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.Despite Spanish rule, it is not clear that the Belem authorities will bereceptive to Spanish agents.In 1637, a small Spanish party (two friars and six soldiers), originating in Ecuador, descendedthe Amazon.One friar was sent to Lisbon for questioning, the rest of the party was detained, andlater that year Pedro de Teixeira took a force of over 1,000 men upriver, reaching Quito almost ayear later.The obvious purpose of this expedition was to strengthen the Portuguese claim to theAmazon Basin.(Smith, 143-8)Consequently, to set up a quasi-legitimate rubber collecting operation based in Belem, theUSE may need to identify the Portuguese equivalent of the Spanish testaferros.There areconversos (Jews who converted, at least publicly, to Christianity) in Brazil, and the Nasi familymay be able to identify possible recruits from this community.You can avoid this rigmarole if the inhabitants of Belem are willing and able, despite the law,to trade with foreigners.Such illicit trade was common in the Caribbean.The visitors might landa party in a secluded cove, and it would then make surreptitious contact with the locals.Theycould approach the harbor, and plead that they had been driven off course by a storm.They could"win their market at sword's point"; make a show of force and then, perhaps after real orpretended resistance by the local garrison, receive the governor's license to trade.(The foreignersmight even pay duties or license fees.) Or a neglected settlement might welcome them openly,without coercion, as seems to have occurred on Trinidad in the early 1600s.(Naipaul, 60-70;Burns, 142-6)Even if the local Portuguese are uncooperative, you may be able to infiltrate the Amazonregion.Belem itself is at the mouth of the Para, which lies to the south of the Amazon and is not directly connected to it.Hence, in order to discourage further foreign activities on the Amazon,Portuguese also built a new fort at Gurupa (Furneaux, 50), which overlooks the more southerly ofthe two main entry channels.Nonetheless, it may be possible to sneak into the Amazon by way ofthe northerly channel, the Canal do Norte.The odds are improved if we are forearmed with detailed knowledge of its navigationalpeculiarities.Grantville's maps of the region are probably not particularly detailed, but Dutchsailors did serve from time to time on Portuguese ships, and may have some knowledge of thesewaters.Or there may be Portuguese mariners who are sufficiently estranged from their nativeland (perhaps because it is under Spanish rule) to be willing to guide us through.Unfortunately, the Para rubber trees do not lend themselves to snatch-and-run operations.While they are prolific latex producers, their wound-healing mechanisms assure that only a smallamount of latex is extracted on a given day.Nor has it been found to be productive to fell thetrees in order to get a "one time" bonanza.So that means lingering in the Amazon, for weeks ormonths, until one has collected an adequate cargo of rubber.Which, in turn, increases the riskthat native allies of the Portuguese will report your presence, guaranteeing that you have to fightyour way back to the ocean.It is safe to say that it is impossible to establish a USE trading post in the lower Amazon, andsupply it on a continuing basis by ships traversing the entrance channels, without either obtainingthe permission of the king of Spain, or overwhelming the Portuguese military forces in theregion.While you cannot hope to collect a substantial amount of rubber in the lower Amazon withoutyour presence becoming known to the authorities in Belem, a stealth run could be made for thepurpose of collecting seeds.However, we then run up against the problem that Hevea seeds havea very short period of viability.Hence, for such a mission, you really want to have a ship withboth sails and steam engines.It enters and leaves the river quietly, under sail, and it steams home.(Ocean steamers can navigate the Amazon as far upriver as Iquitos, 2,300 miles from the ocean.)When Wickham needed to collect Hevea seeds for Britain in 1876, he chartered the steamshipAmazonia.The "seed raid" is probably impractical prior to the conclusion of the Baltic War.Another option is to seek out a "back door" into the Amazon basin.The shortest routes arethrough the Guyanas, the coastal region between Venezuela and Brazil.The stretch separating themouth of the Orinoco River (Venezuela) and the mouth of the Amazon was known in this periodas the "Wild Coast," because of the paucity of European habitation.The Spanish made no effortto settle it, and minimal effort to control it (Hemming, 182-3; Burns, 173).Of the possible routes, the most interesting one is probably the one exploited in our timelineby the Dutch.Beginning in 1617, they established settlements on the Essequibo River (in BritishGuyana).They ascended the Essequibo River, then its tributary, the Rupununi, portaged over tothe Rio Branco (the Rupununi savannah is flooded over during the rainy season), and then sailedon to the Rio Negro, the Amazon, and the Madeira.Once in the Amazon basin, they traded iniron and slaves.In OTL, the Portuguese eventually blocked this traffic, first with a fort at Manaus(1667), and later with a mission at the mouth of the Rio Branco (1720).(Furneaux, 51;Guyana.org; Burns, 173-6, 196, 214)The EB11 entry for "Guiana" warns, "The Essequibo can be entered only by craft drawingless than 20 ft.and is navigable for these vessels for not more than 50 m., its subsequent courseupwards being frequently broken by cataracts and rapids." So, if we use this route to trade forrubber, much of the traveling would have to be done by canoes.This would result in much higher transportation costs and longer transportation times than if we could take full advantage of theAmazon River.There are alternative routes which look shorter on paper, but are less likely to be practicable.For example, one could ascend the Maroni and Litani Rivers (the border between Suriname andFrench Guyana), and portage over to the Paru or the Jari tributaries of the Amazon, but thatrequires crossing the Tumucumaque Mountains.These routes also allow you to play "Johnny Rubber Seed": collect Hevea seeds in theAmazon basin; plant them on your return trip, at a marked location, while they are still viable;and come back four years or so later to collect the seeds from your transplants.Eventually, youwill get the seeds to the coast and onto a ship [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Despite Spanish rule, it is not clear that the Belem authorities will bereceptive to Spanish agents.In 1637, a small Spanish party (two friars and six soldiers), originating in Ecuador, descendedthe Amazon.One friar was sent to Lisbon for questioning, the rest of the party was detained, andlater that year Pedro de Teixeira took a force of over 1,000 men upriver, reaching Quito almost ayear later.The obvious purpose of this expedition was to strengthen the Portuguese claim to theAmazon Basin.(Smith, 143-8)Consequently, to set up a quasi-legitimate rubber collecting operation based in Belem, theUSE may need to identify the Portuguese equivalent of the Spanish testaferros.There areconversos (Jews who converted, at least publicly, to Christianity) in Brazil, and the Nasi familymay be able to identify possible recruits from this community.You can avoid this rigmarole if the inhabitants of Belem are willing and able, despite the law,to trade with foreigners.Such illicit trade was common in the Caribbean.The visitors might landa party in a secluded cove, and it would then make surreptitious contact with the locals.Theycould approach the harbor, and plead that they had been driven off course by a storm.They could"win their market at sword's point"; make a show of force and then, perhaps after real orpretended resistance by the local garrison, receive the governor's license to trade.(The foreignersmight even pay duties or license fees.) Or a neglected settlement might welcome them openly,without coercion, as seems to have occurred on Trinidad in the early 1600s.(Naipaul, 60-70;Burns, 142-6)Even if the local Portuguese are uncooperative, you may be able to infiltrate the Amazonregion.Belem itself is at the mouth of the Para, which lies to the south of the Amazon and is not directly connected to it.Hence, in order to discourage further foreign activities on the Amazon,Portuguese also built a new fort at Gurupa (Furneaux, 50), which overlooks the more southerly ofthe two main entry channels.Nonetheless, it may be possible to sneak into the Amazon by way ofthe northerly channel, the Canal do Norte.The odds are improved if we are forearmed with detailed knowledge of its navigationalpeculiarities.Grantville's maps of the region are probably not particularly detailed, but Dutchsailors did serve from time to time on Portuguese ships, and may have some knowledge of thesewaters.Or there may be Portuguese mariners who are sufficiently estranged from their nativeland (perhaps because it is under Spanish rule) to be willing to guide us through.Unfortunately, the Para rubber trees do not lend themselves to snatch-and-run operations.While they are prolific latex producers, their wound-healing mechanisms assure that only a smallamount of latex is extracted on a given day.Nor has it been found to be productive to fell thetrees in order to get a "one time" bonanza.So that means lingering in the Amazon, for weeks ormonths, until one has collected an adequate cargo of rubber.Which, in turn, increases the riskthat native allies of the Portuguese will report your presence, guaranteeing that you have to fightyour way back to the ocean.It is safe to say that it is impossible to establish a USE trading post in the lower Amazon, andsupply it on a continuing basis by ships traversing the entrance channels, without either obtainingthe permission of the king of Spain, or overwhelming the Portuguese military forces in theregion.While you cannot hope to collect a substantial amount of rubber in the lower Amazon withoutyour presence becoming known to the authorities in Belem, a stealth run could be made for thepurpose of collecting seeds.However, we then run up against the problem that Hevea seeds havea very short period of viability.Hence, for such a mission, you really want to have a ship withboth sails and steam engines.It enters and leaves the river quietly, under sail, and it steams home.(Ocean steamers can navigate the Amazon as far upriver as Iquitos, 2,300 miles from the ocean.)When Wickham needed to collect Hevea seeds for Britain in 1876, he chartered the steamshipAmazonia.The "seed raid" is probably impractical prior to the conclusion of the Baltic War.Another option is to seek out a "back door" into the Amazon basin.The shortest routes arethrough the Guyanas, the coastal region between Venezuela and Brazil.The stretch separating themouth of the Orinoco River (Venezuela) and the mouth of the Amazon was known in this periodas the "Wild Coast," because of the paucity of European habitation.The Spanish made no effortto settle it, and minimal effort to control it (Hemming, 182-3; Burns, 173).Of the possible routes, the most interesting one is probably the one exploited in our timelineby the Dutch.Beginning in 1617, they established settlements on the Essequibo River (in BritishGuyana).They ascended the Essequibo River, then its tributary, the Rupununi, portaged over tothe Rio Branco (the Rupununi savannah is flooded over during the rainy season), and then sailedon to the Rio Negro, the Amazon, and the Madeira.Once in the Amazon basin, they traded iniron and slaves.In OTL, the Portuguese eventually blocked this traffic, first with a fort at Manaus(1667), and later with a mission at the mouth of the Rio Branco (1720).(Furneaux, 51;Guyana.org; Burns, 173-6, 196, 214)The EB11 entry for "Guiana" warns, "The Essequibo can be entered only by craft drawingless than 20 ft.and is navigable for these vessels for not more than 50 m., its subsequent courseupwards being frequently broken by cataracts and rapids." So, if we use this route to trade forrubber, much of the traveling would have to be done by canoes.This would result in much higher transportation costs and longer transportation times than if we could take full advantage of theAmazon River.There are alternative routes which look shorter on paper, but are less likely to be practicable.For example, one could ascend the Maroni and Litani Rivers (the border between Suriname andFrench Guyana), and portage over to the Paru or the Jari tributaries of the Amazon, but thatrequires crossing the Tumucumaque Mountains.These routes also allow you to play "Johnny Rubber Seed": collect Hevea seeds in theAmazon basin; plant them on your return trip, at a marked location, while they are still viable;and come back four years or so later to collect the seeds from your transplants.Eventually, youwill get the seeds to the coast and onto a ship [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]