ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the way in which mythical/folkloric accounts of a hyper-naturalized Amazonia converge with portrayals of decadence associated with the wealth-generating potential of the rubber industry. Knowledge of the Amazon of the rubber boom has been deeply embedded in an image and understanding of Amazonia itself that was far more partial and superficial than its apparent seamlessness would suggest. A privileged example of the iconicity of Amazonia is rubber itself. Often the alleged boom seems to harness weight through its association with booms of other regions of Brazil and in other eras, and in that association it may betray a form of wishful, associative thinking. Perhaps one of the more prosaic reasons for the term's prominence in discussions of the Amazon is that it carries with it the promise of inclusion of a neglected region in the national narrative of boom-and-bust as part of the process of maturation from colony to republic.
