Peruvian Amazon Company
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The Peruvian Amazon Company, also called the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Co, was a
rubber boom The Amazon rubber boom ( pt, Ciclo da borracha, ; es, Fiebre del caucho, , 1879 to 1912) was an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related to the extraction and comm ...
company that operated in Peru in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Based in
Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the ninth-most populous city of Peru. Iquitos is the largest city in the world th ...
, it became notorious for the ill treatment of its indigenous workers in the Amazon Basin, whom its field forces treated as
slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. The company's practices were exposed in 1913 by the investigative report of British consul-general
Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...
and an article and book by journalist W. E. Hardenburg. The Arana Brothers company, who had sought capital in London, were fused 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 J. Lister Kaye. The company operated in the area of the
Putumayo River The Putumayo River or Içá River ( es, Río Putumayo, pt, Rio Içá) is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, southwest of and parallel to the Japurá River. Course The Putumayo River forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well ...
, a river that flows from the
Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
to join the
Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...
deep in the tropical jungle. This area was contested at the time among
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...
,
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
, and it was inhabited by numerous
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
.


Casement Report

The company participated in abuses and criminal actions against laborers in the area, with its Peruvian overseers using force and even killing to suppress the workers. An investigative report by
Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...
, British consul, exposed the abuses, embarrassing British members of the company's board. They put pressure on Arana to improve operations. A movement grew to stop the abuse and eventually led to the end of the company. The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society was one of the activist groups working to stop the abuses. W. E. Hardenburg wrote a scathing article in the British magazine ''
Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...
''. The
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
in 1910 sent the
consul-general A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...
to investigate. His report also denounced the operations of the PAC. A 1912 book by Hardenburg, which contained edited extracts of Casement's report, was described by its editor as "perhaps the most terrible page in the whole history of commercialism." A Select Committee of the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
published a paper on the investigations in 1913. The British Board of Directors was considered not criminally liable under the
Slave Trade Acts Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade. The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the conce ...
due to the fact they were uninvolved the actual operations in Peru. However, the Parliament and others moved to tighten up anti-slavery laws. World War I interrupted this work.


Rubber industry

Among the findings by the various investigatory parties were widespread
debt bondage Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, the pe ...
,
slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, torture, mutilation, and many other crimes in the Amazonian
Rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
industry, with the Putumayo area being but one example. The demand for rubber was enormous due to its use in
tyres A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...
for trucks, cars and bicycles, whose manufacture had grown greatly in this period. Religious leaders such as Manuel Polit, Bishop of Cuenca in Ecuador, denounced these activities and worked to reform the system. Organizations such as the Sociedad Pro-Indigena also worked to improve conditions for indigenous workers. The area governments also attempted to implement measures to control the abuses, but it was difficult in the large, sparsely populated countryside, which had few road connections to major cities. Arana was appointed liquidator in September 1911, and the company was forced into closure by a judge in 1913. After the company was closed, the receiver stated that the shareholders would receive nothing, and the creditors would receive small amounts. He blamed the downfall on the British directors, the Chairman of whom was known as
J. Russell Gubbins ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...
.


References


Further reading

* *. An account of the life of Roger Casement and in particular his investigation into the atrocities against the indigenous tribes perpetrated by those engaged in rubber harvesting.


External links

* {{ws, ''Putumayo, The Devil's Paradise'', by W. E. Hardenburg, 1912. Via
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British companies disestablished in 1913 1913 disestablishments in England Unfree labour Trading companies disestablished in the 20th century Trading companies of the United Kingdom Slavery in Brazil Slavery in Peru