Peru, Purús, Brazil - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 157

ferred what had been Colombian lands to Peruvian sovereignty. Arana had added signi-
ficant territory to Peru by expelling Colombian caucho barons during Colombia's War
of a Thousand Days, a time when no Colombian military was likely to appear. This kind
of “accidental imperialism” preceded formal state claims. Peruvian magistrates in Iqui-
tos were thus inclined to overlook the matter of native slavery, given the geopolitical
stakes. 11 JulioAranawouldeventuallyarguethatitwasgeopolitics,notproductionprac-
tices, that lay at the heart of the denunciations against his Peruvian Rubber Company. 12
Roger Casement, who led the international denunciations against Arana, noted the ex-
tensivedegreeofPeruvianmilitaryprotectionreceivedbytheagentsonthePutumayo. 13
Outcry over the brutality associated with caucho extraction was beginning to rise in
thepress.The“terrorslavery”thatmimickedthatoftheCongowascausinginternational
problems, as journalists and adventurers roamed in the backwaters without Casa Arana
sanction and various religious orders complained of the exploitation of Indians. There
were rumors that the British threatened to boycott Peruvian rubber. 14
Another Great Game in the Amazon
The Brazil-Bolivia conflict had certainly concentrated Peruvian attention on forests of
the upper Amazon, while the Peruvian caucho barons effectively argued that they were
the agents of Amazon “Peruvianization,” since it was their (tormented) labor force that
was integrating the trackless forests into the Peruvian nation. 15 The Purús watershed,
some 2,800 kilometers long (and navigable for 2,600) was a flashpoint: the Acre revolu-
tion had unfolded on its southern tributaries while warfare with Peru was exploding on
its main channel.
Peru's claims on Amazonia, outcomes of the Madrid and Idelfonso Treaties, were
vast. What was at stake was, as da Cunha put it, “the largest territory that had ever been
contested between two nations, some 720,000 km 2 in one of the very least known parts
of the planet.” 16 If Peruvian claims held, it would place towns like Lábrea, which at the
time had greater export-import accounts than Manaus, under the control of Lima. The
upper Purús was a nexus where conflicting colonial documents and maps did little to
defuse the clamor of the countries over rights and where ambiguous boundary histories
provided useful options for extending national territories. Peru was moving from peri-
pheral status in Brazilian quests for territoriality to the center of its imperial anxieties.
Not only did Peru's claims place an enormous area of very valuable Amazonian lands in
contest, but this conflict was the last of the Brazilian Scramble. Once it was finalized,
whatever the configuration, Brazil's immense border would be completed, and the out-
lines of the modern nation defined.
Echos of Idelfonso and Louisiana