Deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, incredibly fertile and unimaginably ancient, came the mechanical hum of industrialization, the unmistakable signal of civilization.
It was 1929, and Henry Ford was poised to take over the world.
After completely revolutionizing the world of transportation by introducing the Model T in 1908, Ford and his team had transformed the way manufacturing itself took place. By implementing Taylorism—”scientific management”, as it was called back then—the assembly line came to dominate the US, and then the world.
Under his leadership, Ford Motor Company became one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. Ford's success in the automotive industry made him a household name and a symbol of American ingenuity and success.
In contrast with the way we think of today’s business titans, Ford implemented some progressive labor policies. He introduced a minimum wage for his workers of $5 a day in 1914—significantly higher than average wages at the time. While good for workers’ rights and human progress in general, this move was also 100% self-serving: it was these very employees who could then afford to buy Ford automobiles.
Ford was also infamously antisemitic and racist, and he propagated conspiracy theories, so maybe he doesn’t seem terribly different after all. Suffice it to say: Ford’s legacy is tarnished and complex.
With all of this world-bending success, Ford felt as though he could take over the world and accomplish anything. He envisioned a very long factory where his company owned the land surrounding it. Raw materials (grown or mined on the land) would be brought in on one side, and a car would drive out at the other side.
He got pretty close to realizing this dream in Dearborn, Michigan, at the River Rouge Complex. River Rouge was largest integrated factory of its time, much more like a self-contained city than a traditional factory. At its peak, the complex employed over 100,000 workers and had its own power plant, steel mill, glass factory, and over 90 miles of railroad track within its boundaries.
This colossal facility could process raw materials like iron and sand into steel, glass, and other car components. They were then assembled into automobiles—the epitome of vertical integration. It was a vivid demonstration of industrial might and efficiency, where raw materials entered one end and a finished car rolled out the other.
One frustrating ingredient that wouldn’t cooperate, though: rubber.
If only Ford could grow his own rubber, he could control the entire supply chain from start to finish. Maybe he would have to add some ingredients on one side of his factory from somewhere else, but they would be his ingredients.
This is the story of how an enormous rubber factory, as American as apple pie, came to be in the middle of the Amazon rainforest in 1929.
The vision for Fordlândia was as audacious in the 1920s as landing on the moon was in the 1960s: to create a vast rubber plantation in the heart of the Amazon, feeding raw material directly into Ford’s industrial machine. In 1928, Ford bought land in Brazil roughly the size of Connecticut.
Fordlândia would not only be a rubber plantation but also a model American town, complete with neat rows of houses, schools, hospitals, and even a golf course. However, reality immediately reared its ugly head.
The project faced immediate challenges, largely stemming from a fundamental lack of understanding of the Amazonian ecosystem and local culture. The team needed to plant rubber trees first, but they had a fundamental misunderstanding of the local flora. Instead, Ford’s crew had learned techniques successful in Southeast Asia.
The tight, orderly rows the Malays (Malaysians, today) used simply didn’t work in the Amazonian environment. Close planting led to blight and other diseases spreading quickly from tree to tree, ruining their initial crop and destroying a great deal of work.
There were other big problems, too. The idea was to build an American town in the heart of the Amazon, but this was no place to grow American sustenance crops.
The remote location made transportation and communication difficult. Malaria and other tropical diseases posed serious health risks to the workforce, while the harsh climate took a toll on machinery and infrastructure.
It didn’t help the situation that Ford insisted on a strict work regime rooted in his own values and lifestyle. An American diet, prohibition of alcohol, and rigid work schedules are all decidedly non-Brazilian concepts (I can vouch! I visited in 2004 and 2005, and I’ve known many friends from Brazil).
The inevitable clash of cultures led to strikes and eventual riots, making it clear that Fordlândia was failing. By the late 1930s, the plantation was producing rubber, but it was far less than was expected, and the costs were still unsustainably high.
The final nail in the coffin? Synthetic rubber developed during World War II, a stake in the heart of a catastrophic venture. In 1945, Ford Motor Company sold the land back to the Brazilian government at a loss.
Ouch. Hundreds of millions down the drain. Years wasted in arrogant toil. What’s the takeaway here?
I think that Fordlândia is a cautionary tale against impatient ambition. Ford’s early success in the US made him impatient for more success, almost taking it for granted that whatever he touched would turn into 14-karat gold.
Instead of taking the time to understand the local customs and environment, Ford and his team rushed in to complete a vision.
Fordlândia has become an unlikely tourist attraction, all while it is slowly being reclaimed by the relentless return of the Amazon rainforest. Crumbling buildings and rusting machinery are being overtaken by nature. You couldn’t ask for a more stark reminder of what happens when human ambition collides with nature's will.
Two years after the company sold the land back to Brazil, Ford died at the age of eighty-four. Coincidence?
Ford was the Bezos of his time- he wanted to own everything he could in the world related to making automobiles, and he nearly succeeded.
This was an awesome read! I had no idea that Ford had ever set his sights outside of the United States. So interesting to see the wild differences of the times. Imagine if Bezos or Musk had the idea to do this today. It would be met with so much hostility, and for good reason.