Bridgewater Review

Volume 18 | Issue 1 Article 5

Jun-1999 Post-Frontier Towns of Rondônia, James Hayes-Bohanan Bridgewater State College, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Hayes-Bohanan, James (1999). Post-Frontier Towns of Rondônia, Brazil. Bridgewater Review, 18(1), 3-8. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol18/iss1/5

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. I spent three months in 1996 study­ ing the Rondonian landscape, enjoying its people, and trying to find out how its cities are connected to deforestation. Because ofthe nature ofmy research, I spent most ofmy time in Porto Velho, butI also visited smaller towns and several ranches. Remarkably, during an entire season in the Amazon, I spent only a few hours in the rain forest itself. The capital ofRondonia is Porto Velho, situated on the Rio Madeira one thousand kilometers from its conflu­ ence with the and a total of2,200 kilometers upstream from the POST-FRONTIER Atlantic Ocean. It is located near the Santo Antonio Cataract, a series of some twenty waterfalls that marks the TOWNS OF effective head ofnavigation on the Rio Madeira. In 1907, the U.S. firm ofMay, Jekyll & Randolph began construction RONDONIA, BRAZIL ofthe legendary and infamous Madeira-Mamore Railway in order BY JAMES HAYES-BOHANAN to gain access to tin reserves located further upstream in Bolivia. The rail­ he name Rondonia may invoke an transition from frontier to former road was built at considerable human image ofa mythical kingdom, perhaps frontier. This transformation is both and financial cost, but it did not operate D a place sprung from the imagination reminiscent ofthe closing ofNorth for more than a few years. As in frontier ofa Tolkien or a Lewis. It is in fact a American frontiers in the nineteenth elsewhere, however, the railroad very real place in the heart ofSouth century and perhaps instructive in played a critical role in the development America: one that at the close ofthe relation to those few frontiers that will ofthe , and is still a prominent twentieth century is undergoing a fitful remain in the twenty-first century.

Brazil Miles I 0>-'----10<-'0------<200 o Capital • City -River ---- Road 18> City Mentioned in Article sao kilomelers

Rondonia includes some 625.000 square miles, making itabout the size ofthe u.s. state ofArizona and approximatelyfive percent ofthe land sUlface ofthe Amazon region. Tt is bordered to the north and east by the states Amazonas and , and to the south and west by the country ofBolivia. The lowland terrain ofthe valleys ofthe Rio Madeira in the north and the Rio Mamore in the westgive way to rolling hills in the center of the state. The eastern and southern portions ofthe state are dominated by river valleys. Despite the lush vegetation throughout most ofthe state, the majority ofsoils are ofextremely low fertility and are highly erodible once exposed. The climate is hot, humid. and seasonally wet, with a relatively dry season from June through August.

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW 3 The national government provided funds for the construction ofalmost 10,000 miles ofroads. In addition to the highways, side roads built at regular intervals would make land available throughout a 30-mile swath along each highway. Brazil's "March to the West" echoed frontier expansion in tl1e United States in the nineteenth century. Just as the Homestead Act provided land to farmers willing to settle the Nortl1 American frontier, so were the colonization projects in Brazil intended to make land available for family farms. In Rondonia, the frontier-settlement program followed an existing corridor: the service road connecting stations along the old telegraph line was up­ graded and paved to invite migrants to the . The Northwest Pole program provided 250 acres ofland to each family that would commit to farming it. The government also Near downtown Porto Velho, as elsewhere in Rondonia, access to global culture, including the created small rural service centers latest Hollywood releases, is increasingly available. where families could obtain medical symbol ofPorto Velho. The rail station a-halfmillion current residents of and educational services. In some cases, was placed at the main port in Porto Rondonia were not present during a existing settlements that had grown up Velho, where it remains as a historical pioneer era that began in earnest only around the telegraph stations served and departure point for after­ in the 1970s. these functions. noon family excursions on a short-bne Settlement projects throughout the railroad. In the same year that the rail­ RONDONIA'S FRONTiER ERA Amazon were intended to relieve popu­ road was built, a telegraph bne was con­ The rapid landscape change that has lation pressure in the Northeast, where structed from Porto Velho to the south occurred in Rondonia has its origins the inequitable distribution ofland ofBrazil. Thus this new town - whose in government policies at the national was increasingly problematic. Rather name has always meant"Old Port"­ level. TheAmazon region had been than address the land tenure issues became a very unusual communication economically important during the directly, the government chose to offer node: linked by water to the Atlantic, rubber boom ofthe early twentieth subsidies to people who would leave by rail to Bolivia, and by wire to Rio century, butby the 1950s it was once the Northeast and settle in Amazonia. again economically insignificant to de Janeiro. Ignoring the presence of indigenous The tin and rubber boom surround­ Brazil. TheAmazon regained signifi­ people, Brazil's president promoted the ing the establishment ofPorto Velho cance after the military took power Amazon as a "Land without men for was not, however, the true frontier era in 1964. The military regimes in men without land:' Programs intended in Rondonia. This came much later, in Brazil saw development projects in to absorb modest numbers ofmigrants the years surrounding its transition to the Amazonian regions of Peru and from the Northeast had the unintended statehood in 1983. As late as 1960, the Venezuela as geopolitical threats, and consequence ofencouraging massive population ofRondonia - a federal began a series ofprograms intended migration from the South and territory the size ofArizona - had to occupy the region. The promise of Soutl1east. been only 70,000. By 1980, it was nearly great mjneral wealth also contributed As a result ofthe unexpectedly strong five hundred thousand, and continuing to renewed government interest in the response to the regional development to grow rapidly. Most ofthe one-and- region. The integration ofAmazonia programs in the 1970s, rapidly growing with the rest ofthe countrywas to be populations emerged along the entire achieved primarily through road con­ struction, agricultural colonization and industrialization.

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW 4 axis ofBR-364 in Rondonia. Although pay extremely low wages. As a result, for local officials. For this reason, the many migrants to the frontier settled the labor surplus led to the dislocation municipal government has created at on small parcels as intended, poor soil ofnew settlers, and their subsequent least two neighborhoods ofsingle­ conditions frequently led the original migration to urban places. In many family homes for new migrants. These settlers to abandon their property after cases, the rural service centers began to neighborhoods are well-organized only a few years. It has come as a sur­ increase in population quite rapidly. grids ofvery small houses, each on its prise to many that the soils found own lot. The neighborhoods are known under rain forests are unsuitable for PORTO VELHO TODAY as Pombal (Dovecote) I & II because settled agriculture. In fact, some ofthe IfPorto Velllo is known to outsiders at ofthe tiny size ofthe houses and the most nutrient-poor soils in the all, it is mainly as the gateway to rural minimal provision ofinfrastructure. are found in rain forests. Because of Rondonia. Ifthe city is mentioned in Because the houses are simple and the high temperatures and abundant pre­ an article, it is likely to be only because lots are relatively big, the program cipitation, most nutrients are rapidly the airport was closed by the smoke provides a way for families to obtain metabolized in rain forest environ­ ofburning rain forests as a writer was basic housing and then make improve­ ments, but these same conditions pre­ trying to get to the "real" story some­ ments as they are able. Although land vent tlleir accumulation in soil. Rain where in R011donia's interior. Even invasions continue as Porto Velho forests have evolved to these conditions within Brazil, this ofalmost grows, many areas ofthe city are by by storing nutrients almost entirely 250,000 - the third largest in the now well established. above ground. In contrast, agricultural Amazon region - is barely known. The outside world may continue crops such as corn and wheat rely Scouring six months of Veja (Brazil's to be unaware to Porto Vellio, but the on the storage ofnutrients in soil, as major news weekly) page-by-page may opposite is certainly not true. The they are not able to process nutrients not reveal a single mention ofPorto people ofPorto Vellio are rapidly directly from their stalks and leaves. Velho. Sometimes Porto Velhenses becoming"plugged in" to the world Farmers clearing rain forest by burning themselves do not even seem to believe economy and to the world ofinforma­ will typically enjoy one or two years it is a real place. The fact that I had trav­ tion. Just as the telegraph system ofthe ofbumper crops, as the ash from the eled to Brazil specifically to spend three nineteenth century allowed tlle most burned biomass has enriched the soil. months in their adopted citywas some­ remote towns in North America to Once the initial store ofnutrients is times met with disbeliefand even a remain connected, so too do broadcast depleted, however, cultivation ofcrops measure ofannoyance that I had media and the Internet serve to bring is extremely difficult. bypassed other regions ofBrazil that the world to Porto Velho. Recent As the small farms failed, they were my hosts were certain I would have Hollywood releases are available for consolidated into the larger holdings found more interesting. rent, and even smaller cities in the ofranchers, many ofwhom were Migration to urban areas began as interior ofRondonia now have make­ wealthy urban who were a process ofstepwise migration from shift video parlors Witll Mortal Kombat holding land as a hedge against infla­ other regions via rural areas ofthe state, and other North American games. tion. Cattle ranches frequently served but by the time ofmy visit in 1996, Household computers remain rare in merely to mark the territory as part urban growth had taken on a life ofits Rondonia, partly because ofhigh tar­ ofa land-speculation scheme. As a own. Migrants were beginning to arrive iffs.l arrived in Porto Vell10 soon after result, up to 85 percent ofthe land in Rondonia's cities directly from other the first Internet connections, but cleared in Rondonia has been used to parts ofBrazil. This is increasingly true already individuals were scrambling to graze cattle, saturating the market for in a neighborhood on the periphery find ways to get connected. State-of-the beef. Combined clearing ofland for ofPorto Velho by the name ofCidade artcomputers could be found in the agriculture and ranching destroyed at do Lobo, literally City ofthe Wolf, back rooms ofhouses in fairly modest least seventeen percent ofthe rain after a rancher named Lobo whose neighborhoods. The high price of forest in the state. land had been invaded to create tlle telephone communications actually Land speculation and consolidation neighborhood. makes the Internet a very attractive offarms resulted in the rapid growth of Land invasions are a common occur­ alternative for those trying to maintain extremely large farms while the average rence in growing Latin American cities, connections outside tl1e region. In fact, size ofsmall farms declined rapidly. but in Porto Velho as elsewhere, they I encountered several foreign visitors This combination favored wealthy land create a number ofdifficult problems who had never used the Internet until owners, allowing them to control both they got to Rondonia! local land and labor markets, and to

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW 5 OURO PRETO connects the Bolivian frontier to BR­ one time this harvest occupied 180 , located near 364, evidence suggests that coca from saw mills in the city; in 1996, I was the center ofRondonia, began as a tele­ Bolivia is transshipped tllrough the city. able to visit one ofonly three mills that graph relay station, as did the other remained. This mill was now process­ major tOVl'l1S on the BR-364 highway. ROLlM DE MOURA ing lower-valued species oftrees, and It is difficult to conceive ofa better is a genuinely new city, trees harvested from indigenous name for a frontier town than one which was built by the Brazilian gov­ reserves. Still, the trees currently being which means "Black Gold ofthe West:' ernment as a rural service center in harvested are so large that each eight­ Although Ouro Preto's modern growth 1975. Even at its inception, the town foot section ofa tree can build an did result from gold mining, it is actu­ was built on a grand scale. The main entire, ifmodest, home. After my visit, boulevard is over 300 feet wide, and all ally named for an eighteenth century I learned that the municipio (county) mining town in . Unlike ofthe secondary arteries are 100 feet ofRolim de Moura has experienced its namesake, which had grown rapidly wide. Since none ofthese streets was more extensive deforestation than any with gold mining and then declined paved in the early years ofthe settle­ other, losing 87 percent ofits original rapidly, Ouro Preto actually grew sub­ ment, a red dust obscured visibility in forest in a fifteen-year period. stantially after the local gold resources the town during tlle dry season. Dust The effects ofdeforestation are many. had literally panned out. was once almost unheard ofin the They include the interruption ofthe The former municipal airport in region, but a pall now hangs continu­ carbon cycle and tlle hydrologic cycle, Ouro Preto is the site ofperhaps the ously over the city tllroughout the both ofwhich may contribute to cli­ most unusual residential settlement dry season. Despite its grandiose matic changes such as global warming I encountered during my field work. street plan, Rohm de Moura in 1996 and desertification. Rain forests are Even some ofits earliest residents are retains one symbol ofits pioneer days. host to an unusually diverse collection unaware ofits history. During the gold A local history features on its cover ofplant and animal species, many rush in Ouro Preto, an air strip had one ofseveral difficult ferry crossings ofwhich are extremely localized. been located in the midst ofthe rain required to gain access to the town. Deforestation not only results in the forest near the town. It ceased opera­ As of 1996, one ofthose crossings extinction ofmany species, but it also tion when the gold was exhausted, at remained, but a bridge to replace it replaces a complex ecosystem with new the beginning ofthe dry season in was under construction. ecosystems that are far sinlpler, and far 1985. In August, at the end ofthe dry Frontier regions are frequently lit­ less resistant to disturbance. season, the rain forest along the air strip tered with "boom towns:' which grow During a visit to a ranch near Rolim was burned and massive trees were rapidly and then disappear once a local de Moura, I experienced this person­ removed. Unlike other settlements in resource has been depleted. Although ally. The owner ofthe ranch, who lives the region, this land was never used its population appears to have stabi­ in town, allows members ofa local for agriculture, but rather was cleared lized, Rolim de Moura is as close to apian cooperative to use his land in specifically for urban, residential use. a boom town as I encountered in exchange for a bit ofthe honey. I joined The land invasion was well-organized, Rondonia. Local elites with whom I the beekeepers as they tended their and now a large neighborhood is ori­ met lamented declines in population, hives, which are located in a large open­ ented on a very regular grid oriented the timber industry, and the productiv­ ing among grazing cattle and a large along an extremely long and straight ity ofagriculture since they had arrived number ofcharred tree trunks. We all boulevard tllat was the original landing in the 1980s. Unlike manyother parts put on beekeeper's suits as a precau­ strip. The axis ofthat strip is now one ofthe state, where forests have typically tion, although I had to improvise ofthe major arteries ofthe city, and the been cleared by small-scale agricultur­ Witll my own khakis and work gloves neighborhood surrounding it is known ists, the timber harvest itself has usually because a full suitwas not available. as "Airport Garden:' For tllis reason, been the driver ofdeforestation. Once the hives were opened, I had visitors to the town who board a bus Because ofthe great diversity oftree the unforgettable e).'}Jerience ofbeing marked "Airport" might ride in vain, species in the rain forest, many acres swarmed by the bees for several min­ never finding an air terminal. Today, would usually be cleared in order to utes. They were very aggressive, and I another kind of"gold" appears to be obtain only a few specinlens ofhighly was greatly relieved that the face guard supporting the economy ofOuro Preto. valuable trees such as mahogany. At ofthe suit held securely. I subsequently Because a road ending in Ouro Preto learned from another geographer studying in the region that the bees

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW 6 up onto the bank. These mining operations are a considerable environ­ mental hazard, as the mercury used to separate the gold is easily concentrated in the tissues oflocal fish. After an hour and fifteen minutes, Anka pointed to the top ofa very high bluff- his home. He and his wife Estela have been there since 1975, on a government land grant of450 acres. Unlike most grantees, however, they have removed almost no forest from their land. Their house is among the trees, with a beautiful view ofa great loop in the river. The house is 100 feet above the water, and is reached by steps cutby hand into the river bank. The way we came is the only way to reach the house. They have built the house tl1emselves, transporting every bit of it from town by boat. For the first five The Palace ofthe Pioneers is the town hall in Ouro Preto do Oeste. The cities and towns of years, they did not have a motor, and Rondonia exhibit strong nostalgia for afrontier past, although the frontier period was no longer the trip from the highway took six ago than the 19705, or even the late 19805 in many areas. hours. The house has all oftl1e ordinary in this area had originally been as The river itselfwas a beautiful, opaque fixtures, including a refrigerator, a gen­ diverse as the rain forest itself, but green, and forest reached down to the erator, tile, and a variety offurniture. that deforestation had greatly reduced banks almost continuously. At one Power is from a 12-volt battery and their variety, allowing Africanized point, a tannin-stained, black-water generator. Everything in the house bees, an invader strain, to dominate tributaryentered from our left, creating comes either from the land itselfor the bees ofthe region. a miniature"wedding ofthe waters," from Porto Velho. I was incredulous similar to the famous confluence ofthe and impressed. I asked repeatedly how ART IN THE FOREST Solimoes and Rio Negro, where they got these things to such a difficult Near the end ofmy trip, I had the they meet near to form the location. Anka's response was noncha­ privilege ofvisiting Anka, an artist Amazon. We saw quite a few birds, lant, even the refrigerator was "not renowned in Porto Velho. To visit his including some very fast black-and­ really that heavy," for example. home and studio, I began bytaking a white swallows which live in the river The main room ofthe house is bus downtown, where fortunately I banks, a blue heron, and quite a few probably 12 feet square, with a cathe­ purchased a fruit juice and roll from a others. Shining blue morpho butterflies dral-type ceiling and a balcony in one street vendor, to fortify me for what traversed the river, and were so enor­ corner. On ail ofthe walls are his art. It was to be a long journey. I disembarked mous and bright that one is actually is a combination ofpainting and carv­ in Candeias do ]amari, a smail town visible in a photograph I took from a ing that is wonderful and unique. All that grew up around a station where considerable distance. ofthe works depict fantastic visions of taxes are collected from trucks bringing In this way we passed through mean­ the forest, although some also include goods along BR-364 into Porto Velho. der after meander ofthe river. From the railroad that has come to symbolize Anka met me as planned, and we time to time we saw people swimming Porto Velho. Anka explains his tech­ ducked behind the office, crossed a or fishing. We passed only a dozen nique as the result ofa voice coming field, went behind a house, and climbed houses, all ofwhich were on high bluffs to him and forcing him to do art. He down some steps cut into the soil ofa and difficult to see. We saw three or argues that being an artist in a wilder­ very steep bank down to Rio Candeias. four gold mining dredges, pumping ness where people do not appreciate We got in his little motor-canoe, sand from the bottom ofthe river art is crazy, and that therefore he would which has a very small engine and only not do it ifhe did not have to. Art is a very minor leak. We putt-putted suffering, he says. Actually, Anka is a upstream past mile after mile offorest. pseudonym, and he has a little flier

BftlDGEWATEft REVIEW 7 describing the birth ofAnka as the concern for the rain forest, but they allowed an unprecedented proliferation hearing ofthis voice. I asked him sev­ also argued that the parallels to our ofcounties, which have increased in eral times where he was literally born, own frontier development were being number from seven to fifty-two in the and he said this kind ofthing is stupid forgotten. Similarly, both frontiers space oftwenty years. details for the police or the govern­ had been considered emptyterritory, Even as deforestation continues in ment. Where one is born makes no despite the presence ofindigenous Rondonia, for most ofits citizens the difference in what a person is. As a civilizations. frontier era has passed. Elsewhere in geographer, I did not agree, butwas Just as in North America, transporta­ the , however, new settle­ not about to argue the matter with this tion routes and nodes are the focus ment continues to occur, both in wonderful artist. After we had lunch, offrontier growth. Just as LouisviJle, Brazil and in the other countries with we returned to his canoe and began the Kentucky grew around the riverside Amazonian territory. It can be hoped journey back to Porto Velho - with a terminus ofa railroad, so too has Porto that the experience ofRondonia will carefully-wrapped piece ofhis artwork Velho. The towns ofRondonia engage lead to more balanced change in such on mylap. in a competition for resources and new frontiers. attention that was common in the FRONTIERS ELSEWHERE American West. In the United States, A visit to Rondonia invites compar­ boosters hoping to promote their isons to the frontier era ofNorth towns would seek to have them named James Hayes-Bohanan is Assistant America a century and more ago. Is the as county seats. In Rondonia, this Professor ofEarth Sciences and environmental destruction this time strategy has been pursued, but with an Geography. more severe than in the past, or is itjust interesting twist. Because resources more immediately and widely known? flow from the federal government to Ranchers I met in Rondonia were municipio (county) seats, the state has keenly aware ofNorth Americans'

Bee keeping provides a means ofrecovering some value from degraded land. Because ofthe loss of diversity among native bee populations, however, hives are increasingly likely to contain Africanized "killer" bees, as does this one on a ranch near Rolim de Moura.

BRIDGEWATER REVIEW 8