Modern ruins

Everything had started so brilliantly, when Henry Ford chose the Brazilian rain forest in the 1920ies to cover the rising demand for natural rubber for the tire production, and to export his version of the American dream. Fordlândia was supposed to become a model-town following the American example – with roofing shingles, bright red hydrants and strict prohibitions. The native people should get used to a regular working schedule, independent from heat and weather, and for their health they were forced to eat unloved food such as rice, oatmeal and canned fruits. But the unusual project quickly came to a halt. Despite of a hospital and good medical supply the mortality amongst workers was high, Malaria raged, and already in the year 1930 more than 300 people lay buried on the cemetery. Furthermore the displeasure amongst the workers raised, because they didn’t want to adapt to the strictly organized working schedules and spent their wages in brothels and bars. Again and again armed mercenary soldiers had to interfere to appease the situation. In the development of the plantations similar difficulties appeared like in the construction of Ford’s society. Forest clearance during the rainy season, destruction of the fertile soil by slashing and burning, as well as mistakes in the growing of the rubber-trees and the infestation with parasites lowered the hope for development. But the richest man of the world at that time didn’t give up so quickly: he exchanged the corrupt and incompetent management, fired most of the workers and had bars and brothels demolished. At the same time thousands of new workers were recruited and for a short period more than 8.000 people lived in Fordlandia. Streets were asphalted, schools, hair dressers, bakeries and butcher shops opened. There was even a golf course and regular gardening competitions. And since the king of cars from Detroit loved classical music, Waltz instead of Samba were played in the jungle on company festivities. But the American engineers lost the true battle – against nature. Because they planted the rubber-trees close-packed, which should grow with distance from each other, they created an ideal hatchery for parasites such as fungi, bugs and caterpillars. Billions of trees died. Therefore natural rubber never has been harvested in Fordlandia, although in 1941 more than 3,6 billion trees were planted on the plantations. When the 82-year-old Henry Ford withdrew from the company, his son Henry Ford II as one of his first official acts sold all land owned at the Amazonas. Estimated by the contemporary price his father had invested one billion = 1 Milliarde dollars (one milliard? = 1000 Millionen). Today the gigantic water tower – at that time the highest building in the Amazonas – is a far visible symbol of this failed utopia. The remains of the American town are still observable, but they more and more melt with nature. Some descendants of the former workers live near Fordlandia. They know that humans cannot control nature and they tell stories about a rich man who tried to form nature and humans after his model and failed miserably.