The Rubber Defense Plan: Between Developmentalism and Policy Neglect in the Northern Brazil, 1900-1915

Abstract

This paper deals with the Rubber Defense Plan, established by the Brazilian government in 1912, as a regional plan of development to the economic recovery of Amazon. The literature addressed the plan as a broad project of regional transformation, involving investments in transport, tax cuts, immigration, education, health, among other sectors; but for his greatness, the project failed to materialize. Understand the constitution of the Plan and its limits is to open a scenario for the discussion of the political forces in the First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930), especially in comparison with the Coffee Defense Plan. Thus, we intend to analyze the rubber economic crisis not only through the internal determinants, presented in historiography, but also showing the limited of federal government support to the main export Amazon product.