“American Amazon”? - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 117

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“American Amazon”?
Colonizations and Speculations
Neighbors to the North
When the American gunboat Wilmington steamed through the Amazon in 1899 with a
secret US-Bolivian treaty aimed at “Americanizing” the Acrean territory, the Brazilians,
though outraged, were not exactly surprised. The antecedents to the Wilmington af-
fair—andtherevolutionaryresponsetoit—layinasetoflong-heldschemes,conceptions,
and explorations during the previous decades reflecting a US attitude toward the Amazon
that Brazilians, and especially Amazonians, found suspect. As far back as the 1850s,
the US Confederacy had had dreams for the colonization of Amazonia, and scientists
sponsored by America's top scientific institutions (Harvard Museum, US Naval Obser-
vatory, the Smithsonian) floated down the Amazon in support of this agenda. In a later
decade, Americans began to develop plans for a “New World Liberia.” North Americ-
ans with entrepreneurial ambitions for the region never seemed to be lacking, with many
“up-country” schemes emerging in the 1870 and 1880s. The United States, in dealing
with its southern neighbors, had taken a stance of protecting its citizens and other in-
terests“fromtheHallsofMontezumatotheshoresofTripoli.”Ineventsoftheday,where
Venezuela—backed by the United States—was pitted against the British over control of
the Orinoco estuary, and where a vigorous American colony was planned, 1 more spirited
implementationoftheMonroeDoctrinemighthavechangedthelastphraseoftheMarine
hymn from “the shores of Tripoli” to “the Orinoco sea.” 2
An American Slave State in the Amazon
TheBaronofRioBranco,anassiduoushistorian,waswellawareoflong-standingAmer-
ican interest in Amazonia, due to his own time in the United States, his long friendship
with John Bassett Moore, no mean historical analyst of American diplomacy in his own
right, and US forays during the imperial period, when Rio Branco's father was foreign
minister.MatthewFontaineMaury,Maury'sbrother-in-lawWilliamLewisHerndon,Har-
vard Museum director Louis Agassiz, and their ally the Brazilian statesman Tavares Bas-
tos, had to convinced Emperor Pedro II of the virtues of allowing ships from any nation
to travel on the Amazon and of letting Americans settle there in large numbers. 3
Maury himself never stepped foot in the Amazon but deeply affected American, and
especially Confederate, ambitions for the region. Herndon and Agassiz became icons of
Amazonian exploration, producing accounts of their travel that are still regarded as clas-