Geography and Biodiversity of Acre in Brazil :: Geology

Acre is the Westernmost Brazilian state, and neighbor to Amazonas and Rondà ´nia, spanning about 55,000 square miles. Its capital Rio Branco is home to the 288, 907 of the total 438,489 denizens (1996). The whole of Acre is contained within the Amazon Basin and 93% of it is tropical rain forest. Notwithstanding the great extent of deforestation, the biodiversity of Acre and the surrounding Amazon Basin remains extensive; there are the mammoth trees, countless species of palm trees, vines, bushes, ferns; there are copaà ­ba, Brazil-nuts, various fruits such as cupuaà §u and graviola; species of insects, fish, the parrots, araras and other birds, so rare that scientists have yet to describe them; there are cicadas, caimans, the rays, the land-and sweet-water turtles, tapirs, the monkeys, and jaguars. First Rubber Tappers The first upsurge of immigration to the Brazilian Amazon resulted from the European and North American industries' need for rubber at the end of the 19th century. "Seringalistas " as the owners of the new rubber companies, would acquire huge areas of the Brazilian rain forest in order to extract the raw material for the rubber (the latex from the rubber trees). This "rubber boom," which brought wealth to the cities of Belem and Manaus, was eliminated with the British rubber production in Malaysia. Therefore, many of the Seringalistas went bankrupt and returned to the northeast. Once again this condition was reversed during the Second World War, when the Japanese, who were allied with the Germans, usurped the Malaysian plantations. In order to conduct war one must have a supply of rubber, so rubber was once again in high demand in order to supply the allies against the Germans with rubber. People from northeast Brazil returned to extract rubber, which caused the second wave of immigration from the northeast. This time the flood of people was termed the "rubber soldiers" because they had the choice either to go to war against the Germans or become rubber tappers (people who extract latex sap trees and later dry the sap to create rubber). Development of the Amazon Brazil had an uncharted frontier to conquer, but the Amazon was in the way. So the Brazilian government resolved to encourage the clearing of forests and the conversion of previous forestland to pastures via tax benefits and direct subsidies. "With government subsidy in one hand and a chain saw in the other, ranchers and colonists advanced over the rain forest at a frightening pace," felling and burning 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 sq. Geography and Biodiversity of Acre in Brazil :: Geology Acre is the Westernmost Brazilian state, and neighbor to Amazonas and Rondà ´nia, spanning about 55,000 square miles. Its capital Rio Branco is home to the 288, 907 of the total 438,489 denizens (1996). The whole of Acre is contained within the Amazon Basin and 93% of it is tropical rain forest. Notwithstanding the great extent of deforestation, the biodiversity of Acre and the surrounding Amazon Basin remains extensive; there are the mammoth trees, countless species of palm trees, vines, bushes, ferns; there are copaà ­ba, Brazil-nuts, various fruits such as cupuaà §u and graviola; species of insects, fish, the parrots, araras and other birds, so rare that scientists have yet to describe them; there are cicadas, caimans, the rays, the land-and sweet-water turtles, tapirs, the monkeys, and jaguars. First Rubber Tappers The first upsurge of immigration to the Brazilian Amazon resulted from the European and North American industries' need for rubber at the end of the 19th century. "Seringalistas " as the owners of the new rubber companies, would acquire huge areas of the Brazilian rain forest in order to extract the raw material for the rubber (the latex from the rubber trees). This "rubber boom," which brought wealth to the cities of Belem and Manaus, was eliminated with the British rubber production in Malaysia. Therefore, many of the Seringalistas went bankrupt and returned to the northeast. Once again this condition was reversed during the Second World War, when the Japanese, who were allied with the Germans, usurped the Malaysian plantations. In order to conduct war one must have a supply of rubber, so rubber was once again in high demand in order to supply the allies against the Germans with rubber. People from northeast Brazil returned to extract rubber, which caused the second wave of immigration from the northeast. This time the flood of people was termed the "rubber soldiers" because they had the choice either to go to war against the Germans or become rubber tappers (people who extract latex sap trees and later dry the sap to create rubber). Development of the Amazon Brazil had an uncharted frontier to conquer, but the Amazon was in the way. So the Brazilian government resolved to encourage the clearing of forests and the conversion of previous forestland to pastures via tax benefits and direct subsidies. "With government subsidy in one hand and a chain saw in the other, ranchers and colonists advanced over the rain forest at a frightening pace," felling and burning 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 sq.