João Barbosa Rodrigues and “Queen Rubber”: An innovative scientific culture

Abstract

This work presents the history of rubber in the Amazon based on an article by João Barbosa Rodrigues. In his text, he emphasized the age of the traditional knowledge used by the native populations in the Americas to produce the various objects made from rubber. He showed how European scientists based their studies on that knowledge to understand rubber and expand its use. In his analysis of the exploitative production process that was introduced in the Amazon region, Barbosa Rodrigues presented the indigenous production methods, which have never been surpassed. He contrasted them with the social degradation to which those native populations were submitted, as well as the damage done to the environment, which the native populations had previously preserved. He concluded that far from being a mere condemnation of the violent process of colonization, his work was designed to promote continued rubber development. He defended cultivation in line with ecological principles that would preserve the environment, while also allowing those who held knowledge of sustainable production processes, as they are now called, to return to their self-supporting lifestyles. Barbosa Rodrigues proposed a new, and previously unknown scientific culture for development in regard to societal organization and production of wealth.