Henry Ford built a utopian city inside Brazil's Amazon rainforest that's now a ghost town - take a look around the abandoned city that was once 'Fordlandia'
If you've never heard of Fordlandia before, no worries — Google has. The search engine recognizes it easily, tucked away in the Brazilian city of Aveiro.
It's technically still there —you can find the discarded remnants of it on the banks of the Tapajos River in Northern Brazil.
Source: BBC
It may not look like it nowadays, but decades before, the colony was Ford's bright and shiny idea for a new kind of industrial operation. And at first, it seemed promising.
Source: NPR
Back in the early 1920s, business was booming for Ford in the US. Ford Motor Company was selling thousands of cars and using massive amounts of rubber for its tires.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Brazil 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 had infected them back in Brazil, thrived.
Source: The Culture Trip
All of a sudden, Britain had replaced Brazil as the titan in the rubber trade, which 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 own 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 then officially founded, and a sawmill and water tower were erected. The latter bore the familiar mark of the Ford company logo.
Source: The Henry Ford
Ford's goal was to manufacture 38,000 tons of latex from his rubber farmstead.
Source: Atlas Obscura, 99 Percent Invisible
He would then ship the product back up 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
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
Ford paid his Fordlandia workers well and incorporated labor practices, like time clocks and eight-hour work days, into the settlement's structure.
Source: The Henry Ford, 99 Percent Invisible
He also gave them access to amenities and resources while employed in the settlement, like a swimming pool ...
Source: The Henry Ford
The school was the first time many indigenous people had access to education.
Source: 99 Percent Invisible
And children could participate in Boy Scouts.
The idea was to not only produce a stockpile of rubber for manufacturing Ford's vehicles, but also to cultivate Ford's idea of the perfect American society based on his own personal morals and ideology.
Source: The Culture Trip
But, as NPR writes, despite the seemingly idyllic set-up, "The first failure of Fordlandia was social."
Source: 99 Percent Invisible, NPR
Fordlandia residents were fed a meatless diet, modeled after Ford's own vegetarian habits, 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, with some taking to a nearby island to establish a bar and a brothel to let loose after a long day's work. They called it "The Island of Innocence."
Source: 99 Percent 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 Percent Invisible
In fact, Ford hoped that Brazilians working in the settlement would adhere to every one of the societal expectations that he set.
Source: 99 Percent Invisible
But ultimately, workers clashed culturally with Ford's American vision of idealism.
Source: 99 Percent Invisible
The tipping point came in 1930 when the dining hall stopped its wait service and shifted to a self-serve cafeteria-style eating experience.
Source: NPR, 99 Percent Invisible
Workers rioted and destroyed much of Fordlandia, including the time clocks, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Source: NPR, 99 Percent Invisible
Workers' ire eventually settled down and order was restored, but the cultural discord was just one of many problems that plagued Fordlandia.
Source: 99 Percent 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 Percent 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 had 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 any output, with Fordlandia only touting 750 tons of latex — none of which ever made it into a Ford car.
Source: NPR, Atlas Obscura
Despite the tremendous failure over 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 $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 ...
Curious visitors 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 reportedly would seem like any other rural town in Brazil.
Source: Culture Trip
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