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FordlndiaFordlndia ("Ford-land") was a vast tract of land purchased by automobile tycoon Henry Ford in the 1920s. Covering over 10,000 km² of land, it was situated near the city of Santarm, Brazil, and approximately 960 kilometres from the mouth of the Amazon River at Belm. Ford intended to use Fordlndia to provide his company with a source of rubber for the tyres on Ford cars, avoiding the dependance of British (Malaysian) rubber. The land was hilly, rocky and infertile. None of Ford's managers had any knowledge of farming or agriculture. The rubber trees, packed closely together in plantations, as opposed to being widely spaced in the jungle, were easy prey for tree blight and insects. The mostly Native American workers on the plantations, given American food such as hamburgers, and forced to live in American style housing, disliked the way they were treated and would often refuse to work. The workers were assigned a number they had to carry in a badge, the cost of which was substracted from their first wage. Fordlndia was a total disaster. In 1945, Henry Ford sold it for a loss of over $10 million US.
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