Word: amazonia
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Death & Slavery. Of the 18,000 men who went to Amazonia, only a few were ever seen again. Most of these, ragged derelicts, now beg in the streets of Manaus and Belem. Others have staggered home to tell bitter stories of slavery and death. Said one: "The thieving rubber buyers and the mosquitoes were our worst enemies. Those of us who tried to escape were captured and beaten senseless. Those who really escaped were imprisoned in the mysteries of the jungle...
...lesson: Brazilians often know more about their own country than foreign "experts" do. The U.S. Rubber Development Corp. raised the price of "Acre-fine" wild rubber from 45? to 60? a lb., handed over supervision to the Brazilian Government. Jungle-baffled Americans had got less rubber out of Amazonia than they had hoped. Native rubbermen predicted that jungle-wise Brazilians, seeing a profit in the higher price, might beat the record production of the rubber boom 32 years...