Peruvian Amazon Company

The Peruvian Amazon Company, also called the Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Co,[1] was a notorious rubber boom company that operated in Peru in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Arana Brothers company merged with the PAC in the early 1900s.[1]

Julio César Arana ran the company in Peru.[2] It also had a British Board of Directors, which included Sir J. Lister Kaye.[3]

The company operated in the area of the Putumayo River,[2] a river that flows from the Andes to join the Amazon River deep in the tropical jungle. This area was contested at the time between Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, while also being inhabited by large numbers of indigenous people.[1]

The company participated in abuses and criminal actions against laborers in the area. A movement grew to stop the abuse and eventually led to the end of the company. The Anti-Slavery and Aboriginies Protection Society was one of the activist groups working to stop the abuses.[3] W.E. Hardenburg wrote a scathing article in the British magazine Truth. The British government in 1910 sent the consul-general Roger Casement to investigate. His report also denounced the activities of the company. A 1912 book by Hardenburg, which contained edited extracts of Casement's report, was described by its editor as "perhaps the most terrible page in the whole history of commercialism."[4] A Select Committee of the House of Commons published a paper on the investigations in 1913. The British Board of Directors was considered not criminally liable. However, the Parliament and others moved to tighten up anti-slavery laws. World War I interrupted this work.[1]

Among the findings by the various investigatory parties were widespread debt bondage, slavery, torture, mutilation, and many other crimes in the Amazonian Rubber industry, with Putumayo area being but one example. Religious leaders such as Manuel Polit, Bishop of Cuenca in Ecuador, denounced these activities and worked to reform the system.[1] There were also organizations such as the Sociedad Pro-Indigena. The area governments also attempted to implement measures to control the abuses, but it was difficult in the large countryside.[1]

The company was forced into closure by a judge in 1913.[2]

After the company was closed, the receiver stated that the shareholders would receive nothing, and the creditors would receive small amounts. He blamed the downfall on the British directors.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5  Walter Alison Phillips (1922). "Putumayo". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica 32 (12th ed.). London & New York.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Peruvian Amazon Company, Compulsory Winding Up. The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 22 March 1913, retr 2012 9 24 from http://trove.nla.gov.au
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Directors Ignored Rubber Atrocities, 7 12 1912, nytimes.com, retr 2012 9 24
  4. ↑ Hardenburg, W. E. (1912). C. Reginald Enock, ed. The Putumayo: The Devil's Paradise. London: T. Fisher Unwin. Preface.
  5. ↑ The Peruvian Amazon Company: No Return to Shareholders, The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Mar 20 1914. retr 2012 9 24 from http://trove.nla.gov.au

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