In the Times of Scrambles in the Land of the Amazons - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 79

actually never surveyed and thus remained vague and contestable. Earlier colonial dis-
puteshadalongafterlifethatreverberatedintotheBrazilianRepublic'sAmazoniancon-
troversies, as the “Amazon Country” morphed into the “realm of rubber.”
The line of the Idelfonso Treaty is shown in Map 2 . The map also reveals the ex-
traordinary shift in territory from the Tordesillas to the Idelfonso Treaty. This for all
practical purposes remained the border for next ninety years. The Idelfonso line would
become a key boundary in the subsequent conflicts that embroiled Peru, Bolivia, and
Brazil, as we shall see.
Ayacucho: A Treaty of Friendship with Limits
The Ayacucho Treaty also featured prominently in the Scrambles of the Western
Amazon. Initially promulgated as a “Treaty of Friendship and Navigation” between
Brazil and Bolivia in 1867, the treaty revisited the 1777 Idelfonso line, but under the
tensions and anxiety of the region during the Paraguayan War. The threat of isolating
Bolivia'sAmazonholdings(andthusmakingthemeconomicallyworthless)asParaguay
fell to the Brazilians made free navigation on the Paraguay River a priority. Bolivia's
Amazonianboundarytreatyof1867referredtothefamousline“fromtheMadeiratothe
headwatersofJavari.” 23 Thekeypointofcontentionwaswhereexactlythelinebetween
the Madeira and the Javari was supposed to lie. There were several options depending
where one chose to start on the Madeira—its midpoint (this was favored by Peru), the
Beni (the position preferred by Bolivia), or an upper tributary like the Itambari (the po-
sition preferred by Brazil). The next point was that the “headwaters of the Javari,” were
still unexplored: they were thought to extend roughly to 10.20 south latitude, but no
one really knew. The Ayacucho Treaty took an oblique line from the Beni River to the
Javari at 6 degrees south, to the true headwaters of the Javari. This maintained the pre-
cious Acre territory in Bolivian domain but transferred some 97,000 square kilometers
to Brazil. This agreement was hashed out by the Viscount of Rio Branco, the Baron's
father.
Bolivia lost a great deal of land in this treaty but still maintained sovereignty over the
territory of Acre and five important ports of the Paraguay River, plus navigation rights
on the Paraguay and the Amazon. 24 In addition, exclusive navigation rights above the
falls of San Antonio and the development rights to and use of roads around the falls of
the Madeira could valorize Bolivia's lowlands, which had languished after the mission
systemwasabandoned.Therewere,however,manyexplorersinvolvedin“resourcesre-
view,” whom we will meet in the next chapters. Bolivia agreed to emphasize the prin-
ciple of uti possedetis over the region in this Treaty of Friendship and Navigation, a po-
sition it would come to regret.