Rubber Boom 

The Amazon Rubber Boom, which occurred from 1879 to 1912, refers to the intensification of rubber production (fueled by demand from industrialized economies) in the area which both encouraged European expansion and economic growth, as well as devastated native communities. “Rubber barons,” or large plantation owners, made use of enslaved labor in appalling conditions while cities and infrastructure boomed. The Amazon’s monopoly on the rubber market was broken when government-sponsored rubber cultivation emerged in British colonies in Africa and Asia.