The vision
Henry Ford's utopian industrial town carved into the Amazon to secure rubber for the Model T — complete with American-style bungalows, square dances and prohibition.
Context
Ford bought 2.5 million acres of rainforest to escape British rubber monopolies and remake the jungle into a sober, Midwestern company town. Workers were required to eat hamburgers, wear ID badges and follow a strict moral code.
What happened
By the early 1930s leaf blight had devastated the rubber plantations and workers had rioted over imposed American habits. Ford sold the land back to Brazil in 1945 at a loss of roughly $20M (≈$300M today) without ever visiting it.
Why it fell short
- Rubber trees planted in dense rows succumbed to South American leaf blight
- Imposed American diet, dress and prohibition triggered worker revolts
- No agronomist with Amazon experience was ever consulted
- Synthetic rubber made the entire venture obsolete by WWII