Fordlândia
Unfortunately, rubber manufacturers in East Asia were running a virtual monopoly that drove up the price of raw materials.
Ford’s idea: Create the world’s largest rubber plantation in the middle of the Amazon forest, which after all is the native habitat of rubber trees. He bought over six million acres and named his Americanized colony Fordlândia.
Ford went so far as to build a modern hospital, a power plant, a library, a golf course, a hotel, and thousands of little white clapboard houses for the employees to live in.
Eventually, as the community grew, other businesses such as bakeries, butcher shops, restaurants, and shoemakers were established.
Fordlândia proved to be wildly unsuccessful. The rubber saplings that Ford had planted (without the help of a botanist) were barely growing, and those that did grow were soon hit by a leaf blight which ruined the remaining trees.
By the end of the 1920s malaria became a serious problem.
In December 1930 agitated workers rioted, breaking windows and overturning vehicles in the road. After the riots, which lasted less than three days, work continued, but there was almost no product to show for the millions of dollars Ford had poured into the jungle.
-Shlok
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