"Ronaldo, do you know anything about Brazilian rubber?"
Tang Ning, observing the diseased leaves of the rubber trees in his hands, asked his Minister of Agriculture, Viscount Ronaldo, about rubber as an economic crop.
"Your Majesty, I know a lot about this.
The rubber industry was once a prosperous economic agriculture in Brazil, second only to the coffee industry in importance at that time.
This cash crop has earned Brazil a large amount of foreign exchange, promoted development along the Amazon, and prospered cities along the river.
However, all this good momentum was severely damaged by a rubber blight that originated in Panama and spread throughout Latin America in 1905. Brazil has not recovered until now. Brazil has lost its past glory.
”
Ronaldo is right.
The rubber industry was once a very brilliant economic crop in Brazil, and it once had a tendency to catch up with the coffee industry.
Rubber trees originate from the Brazilian Amazon basin, where they originate from the wild hevea trees.
The application and industrialization of rubber date back very early.
In 1770, British chemist Priestley discovered that rubber could be used to erase pencil writing and made an eraser.
In 1844, the American Goodyear invented the vulcanization technology of rubber, thus completely overcoming the defects of rubber products becoming hard in cold weather and soft in hot weather. From then on, rubber began to become a truly practical industrial product.
From then on, in the 30 years after the creation of this technology, the demand for natural rubber increased by as much as 100 times.
In 1898, Frank Seibel founded a rubber company and named it after Goodyear to commemorate this great inventor and this landmark creation.
Needless to say, the industrial role of rubber is extremely valuable and widely used. It is a very important industrial raw material.
During World War II, little Japan fought against the Southeast Asian colonies of Britain, France, the United States, and the Netherlands. Obtaining rubber was an important reason.
Rubber once brought great wealth to Brazil and was once a very popular cash crop.
Brazil, Manaus City, the largest city in the Amazon River Basin, once became the center of the world's natural rubber industry because of its proximity to the production area.
In Brazil, Manaus' rubber production once accounted for 40% of the world's total production.
In Brazil, the huge wealth that people gained from rubber also brought advanced telephones, power grids, hospitals and schools to the city, changing its backward appearance and bringing modernity to it.
It's a pity that God is not kind and a crisis comes from heaven!
Rubber blight, this terrible rubber disease, has destroyed the rubber industry in Brazil and South America.
Since the disease swept across the Americas, the rubber industry in the Americas has declined rapidly and was quickly replaced by Southeast Asia, the British colony of Malaya, and the Dutch colony of the East Indies.
"Ronaldo, rubber is a very good economic commodity that can increase the income of farmers and the country.
Is there anything you can do to save Brazilian rubber?"
Ronaldo did not respond quickly to Tangning's words.
After being silent for a while, Ronaldo thought for a long time and proposed a rescue plan to Tang Ning.
"Your Majesty the King, we have no rescue plan, but I know that Britain and the Netherlands do.
The rubber produced by these two countries' colonies in Southeast Asia has replaced ours in the Americas, but their rubber is not afraid of leaf diseases. There should be solutions to this problem, and we can learn from them."
After hearing this answer, Tang Ning didn't make many gestures or words. She just nodded slightly to express her approval.
Ronaldo knows that there is no solution in Brazil, but he knows where there is one. This is considered qualified. This shows that the Minister of Agriculture appointed by Downing is still very conscientious.
It can be seen from Tang Ning that Ronaldo must always pay attention to the development of domestic agriculture and the world's agriculture.
"Ronaldo, what do you think we should do specifically!?"
"Your Majesty, we should introduce the advanced rubber planting models from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands."
Tangning asked pretending to be difficult.
"Ronaldo, I'm afraid this won't be easy. Rubber cultivation is an important source of income for these two colonies, and it's difficult to introduce technology."
"Your Majesty, actually we don't need to import, we can learn from the British and steal.
In Southeast Asia, there are now a large number of rubber plantations in Nanyang, and it is entirely because the British stole our rubber tree species from the Brazilian Amazon.
Britain is the world's hegemon, so we can't ask them to compensate us, but we can still steal it back and use it as compensation for their theft."
When Ronaldo told his plan, there was no psychological burden at all, but a serious attitude.
Britain stole Brazil's rubber, and now Brazil is stealing back new rubber technology. This is completely natural.
The British are world-famous thieves, known to the world.
The British Museum is proof of that!
In this world, cultural essence, historical relics, gold and silver jewelry, high-value products...
Everything in this world, as long as it is valuable and meaningful, the British will steal it without mercy and without any sense of guilt.
The high profit value of Brazilian rubber turns out to be a Brazilian monopoly. When the British thieves saw it, of course they would not let it go.
In the 19th century, the British Empire was at its peak, and the United States and Germany had not yet threatened it.
For the British Empire, Brazil was a country beyond its control. Rubber, an important industrial resource, they had to control, so they habitually displayed a great deal of theft.
In the early morning of March 28, 1879, in the Port of Santarem on the Amazon River in Brazil.
Wickham, a British businessman who came to the Brazilian Amazon in the name of a biologist, transported a large number of rubber tree seeds from Brazil onto a British-foreign cargo ship bound for London.
This shameless guy later described his great theft with great gusto.
According to his description, in the upper reaches of the Amazon, during the process of stealing, he encountered an eager Brazilian gunboat on patrol.
For safety's sake, he secretly brought the seeds on board, then traveled to the seaport of Belém, the capital of Pará state, and then designed to avoid inspection by Brazilian customs officials.
In the end, he was wise and wise, and after many hardships, he gloriously transported the seeds out of Brazil.
These precious rubber tree seeds stolen by Wickham arrived in London and were planted in "Kew Gardens", which later became the Royal Zoo.
After careful cultivation, these Brazilian rubber seeds sprouted in the greenhouse soon.
Although during this process, only more than 2,300 of the more than 70,000 seeds germinated and grew into rubber tree seedlings. The reason for this is that the UK is not suitable for the growth of rubber trees.
The British quickly discovered the problem and transplanted these rubber saplings to the British colonies in Southeast Asia, Malaysia and the East Indies.
Southeast Asia has a tropical rainforest climate similar to the Amazon jungle, and the soil conditions are also very suitable for the growth of rubber trees.
Within a few years, these rubber saplings grew up and quickly multiplied into large rubber forests, eventually surpassing their origin in Brazil.
The United Kingdom used these rubber plantations to replace Brazil's original rubber status and became the largest producer of rubber, gaining a lot of profits.
If the UK makes huge profits, then Brazil will definitely suffer huge losses.
You know, rubber is very valuable, especially in this era.
In 1910, rubber cost 12 US dollars per kilogram. This was 12 US dollars in this era, which was very valuable.
Although there was a decline later, a few years later, it dropped to two dollars, which is not low value!
This is not the first time that the British Empire has done this kind of thing. There are many such bad thefts.
The most famous one is the tea incident, which is completely a replica of the rubber incident.
The Englishman, Robert Fortune, stole tea seeds from China, and then used these seeds to grow them in India and Sri Lanka, developing Britain's own tea economy.
These teas, and the tea gardens that developed from them, later took over China's position, staged a drama of piracy defeating the original version.
As for the copyright issue, Tang Ning doesn't care about it as long as it is beneficial to Brazil's development.
Rubber is an important economic crop and an important industrial raw material. If Brazil wants to develop, how can it be without it?
Besides, Brazil is the victim. Isn’t it okay to recover the benefits now?
"Well, you are right, but we should try our best to start from the Dutch."
After all, the British are the world's largest country. It would be very bad for Brazil to attack them and get caught.
Persimmons must be soft to pinch.
The Portuguese East Indies in Bragança is next to the Dutch East Indies, so it is easy to get started.
And even if you are caught, negotiating is very simple.
Ronaldo understood the meaning of His Majesty the King's words at the speed of light and decisively targeted the Netherlands.
"Yes, Britain is Brazil's good friend, we can't hurt them!"
***The author has something to say***
Hey. For the sake of Brazil's development, let the Dutch suffer.
This chapter has been completed!