Ruined utopias: the afterlife of the Amazon’s forgotten company towns – in pictures

View image in fullscreen A Ford warehouse established in 1928 in Fordlândia, on the banks of the Tapajós River in Pará state, to produce rubber for the US market. Corporate towns such as Fordlândia, Serra do Navio, Laranjal do Jari, Marituba and Velho Airão were founded to extract raw materials for processing and export, with no regard for the forest, its peoples or its futureShare View image in fullscreen A ruined building is enveloped by a strangler fig in Velho Airão, a former rubber-producing town in Amazonas state. When projects failed, companies left and the towns were abandonedShare View image in fullscreen The ghostly marks left by a vine climbing an old wall in Velho AirãoShare View image in fullscreen Corporate towns primarily served to extract commodities such as manganese (pictured), latex and timberShare View image in fullscreen Workers’ badges for the Ford subsidiary, Companhia Ford Industrial do Brasil. Even after the corporations left towns such as Nova Olinda do Norte, Belterra, Monte Dourado, Santana, Pedra Branca do Amapari, and Serra do Navio, some residents remained. The decades-long project, which began in the 1960s and cost more than $1bn, ended in failure. Much of the factory remainsShare View image in fullscreen A tailings reservoir of waste from the Jari pulp mill illustrates the environmental damage to the Amazon caused ’s most polluting industriesShare View image in fullscreen The exit gate of the abandoned Jari Celulose plant nursery. Bom descanso means ‘good rest’Share View image in fullscreen The company Eletronorte stuffed and displayed animals that died during the construction of the Tucuruí hydroelectric power plant in Pará state in the 1980sShare View image in fullscreen A cemetery stands in the monoculture desolation of a soya plantation in Belterra, Pará stateShare View image in fullscreen The ruins of a small family home built from ‘Volkswagen-standard’ bricks in Vila Cristalino in the 1970s, when the Companhia Vale do Rio Cristalino, owned by VW, occupied more than 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) in the south-eastern Amazon. The carmaker’s estate, promoted as a model of modern agriculture and livestock ranching, became a symbol of environmental and labour conflictsShare View image in fullscreen A swimming pool built exclusively for the foreign professionals who held senior positions at Icomi. The town of Serra do Navio, which was designed , stands in contrast to the devastated landscape around itShare View image in fullscreen An abandoned sugar mill overtaken ândia, Pará stateShare View image in fullscreen The forest envelops a building in what was formerly a Pirelli rubber estate, now designated the Metropolis of the Amazon wildlife refuge, an environmental conservation area in Marituba, Pará stateShare Explore more on these topicsAmazon rainforest Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean Americas Trees and forests Brazil Deforestation Pollution Ford