38 Guano mania and Liebig: Cushman 2003:60–62, appendix 1 (export figures); Mathew 1970:112–14; House of Commons 1846:377–78 (“Account of the Number and Tonnage of Vessels … engaged in the Guano Trade”); Anon. 1842a (role of Liebig); 1842b:esp. 118, 138–40, 142–44, 146–47 (view of Science); Johnson 1843; Liebig 1840 (“of maize,” 81–82). See also, Smil 2001:42. Other sources give somewhat different figures for British guano imports, but there is no dispute about their rapid rise. I have seen four editions of Liebig’s book.
39 Beginning of input-intensive agriculture: Melillo 2011; Cushman 2003:37. I have adapted one of Cushman’s sentences.
40 Working conditions: Skaggs 1994:chap. 2; Mathew 1977:44–51; Peck 1854a:205–13; Anon. 1853 (“coated with guano,” 555).
41 Elías’s life: Blanchard 1996.
42 Importing Chinese to Peru: Meagher 2009:94–100 (warehouses), 176–77 (mutinies), 221–24 (more than 100,000, 222); Wu 2009 (“were killed,” 47); Skaggs 1994:162–63; Schwendinger 1988:23–26; Mathew 1977:36–43 (eight years, 43); Stewart 1970:82–98. Melillo (2011) sets the context.
43 Mistreatment of Chinese: Meagher 2009:224–29 (cemetery, 226); Wu 2009; Mathew 1977:44–51 (five tons); Stewart 1970 (see, e.g., 21–23, 90–97); Anon. 1856 (torture); Peck 1854a:170, 207–08, 214–16; 1854b (“were digging”).
44 Guano monopoly and protest: Skaggs 1994:10–15, 21–30; Mathew 1968:569–74; Markham 1862:308–09 (scorn for Peru); Anon. 1854 (“lower price,” 117). Typical U.S. editorials included “The Guano War” (NYT, 14 Aug. 1853), “The Guano Question” (NYT, 12 Aug. 1852), and “The Guano Question in England” (NYT, 29 Sep. 1852).
45 “economic success”: Miller 2007:149. I have borrowed Miller’s comparison to OPEC, too.
46 Guano Islands Act: Skaggs 1994:172–97 (Navassa), 213, 230–36; Letter, R. S. Bowler to S. Wike, 16 Sep. 1893. In Magoon 1900:15–16 (official list of islands).
47 Industrial monoculture: Pollan (2006:41–48) evocatively describes this transformation.
48 First Green Revolution: Melillo 2011.
49 Comparison of Europe to African nations: Clark 2007:40–50. I am violently simplifying a complex comparison, but the point is valid. Komlos (1998:68) gives higher figures for European consumption than Clark, but the difference does not alter the comparison.
50 Impact of fertilizers: Smil 2001 (two out of five, xv). Population change: Livi-Bacci 1997:31, World Bank Development Indicators (http://data.worldbank.org/).
51 Guano averts disaster (footnote): Pomeranz 2000:223–25 (“century,” 224), 240, appendix B.
52 Two million dead: Zadoks 2008:20–27; Ó Gráda 2000:84–95. Zadoks estimates 750,000 dead in continental Europe, Ó Gráda argues that most estimates of the Irish tally are “one million, or slightly above it” (85). Vanhaute et al. (2007:26) suggest a tally for Europe of “a few hundred thousands” but are not as thorough as Zadoks.
53 Life cycle of blight: Mizubuti and Fry 2006:450–58 (dispersal, 454–55); Judelson and Blanco 2005; Sunseri et al. 2002 (zoospore travel); Jones et al. 1914:11–13, 30–37.
54 Peru initially viewed as blight source: Abad and Abad 2004:682; Andrivon 1996; Bourke 1993:148–49.
55 Mexico as center of diversity, origin: Abad and Abad 2004:682; Grünwald and Flier 2003 (oospores, 174–75); Goodwin et al. 1994 (Mexico to U.S., 11594); Fry et al. 1993:653–55; Hohl and Iselin 1984 (discovery of other type of blight in Europe).
56 Lack of potato in Mexico: Ugent 1968; Humboldt 1822:vol. 2, 76, 399, 439–40, 443–50.
57 Ristaino studies: Gómez-Alpizar et al. 2007 (“the famine,” 3310–11); May and Ristaino 2004.
58 Guano ships: Mathew 1977:49; Peck 1854a:159.
59 Blight appears in Europe: Zadoks 2008:9–17 (order more potatoes, 16); Vanhaute et al. 2007:22; Bourke 1993:129–30, 141–49; Decaisne 1846:65–68 (1844 observation); Dieudonné et al. 1845:638 (1845 appearance).
60 Spread of Irish blight: Donnelly 2001:41–47 (one-quarter to one-third loss); Ó Gráda 2000:21–24 (2.1 million acres); Kinealy 1995:31–35 (mid-October), 42–43; Salaman 1985: 291–93.
61 Ireland as post-apocalyptic landscape: O’Donnell 2008 (murder rate, 81); Donnelly 2001 (disease, 171–76); Ó Gráda 2007 (rape, 46), 2000 (“jail,” 40–41; disease, 91–95; theft, 187–91); Zuckerman 1999:187–219 (lining roads, 193; mantraps, 194–95; diet, 195); Kinealy 1995 (dogs, 173; “creatures,” 198).
62 Emigration: Donnelly 2001:178–86 (“in heart,” 180); Ó Gráda 1999:104–14, 228–29; Kinealy 1995:chap. 8.
63 English aid, culpability: Reader 2009:176 (“re-established”); Donnelly 2001:233 (Mitchel); Ó Gráda 2000:122–25 (export figures, argument). I am grateful to Charles McAleese for good discussions about this issue.
64 Population impacts: Donnelly 2001:178 (emigrant total); Ó Gráda 2000:5 (worst in history), 229–30.
65 Limits of spores and Irish weather: Aylor 2003:1996 (thirty miles); Sunseri et al. 2002 (5 percent, 444; seventy miles, 449). Not a drop of rain fell in northern Ireland between August 28 and September 13 (Butler et al. 1998). Because the spores could not have survived the sunlit crossing of the Irish Sea, they must have traveled by night.
66 Lumpers and clachans: Donnelly 2002:8–10; Zuckerman 1999:141–42; Myers 1998:293, 300–01; Ó Gráda 1994 (about half); Bourke 1993:21 (distribution), 36–42; Salaman 1985:292. Historical descriptions of the Lumper complain of their poor taste; modern descriptions extol their “excellent and rich flavor” (Myers 1998:293). Either tastes have changed or, as one farmer suggested to me, modern plant breeding has produced such tasteless spuds that they are superseded by even the worst past varieties. Using nineteenth-century techniques, Lumpers outproduce modern hybrids (ibid.: 363).
67 Ridged “lazy-bed” fields: Omohundro 2006; Doolittle 2000:chap. 12; Myers 1998 (dimensions, 65; erosion, 88–90); Salaman 1985:232–36, 524 (“lazy root”), 586; Denevan and Turner 1974:27 (temperature difference). I am grateful to Bill Doolittle for many useful talks.
68 Attack on ridged fields: Myers 1998:44, 55–60, 85–86.
69 Disappearance of lazy-beds: Myers 1998:61–66; Murphy 1834:556 (“more clearly”).
70 Myers’s experiments: Myers 1998 (water in furrows, 153–56; setup, 235–36; blight units, 360; temperature/humidity effects, 365–66, 379–84). Grass grew on the sides of the ridges without interfering with the potatoes; it acted as a kind of fallow, recharging the land even as it was farmed (ibid.: 369–72). Although the furrows are “wasted” space, they allow light to reach the plant understory and provide air circulating; meanwhile, the loss is offset by increased productivity on the ridges.
71 Guano and blight (footnote): Porter 2007 (spore survival); Mizubuti and Fry 2006:451 (survival of sporangia); Aylor 2003:1996 (“through the atmosphere”); Inagaki and Kegasawa 1973 (nematode). The eleven counties were Kerry (Anon. 1842. “Spring Show of the Kerry Farming Society.” British Farmer’s Magazine 6:178–93); Kilkenny (Anon. 1843. Review of The Irish Sketch Book. The Dublin University Magazine 21:647–56); Meath, Cork (Johnson 1843); Down, Armagh, Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Kilkenny, Roscommon, Antrim (all from Anon. 1843. On the Celebrated Peruvian Manure Called “Guano.” British Farmer’s Magazine 7:111–24). Another possible explanation for the unusual speed of the blight’s spread would be that it was actually introduced a year or two earlier (Bourke 1993:147–48).
72 Myers’s conclusions: Myers 1998 (fourteen failures, 63; decline of lazy-bed and failures, 473–75).
73 Failure of scientific explanations: Matta 2009; Zadoks 2008:16–20; Bourke 1993:130–39; Wheeler 1981:321–27 (“our senses,” 324); Large 1940:14–19, 27–33, 40–43; Jones et al. 1914:23–33, 58–60. Some historians propose that the potato failures of 1845–47 inflamed already existing discontent, thus contributing to the revolutions of 1848 (Zadoks 2008).
74 Murphy’s beetles: Murphy, T. 1862. Letter to Valley Farmer, 22 May. Quoted in Tower 1906:26.
75 Spread of beetle in United States: Hsiao 1985:44–45
, 71; Tower 1906:25–36; Foster 1876 (“train of cars,” 234); Riley 1869:102–03; Walsh 1866. Foster quotes the train story as from the New York Times (19 Jul. 1876), but this is incorrect; the source must be another account.
76 Beetle spreads to Europe: J. F. M. Clark 2007:113–16 (trade war, 114); Hsiao 1985:55; Tower 1906:39.
77 Path of beetle to potato: Lu and Lazell 1996; Jacobson and Hsiao 1983; Tower 1906:21–25.
78 “the beetles”: Anon. 1875. “The Potato Bug,” NYT, 2 Jun. Sixteen million: Female fecundity can exceed four thousand, and there are typically two generations in a year (Hare 1990:82–85).
79 Failed efforts to fight beetle: Casagrande 1987:143–44; Riley 1869 (“destroy them,” 108); Walsh 1866 (horse-drawn remover, 15).
80 Insect plagues: Essig 1931.
81 Paris Green: J. F. M. Clark 2007:120–24; e-mails to author, Casagrande; Casagrande 1987:144–45; Lodeman 1896:59–69 (London Purple, 65–67); Riley 1869:116.
82 Copper sulfate (discovery, mix with Paris Green): Casagrande 1987:145–46; Large 1940:225–39, 277–79; Lodeman 1896:25–33, 47, 55, 100, 122–23.
83 Beetle resistance: E-mail to author, Casagrande; Alyokhin et al. 2008 (“management,” 400, “production,” 407); J. F. M. Clark 2007:124 (first DDT test); Hare 1990:89; Casagrande 1987:146–47; Jacobson and Hsiao 1983 (heterozygosity).
84 “clean fields”: Pollan 2001:218.
85 Resurgence of blight: Mizubuti and Fry 2006 448–49; Garelik 2002.
CHAPTER 7 / Black Gold
1 Dispute over Indians’ status: A good summary is Hanke 1994:chap. 1. I discuss this more fully in Chap. 8.
2 Navagero biography: Cicogna 1855 (list of publications, 209–10). The garden may have been inspired by early accounts of the botanical gardens in central Mexico.
3 Team sports in Europe: The sole potential exception was a soccer-like game in Italy, calcio fiorentino, recorded as far back as 1530. Europe’s second-oldest team sport, polo, was not introduced to Europe until the nineteenth century. Odds are that the Mesoamerican ball game is the world’s oldest continuously played team sport. The court in Paso de la Amada, in the southern tip of Mexico, was constructed in about 1400 B.C. (Hill et al. 1998), whereas polo apparently dates to the time of Christ (Chehabi and Guttmann 2003:385). Lacrosse, indigenous to North America, may also be very old.
4 “Great speed”: Navagero 1563:15v–16r; see also, Navagero, A. Letter to G. B. Ramusio, 12 May 1526. In Fabié 1879:378–90, at 389–90.
5 “so elastic”: Anghiera 1912:vol. 2, 204–05; Navagero, A. Letter to G. B. Ramusio, 12 Sep. 1525. In Fabié 1879:368–76, at 368–69 (friendship with Martire d’Anghiera).
6 “rather heavy”: Oviedo y Valdés 1851:165–66 (pt. 1, bk. 6, chap. 2); Covarrubias y Orozco 2006 (lack of word for “bounce,” see entries for, e.g., botar and bote). The first volume of Oviedo’s work appeared in 1535; later parts remained unpublished until the nineteenth century.
7 First scientific studies: Condamine 1751a, b.
8 Rubber heats when stretched (footnote): Gough 1805 (“lips,” 290).
9 Native rubber uses and methods: Author’s interviews and e-mail, John Hemming, Susanna Hecht; Woodroffe 1916:41–46 (tapping, processing); Pearson 1911:59–71 (description of tapping, processing); Johnson 1909:chap. 9 (description of tapping); Spruce 1908:vol. 1, 182–85, 511–15 (tapping); Warren 1851:16 (clothes).
10 Rubber fever: Anon. 1890; Johnson 1893; Coates 1987:29–31; Coslovsky 2005 (import figures, 14, 27).
11 Webster, “effective character”: Parton 1865:66.
12 Goodyear and vulcanization: Slack 2003 (“on the spot,” 107); Coates 1987:31–33, 36–37. Goodyear’s own account (1855) is unreliable.
13 Hancock and vulcanization: Woodruff 1958:chap. 1; Coates 1987:22–28, 33–38; Hancock 1857:91–110 (“little bits,” 96). Woodruff quotes two contemporaries who say that Hancock did analyze Goodyear’s samples. It is certainly true that Hancock was ungenerous—his otherwise useful autobiography (1857) doesn’t even mention Goodyear. Goodyear’s patent (No. 3633) and Hancock’s patent (No. 10027) are available at the websites of, respectively, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the British Library.
14 Expositions and Goodyear’s death: Slack 2003:161–63, 203–10, 230–37; Coates 1987:39–42 (“a postage stamp,” 41–42); Bonaparte ed. 1856:542–43.
15 Staudinger: Author’s interview, Coughlin; Ringsdorf 2004; Mülhaupt 2004; Morawetz 2002:86–98 (“propaganda,” 97).
16 Vulcanization chemistry: A good introduction is Sperling 2006:chaps. 8–9. My thanks to Bryan Coughlin for introducing this book to me.
17 H. brasiliensis quality, location: Ule 1905. Four other Amazonian species were also harvested: H. benthamiana, H. guianensis, Castilla (or Castilloa) elastica, and Castilla ulei. Except for C. elastica, they were less significant than H. brasiliensis. Some writers have suggested that for this reason one must talk of “rubber booms” in the plural, with Hevea and Castilla exerting different ecological and economic effects (Santos-Granero and Barclay 2000:chap. 2).
18 Overland vs. river route, rapids: Markham 1871. The waterfalls and rapids could only be negotiated by canoes, and even these frequently capsized, with great loss of life (Anon. 1901).
19 Neville Craig: Fleming 1922:118–19. My thanks to Jamie Owen and Julie Carrington of the Royal Geographic Society for looking up the date of his death and to Robert Charles Anderson for helping me with his Yale alumni records.
20 Craig on the Madeira: Craig 2007 (“theory,” 177; “cities,” 226; “Parentintins,” 237); Hemming 2008:201 (Parentintins). To be fair to Craig, the nasty anti-Italian crack was from a newspaper article; he just quoted it approvingly.
21 Keller’s feasts: Keller 1874: 74–77 (turtle), 80–81 (pirarucu and manatee, quote on 81).
22 Agricultural heartland: Mann 2008.
23 Fishing with strychnine: My thanks to Susanna Hecht for a description of this procedure, which is still used today.
24 Overexploitation of rubber trees: Schurz et al. 1925:17–21 (yield); Whitby 1920:5–6 (yield); Labroy 1913:39–47 (average daily production, 47); Pearson 1911:43–44 (overtapping); Smith 1879:108 (killing Belém trees). Average yield figures disguise the high variability among trees. The sources above measured unselected trees; yields are higher today. Belém do Pará means “Bethlehem of the Pará River,” the latter being the southern of the two main mouths of the Amazon. Until the twentieth century the city was generally called Pará; Belém is the modern name.
25 1877–79 drought: Davis 2002:79–90, 377–93; Greenfield 2001 (death tally, 45–46). The drought was an El Niño event.
26 Rush into rubber: Santos 1980:66, 83–84 (25,000 estates); Spruce 1908:vol. 1, 507 (rush upstream), 518 (“obtain it”).
27 Migrant-driven rise in malaria: Hemming 2004b:268–72 (background); Keller 1874:8 (prevalence in mid-1860s), 40–42 (decreasing on Madeira); Chandless 1866:92 (prevalence in mid-1850s).
28 Malaria and Craig’s railroad: Craig 2007:271 (incapacitates half, see also note on 304); 381–83 (refusal of payment); 382–88 (two-thirds, three-quarters sick); 407 (120, more than half sick); 408 (“complete collapse”); 387–403 passim (struggle home).
29 Rubber boom: Overviews include Hemming 2008:175–231, 2004b:261–301; Souza 2001:163–88; Barham and Coomes 1996; Dean 1987; Weinstein 1983; Batista 1976:129–41; Collier 1968.
30 Rubber production, exports, prices: Barham and Coomes 1996:30–32 (New York prices, exports); Santos 1980:52–55, 208–20 (exports, Brazil prices, speculation); Batista 1976:129–40 (Brazil prices); Pearson 1911:214–15 (exports); Anon. 1910 (speculation, “silver”); Fernandes 2008:fig. 2 (London prices); Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (Brazil) n.d. (exports, available at www.ipeadata.gov.br); U.S. Energy Information Administration n.d. (U.S. oil prices, www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/BPCrudeOilPrices.xls). Oil prices in 1999 dollars, as per EIA.
31 Colonial Belém: Author’s visits; Hemming 2008:48–49, 6
6, 97–99; Souza 2001:46–47, 61, 91–93; Pearson 1911:20–42 (“smell of it,” 22). I am grateful to Susanna Hecht for touring me through the city.
32 Louche Manaus: Author’s visits; Hemming 2008:179–83 (“bubbly,” 182); Jackson 2008:113–15, 252–55; Collier 1968:18–27; Burns 1965; Pearson 1911:93–111.
33 Labor conditions in lowlands: Hemming 2008:198–204; Barham and Coomes 1996:29–71; Dean 1987:36–41; Woodroffe 1916:49–54; Craig 2007:248–63 (“peons,” 251). Some recent scholars argue that past accounts of universal brutality in the rubber zone are exaggerated and unfair. But there is little doubt that conditions often were appalling by modern standards.
34 Caucho gathering: Santos-Granero and Barclay 2000:23–29; Barham and Coomes 1996:37–42; Schurz et al. 1925:21; Hardenburg 1913:181–84; Pearson 1911:156–58; Feldman 2004 (“sajaduras,” entry under quik, the rubber tree). My thanks to Lawrence Feldman for drawing my attention to his dictionary and to Scott Sessions for help with translation. Santos-Granero and Barclay argue that conditions worsened ca. 1900, when upper-Amazon firms switched from Castilla to other Hevea species. Because these could be tapped, rubber barons forced native workers to stay in one place and walk regular, routinized courses—a violation of cultural norms. To maintain control, the companies abducted families, using female hostages as prostitutes.
35 “they left”: Da Cunha, E. 1909. “Os Caucheiros,” trans. S. B. Hecht. In Hecht forthcoming. Fitzcarrald was the subject of Fitzcarraldo, a 1982 film by Werner Herzog that is as wondrous artistically as it is unreliable historically. A more reliable biography is Reyna 1941.
36 Rise of Arana: Hecht forthcoming; Goodman 2009:36–41; Hemming 2008:204–07; Jackson 2008:257–61; Lagos 2002 (the most complete biography I have seen); Santos-Granero and Barclay 2000:34–35, 46–55; Stanfield 2001:103–14, 120–23; Collier 1968:27–64; Schurz et al. 1925:364 (22,000 square miles).
37 Abducted Americans in Putumayo: Goodman 2009:17–25; Hardenberg 1913:146–49, 164–81, 195–99 (“syndicate,” 178; “the river,” 180–81).