship. The party was looking for David Serrano, who fled into the forest. They looted the place, taking away goods from

16244-460: Was murdered and disappeared because he had witnessed and photographed atrocities within the Putumayo. Representatives of the Peruvian Amazon Company claimed he was killed by the local natives and possibly eaten. The two native guides who were apparently with Eugène also disappeared and were not heard from again. Robuchon's notes and manuscript appeared in 1907 under the name En el Putumayo y sus afluentes , edited and published by Carlos Rey de Castro ,

16375-472: Was possible for an administrator of the company to withhold this trip home. The debts owed by the Putumayo's indigenous people to the J.C. Arana y Hermanos firm was acquired by the Peruvian Amazon Company upon its formation and these debts were treated as an asset to the new company. Unrestricted gambling, which the company allowed, was also another factor that affected debts. In place of physical currency, informal documents were written up which promised to pay

16506-425: Was registered in London on 26 September 1907, with the assistance of English investors and a capital of £1,000,000. This new company acquired the assets of Arana's previous firm, J.C. Arana y Hermanos. The following year, "rubber" was dropped from the name, making it the Peruvian Amazon Company, Ltd. At that time, the company had headquarters branches in Iquitos, managed by Julio's brother-in-law Pablo Zumaeta . Zumaeta

16637-474: Was responsible for the operations in the Putumayo and the outflow of rubber. Another branch in Manaus was managed by Julio's brother, Lizardo Arana . While the Peruvian Amazon Company owned territory along the Purus, Napo and Caqueta Rivers, the enterprise's most profitable rubber stations were established in the Putumayo River basin. During the rubber boom, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador had disputed claims on

16768-506: Was sourced from tall trees that had to be cut down to harvest. The extraction method for rubber from this tree was often wasteful, involving deep cuts into the trunk, which released all the rubber in one session. The term 'Cauchero' typically refers to the debt peons involved in extracting and exporting caucho rubber. The second type of rubber came from Hevea brasiliensis , producing a product known as jebe or shiringa, which could be tapped long term. The Castilloa tree practically disappeared from

16899-423: Was sticky. At higher temperatures, the rubber became softer and stickier, while at lower temperatures it became hard and rigid. The South American natives first discovered rubber; sometime dating back to 1600  BCE . The indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest developed ways to extract rubber from the rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ), a member of the family Euphorbiaceae . A white liquid called latex

17030-474: Was used as an eraser by the British scientist Joseph Priestley , with "rubber" entering English parlance as a substitute for the term "eraser". It was not until the 1800s that practical uses of rubber were developed and the demand for rubber began. A rubber factory that made rubber garters for women opened in Paris, France, in the year 1803. However, the material still had disadvantages: at room temperature, it

17161-418: Was willing to sell. While waiting for Perkins to arrive, Serrano told Walter about his experience with the Peruvian Amazon Company. A month earlier, employees of the company showed up at his establishment. He owed money to the branch manager at El Encanto, Miguel S. Loayza , who used the debt as an excuse to send a 'commission' to rob Serrano. They chained David to a tree and raped his wife in front of him. After

#114885