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Fordlândia is a district and adjacent area of 14,268 square kilometres (5,509 sq mi) in the city of Aveiro, Pará, Brazil.

It is located on the east banks of the Tapajós river roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of the city of Santarém. It was established by American industrialist Henry Ford in the Amazon rainforest in 1928 as a prefabricated industrial town intended to be inhabited by 10,000 people to secure a source of cultivated rubber for the automobile manufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian government granting him a concession of 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) of land on the banks of the Rio Tapajós near the city of Santarém, Pará, Brazil, in exchange for a 9% share in the profits generated. Ford's project failed, and the city was abandoned in 1934. The town was mostly deserted, with only 90 residents still living in the city until the early 2000s when it saw an increase of population, being home to around 3,000 people as of 2017.

In 1927, the Ford Motor Company announced interest in buying the land in Brazil which now forms Fordlândia to create a rubber plantation. This was done to reduce Ford's reliance on European rubber manufacturing, particularly after Winston Churchill proposed the creation of a "rubber cartel." Ford had utopian visions for this plantation, drawing up plans to create a Midwest-style town around the plantation. Negotiations with the Brazilian government started during the visit by then-governor of the State of Pará, Dionísio Bentes, to the United States to meet Ford. The agreement exempted Ford from taxes on the exportation of goods produced in Brazil in exchange for 9% of the profits, 7% going to the Brazilian government and 2% of profits to local municipalities.

The site was developed as a planned community with different areas of the city being designated for the Brazilian workers and the American managers, who lived in the so-called American Village. In Fordlândia, however, the trees were planted close together in plantations, easy prey for tree blight, Saúva ants, lace bugs, red spiders, and leaf caterpillars.

Fordlândia was abandoned by the Ford Motor Company in 1934, and the project was relocated upriver to Belterra, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the city of Santarém, where better conditions to grow rubber existed. Ford's investment opportunity dried up overnight without producing any rubber for Ford's tires, and the second town was also abandoned. In 1945, Henry Ford's grandson Henry Ford II sold the area comprising both towns back to the Brazilian government for a loss of over US$20 million (equivalent to $358 million in 2025). A 2009 NPR article reported, "Not one drop of latex from Fordlândia ever made it into a Ford car".

Between the 1950s and late 1970s, after being given back the rights to the lands, the Brazilian government, through its Ministry of Agriculture, installed several facilities in the area.

Regarded as the symbol of Fordlândia, the 50-metre (160 ft) tall water tower is located by the main warehouses. As with most of the equipment in the town, it was built in Michigan and brought to Fordlândia by merchant ship.

The six houses in the American Village still had their original furniture, silverware and even clothes that were left behind when the town was deserted.

In 2009, Greg Grandin published his non-fiction account Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City, and Montreal artist Scott Chandler produced photos. Marcos Colón's 2017 Beyond Fordlândia explores the area and portrays local people's attempt to recover the land.

The future London shown in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was inspired by the concept of Fordlândia. Singer/songwriter Kate Campbell's track "Fordlândia" appears on her 2008 album Save the Day. British artist Dan Dubowitz photographed Fordlândia in 2012.

Quick Facts

• In 1927, the Ford Motor Company announced interest in buying the land in Brazil which now forms Fordlândia to create a rubber plantation.
• The town was mostly deserted, with only 90 residents still living in the city until the early 2000s when it saw an increase of population, being home to around 3,000 people as of 2017.
• Fordlândia was abandoned by the Ford Motor Company in 1934, and the project was relocated upriver to Belterra, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the city of Santarém, where better conditions to grow rubber existed.
• Ford's project failed, and the city was abandoned in 1934.
• British artist Dan Dubowitz photographed Fordlândia in 2012.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Fordlândia". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.