The Car Maker Who Tried to Run the Jungle

Fordlandia was Henry Ford’s ambitious attempt to control his own rubber supply by building an American-style town in the Amazon. In 1928, the Ford Motor Company established a massive project designed to supply tires for its vehicles. This plan aimed to create a self-sufficient community complete with schools, housing, and hospitals, imposing a strict corporate lifestyle on the local workforce. We examine why this industrial experiment ultimately failed due to labor uprisings, biological challenges to the rubber trees, and the immense difficulty of managing a plantation in the jungle. This video details the rise and fall of this failed industrial city, as well as the history of the second site, Belterra. We look at the actual legacy of these plantations and the communities that persisted long after Henry Ford sold the properties in 1945. Subscribe to Globistics for curious stories about decisions that shape our world. Chapters: 0:00 Henry Ford's Amazonian Ambition 1:15 Establishing the Fordlandia Settlement 3:13 Tensions Boil Over in the Dining Hall 5:10 The Battle Against Leaf Blight 9:20 The Legacy of a Corporate Experiment This is the story of Fordlandia and Belterra: the ambition, the people, the attempted rescue, and the communities that continued after Ford sold the properties in 1945. Globistics is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ford Motor Company. Sources: https://www.thehenryford.org/collecti... https://rephip.unr.edu.ar/server/api/... https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi... https://planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/dec... #Fordlandia #HenryFord #HistoryDocumentary #Globistics