History of the rubber boom in Amazonia

From 1880 to 1912, the Amazonia region in Peru knew a rapid economic growth. In fact, after Charles Goodyear discovered the rubber technology, giving to it more elasticity with temperature (vulcanization technique), as well as the tire invention, the international demand for rubber grew up. Amazonia, which in reality is where this material is originated, has seen the light of day; deforestation, considerable fortune gathered by large landowners, and chaotic development of Amazonian cities like Iquitos… The government widely encourage this economic development because it avoid him to create social programs and populate forcibly this border regions that are strategic places. 

Nevertheless, in 1912, an English man, Henry Wickham, stole rubber seeds to plant it in the Philippines (Asia), which caused competition and price drop of this raw material. This is the beginning of the end for the Peruvian Rubber Industry, which see it cut back of a large proportion of its profit margins and extinct shortly after.