Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
Henry Ford may be best known as the founder of Ford Motor Company and as the creator of the first model-T, but what you may not know, is that he owned 25 million acres of land in the Amazon, where he attempted to establish the largest rubber plantation in the world. Greg Grandin, in his book Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, talks about Ford as an idealist who took on many projects and was determined to see them succeed; focusing chiefly on the discussion of his rubber plantation project.
Henry Ford controlled most of the raw materials he needed to manufacture his cars. This included lumber, coal, and iron oar to be made into steel.
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This was the case when Brazil was the number one exporter of rubber, but the boom of rubber production in Asia was so considerable, that Brazil could no longer compete.
In 1927 Ford sent a botanist named LaRou, to survey the land in Brazil and find a suitable location for rubber production. He was responsible as well for reporting the condition of the rubber tappers in the area, who were “fever stricken … [having] horrible wounds and sores on their legs and feet. They [were] always nearly naked, covered merely by rags”(p.88). Upon hearing of the poverty of the workers, it became more of a social project than an economic one. Besides establishing a profitable rubber plantation, his objective became to establish “model towns”. His mission was to civilize the people, while having them obey his rules.
Ford acquired 25 million acres of amazon forests along the Tapajos River. The town that he created is now known as Fordlandia. In that town, he funded the building of a hospital, as well as a water purification plant to provide the employees with clean drinking water. He also tried to improve their nutrition, teach them proper hygiene, and teach them to be economical while paying them decent wages.
The Ford Motor Company is an automotive manufacturer that was started in the late 1900’s. Many people have run the Ford Motor Company but the founder Henry Ford, he was unlike any other. Henry Ford’s imagination was unlike any other and his brain could come up with some of the greatest things. Until the day Mr. Ford died he created and succeeded in the automotive world and never failed to give to America.
where everything would be perfect, industrialized and modern. He built this place in Brazil, but he never visited it. Ford was considered in Brazil as the “Jesus Christ of industry,” The thesis of the book was clear and helped me to understand the book.
In the early 1900’s Henry Ford developed the idea of “a wagon that will run without a horse”.1 This idea and Ford’s success changed America and its people forever. The development of the automobile played a tremendous role in the economy, labor unions and society. Generally, when most people think of Henry Ford they reflect upon his wealth and contributions to the transportation industry as an infinitely positive phenomenon. It is thought that aside from just allowing consumers to purchase and use his inventions, he provided thousands of people with jobs and the promise of prosperity. The tale of Henry Ford’s legendary business and remarkably effective assembly line is unparalleled in
Imagine how life would be if our society did not have cars. Today, our society is dependent on cars for our daily routines. From transporting our food, clothes, and technology to just going to the store across the street, cars are a very important part of our society. In the 19th century, only the wealthy and upper middle class had access to automobiles, and they only used cars for fancy transportation and to show off their money. This was due to the extreme prices of cars in the 19th century. With these high prices not many people could afford them, especially not the working class. Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry in the
The automobile industry put American citizens into action. Mass production was a big component in the success of automobiles. Although successful, it became very repetitive. Skilled workers who were once worshipped, were no longer needed. Henry Ford was described as racist, bitter, but he brought success to citizens in the 1920s. Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with the help of a limited amount of workers in a shed. It was not until 1914 where custom-made cars turned into many cars, such as the Model T, moving down an assembly line. The Model T was a very popular car that benefitted cheap labor and easy mobility for its owners. Ford became a billionaire from the help of the federal government’s actions. At this point, the government decided that funds should be spent more on roads. Automobiles introduced
When you think about Ford, an automobile will usually come to mind. Most people don’t think about the man behind that name, Henry Ford. Henry Ford was the man responsible for the Ford Motor Company (FMC). He was also the creator of the invention that changed the mass production industry, the assembly line. As you read on you will learn about Henry Ford’s life, the FMC, and the assembly line.
“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” (Henry Ford). Henry Ford is one of the world’s most renowned leaders for the automobile industry. The son of a farmer, Ford has always been interested in how things worked. He has improved the models of his cars to make manufacturing them faster and more efficient by using assembly lines. He also set a balance between his employees’ wages and hours worked. Ford never stopped innovating and it is shown in his later Models of his car. Ford set standards for future motor companies and set standards for modern day manufacturing.
In 1908 Henry Ford had constructed the Model T; the time it took him to create this automobile was 13 days. Now eager to achieve more, Ford knew that he needed a place to construct these cars. He also knew that to sell mass amounts he would have to sell cheap, and buy parts and supplies even cheaper (Douglas, 25). The construction of the first Ford Motor plant used the world’s only conveyer belt. This was part of the Fords plan to build fast, when he constructed the assembly line cars were pumped out in as fast as 15 minuets, this was down from 19 days. Ford was able to make the automobile a car for everyman, a working man with a family.
In Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City written by Greg Grandin is a book that talks about Henry Ford also known as the creator of Ford automobiles. This book talks about both the successes of Henry Ford and also his failures in Brazil, and also how he changes the style of Brazilians in this book as the whole story progresses gradually. Ford would arrive to the Amazonian and build a land and call it Fordlandia which would be used to make latex to keep Detroit Michigan strong and ford would hire native workers to help him grow Fordlandia. Culture plays a big part in this book from beginning to end basically since Ford arrived in Brazil all the way to Fords failure and how he changed the culture of poor Amazonian Indians. Grandin talks about how Ford changed the culture of the Amazonia workers, also how ford was forcing the
good goal in mind, it turned out to be a big failure. Henry Ford’s rubber
Henry Ford in Brave New World Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932. Brave New World is set in London, in AD 2540. The novel shows life in a utopia where there is advanced reproductive technology, class conditioning and sleep-learning. Everyone is happy in Brave New World and if they start to become unhappy, they can take a drug called soma.
Henry Ford revolutionized the way people traveled throughout the nation of the United States. A short time after the first model T rolled off of the assembly line, Mr. Ford found the need to create a vehicle that would ease the burden of caring for the horses that pulled the wagons and saved time for his fellow workers. The model T pickup was born! No more horses to care for, no more strapping the carriage to the horse, and defiantly no more poop to scoop. How did Mr. Ford create so much value for the people? By recognizing there was a need to take care of, a want to fulfill, and a demand to meet.
Henry Ford was an engineer from Detroit, Michigan who had an idea. By 1902, Ford had attempted several times to produce a gas powered vehicle, but with little capital, he realized that his attempts were futile. Ford approached a man by the name of Alexander T. Malcomson about the possibility of manufacturing an automobile. Malcomson, a friend of the family and wealthy coal merchant was reluctant at first but finally agreed with Ford, and decided to assit Ford financially with his endeavor. With Malcomsons investment and Ford's engineering skills a partnership was formed and in mid June of 1903, papers of incorporation for the Ford Motor Company were filed in Dearborn, Michigan.
Henry Ford was the world’s most influential leader. From founding one of the worlds most successful car companies, to having a major influence on WWI, he has profoundly shaped the 20th century and left an impact on every single one of our lives. Although Mr. Ford is considered one of the wealthiest and most commonly known people in the world, Ford was founded by his hard work and dedication to supply a perfect product. At one point half the cars on the road worldwide were his famous model-t. As the company expanded he slowly began to make Ford more independent, such as purchasing acres of land for wood, purchasing land for rubber trees, and even having his own line of specialty glass blowers. Mr. Ford strived to give his customers the best deal possible, constantly finding ways do drop the price of his cars so they could be available to all. He has risen the standards not only in business but in the innovative world as well. Overall it is safe to say Henry Ford embodies success and has given the American Dream a new definition, he has truly inspired us all.
Henry’s fortunes, fueled by his own ingenuity, continued to climb. In 1927, Henry Ford opened the largest, most impressive and most self-contained industrial complex in the world. Referred to as the Rouge plant and located on the Rouge River south of Detroit, it was built to produce the Model A, and was the only plant in the world where raw iron ore would go in one end and an automobile would come out the other. In its heyday it employed one hundred thousand workers, had several miles of railroad track, and consumed more chili in one day than most cities did in a year. One of its greatest claims to infamy was the amount of pollution it generated. It was the single largest contributor to the polluting of the Rouge River. In fact, it was so bad that one day the Rouge River actually caught fire.