Henry Ford built ‘Fordlandia,’ a utopian city inside Brazil’s Amazon rainforest that’s now abandoned — take a look around
- The town, dubbed Fordlandia, was more than an industrial operation — it was Ford’s attempt to establish a picturesque American society.
- Here’s how Fordlandia was founded before falling apart.
Deep inside Brazil’s Amazon rainforest sit the dilapidated remains of what looks like an industrial town. One of the first things you’ll see upon entering is a water tower with a faded Ford logo.
That’s because almost a century ago, the founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, turned that space of land into not only a business operation but a social experiment of sorts.
Here’s how Fordlandia, Ford’s utopian city and industrial town, was founded — and how it fell apart.
If you’ve never heard of Fordlandia before, no worries — Google has. The search engine recognizes it easily, tucked away in the Brazilian town of Aveiro.
Source: Google Maps
It’s technically still there — you can find the remnants of it on the banks of the Tapajos River in northern Brazil.
Source: BBC
It may not look like it nowadays, but decades ago the colony was Ford’s bright and shiny idea for a new kind of industrial operation. And at first, it seemed promising.
Source: NPR
In the early 1920s, business was booming for Ford in the US. Ford Motor was selling thousands of cars and using massive amounts of rubber for its tires.
Source: Atlas Obscura
The Amazon basin was initially the world’s only source of rubber, supplying industrialized Britain and the US with the material.
Source: The Culture Trip
But that changed when a British explorer named Henry Wickham smuggled thousands of rubber seeds out of the South American country to his homeland.
Source: The Culture Trip
Britain planted the seeds in its Southeast Asian colonies, where the rubber crops, free from the insects that infected them in Brazil, thrived.
Source: The Culture Trip
All of a sudden, Britain had replaced Brazil as the titan in the rubber trade, and that worried Ford.
Source: The Culture Trip
So for the sake of efficiency, Ford turned to the Amazon rainforest to construct a rubber plantation that would serve as his personal supply of the material.
Source: Gizmodo
He purchased millions of acres from an obliging Brazilian government, which was still licking its wounds from being overturned as the rubber-trade monopoly.
Source: Atlas Obscura
And in 1928, he sent his delegates with supplies to the South American country to oversee operations of the plantation.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Fordlandia was officially founded then, and a sawmill and a water tower were erected. The latter bore the familiar Ford Motor logo.
Source: The Henry Ford
Forest was cleared to make way for the rubber crops.
Source: The Culture Trip
Ford’s goal was to manufacture 38,000 tons of latex from his rubber farmstead.
Source: Atlas Obscura, “99% Invisible“
He would then ship the product to his factories in Detroit, Michigan.
Source: The Culture Trip
However, land was cleared not just for the rubber plantation, but for a town.
Source: The Culture Trip
Fordlandia was as much a city as it was a business operation.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Workers and their families lived in employee housing on-site.
Source: Atlas Obscura
The homes resembled the Midwestern abodes back in the US that Ford was accustomed to.
Source: The Culture Trip
Native Brazilians were also among those hired in Fordlandia to work in the factories.
Source: Atlas Obscura
They lived in the housing complex as well.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Ford paid his Fordlandia workers well and incorporated labor practices like time clocks and eight-hour workdays into the settlement’s structure.
Source: The Henry Ford, “99% Invisible“
He also gave them access to amenities and resources while employed in the settlement, like a swimming pool …
Source: The Henry Ford
… a golf course …
Source: The Henry Ford
… and a school.
Source: The Henry Ford
The school was the first time many of the indigenous people had access to education.
Source: “99% Invisible“
Transportation systems were implemented to get residents around the town.
Source: BBC
And children could participate in Boy Scouts.
A Fordlandia cemetery was built (and still exists) …
Source: The Culture Trip
… as was a modern hospital.
Source: The Henry Ford
Fordlandia employees received free medical care at the hospital too.
Source: “99% Invisible“
The idea was to not only produce a stockpile of rubber for manufacturing Ford’s vehicles, but cultivate Ford’s idea of the perfect American society based on his morals and ideology.
Source: The Culture Trip
But, as NPR reported, despite the seemingly idyllic setup, “the first failure of Fordlandia was social.”
Source: “99% Invisible,” NPR
Workers were expected to abide by a strict set of rules and labor practices.
Source: NPR
Fordlandia residents were fed a meatless diet, modeled after Ford’s vegetarian eating, and were served things like brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and oatmeal.
Source: NPR
They were pushed to attend poetry readings and English-language-only singing sessions, and alcohol and prostitution were prohibited.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Many workers railed against those restrictions, and some established a bar and a brothel on a nearby island to let loose after a long day’s work. They called it “the Island of Innocence.”
Source: “99% Invisible,” The Henry Ford
Ford also built a dance hall in hopes that his Brazilian workers would take to square dancing as much as he had.
Source: Atlas Obscura, “99% Invisible“
In fact, Ford hoped that Brazilians working in the settlement would adhere to every one of the societal expectations he set.
Source: “99% Invisible“
But ultimately, workers clashed culturally with Ford’s American vision of idealism.
Source: “99% Invisible“
The tipping point came in 1930 when the dining hall stopped its wait service and shifted to a self-serve cafeteria style.
Source: NPR, “99% Invisible“
Workers rioted and destroyed much of Fordlandia, including the time clocks, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Source: NPR, “99% Invisible“
Workers’ ire eventually settled and order was restored, but the cultural discord was just one of many problems that plagued Fordlandia.
Source: “99% Invisible“
Even though they were planted in their species’ native soil (rubber trees are indigenous to Brazil), the plants didn’t thrive.
Source: Atlas Obscura
When Ford set out on his Brazilian endeavor, he had refused to consult a botanist when planting the foundation of the rubber trees.
Source: Atlas Obscura, “99% Invisible“
So when he unadvisedly had the first round of rubber trees planted during the hot and dry season, the plants deteriorated.
Source: The Culture Trip
Ford also made the mistake of having the trees planted in tight rows away from steady water flow, giving fungi and pests plenty of room to wreak havoc on the young buds.
Source: NPR
As a result, leaf blight set in and destroyed the saplings. The rubber trees produced barely anything, with Fordlandia touting only 750 tons of latex — none of which ever made it into a Ford car.
Source: NPR, Atlas Obscura
Despite the tremendous failures in Fordlandia’s early years, Ford persisted and funneled more and more money into the project, even moving the settlement downstream for a fresh patch of soil in 1933. He renamed the new section Belterra, but that too failed.
Source: Atlas Obscura, The Henry Ford
As for Ford’s emissaries from Detroit, they also didn’t have it easy. They weren’t accustomed to the hot, humid climate, and their families — particularly their wives — didn’t have much to do.
Source: NPR
The final straw came with the advent of synthetic rubber years later, rendering the whole purpose of Fordlandia useless.
Source: Gizmodo
So in 1945, Ford shuttered his once glistening prospective project and sold the land back to the Brazilian government for $250,000.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Overall, the failure amounted to a staggering $20 million loss (or about $200 million in today’s dollars).
Source: Atlas Obscura
And throughout the entire venture, Ford never once set foot in Fordlandia — he managed operations from his home in Michigan.
Now, 80 years later, a deteriorated factory building stands as a reminder of Fordlandia’s failure.
The water tower still boasts a faded Ford logo.
But despite the abandoned structures …
… Fordlandia is home to some 3,000 Brazilians.
Source: The Culture Trip
Most work in the cattle trade or own local businesses.
Source: The Culture Trip
The once modern hospital has crumbled.
Source: Wikimedia
Bats are reportedly the former infirmary’s only occupants.
Source: BBC
Those curious can take a trip to see the town and stay in a hotel close to the former settlement.
Source: The Culture Trip
If it weren’t for the decomposing structures, Fordlandia might seem like any other rural town in Brazil.
Source: Culture Trip
This content was originally published here.
