1906 Hoempler Map of the Amazon River from Iquitos, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil

This is a 1906 Carlos Hoempler and Pedro Portillo Silva 10 1/2 foot-long map covering over 1,000 miles of the Amazon River, from Iquitos, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil - highlighting a primary artery of the Amazon Rubber Boom (1879 - 1912). When issued, it was by far the most detailed map of this part of the Amazon River yet produced, illustrating navigation and commerce in one of the world's most extreme climates.

A Closer Look

The map covers the Amazon River from Iquitos, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil. The mouths of tributaries and lakes that connect to the river and settlements are identified. Of significance is a red line describing the most navigable deepwater channel, reflecting the practical secrets to traversing the dangerous river. Hoempler drafted the map from information compiled by the Peruvian explorer Petro Portillo Silva and the Booth and Company Steamship Company, a cornerstone of Amazon commerce at the turn of the 20th century.

Rubber Boom

This map was produced at the peak of the Amazon Rubber Boom, for which both Iquitos and Manaus were key ports. Starting around 1879, the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the automobile created an insatiable global demand for rubber. Rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) produce a natural latex coveted by rubber and tire producers. At the outset of the boom, rubber trees grew naturally only deep in the Amazon rainforest, where latex collection was a dangerous and labor-intensive process. Nonetheless, the persistent need for rubber and the harsh demands of the environment that produced it led to the rise of rubber barons defined by fast fortunes, horrific cruelty, and outlandish excess. Tales of rubber barons bringing European opera troops and ballet companies deep into the rainforest, building personal menageries of exotic animals, and other extravagances, were commonplace. So, too, were tales of their atrocities, specifically the enslavement and murder of thousands of indigenous Amazonian tribespeople. Responding to the need, British investors developed vast plantations in their East India colonies, particularly Malaysia and Borneo, which were able to produce latex more efficiently, leading to a sudden collapse in the global rubber market. As quickly as the rubber boom came, it also vanished, and along with it, the fortunes it created.

Booth and Company

Booth and Company (1863 - 1986) was a British shipping and trading company, founded in Liverpool as Alfred Booth and Company by brothers Alfred and Charles Booth. At first, the company exported English light leather to the United States, which was then fighting the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). In 1866, the brothers expanded service to South America, offering regular steamship service from Liverpool to ports in northern Brazil and along the Amazon. The rubber trade from Brazil increased after Dunlop invented his pneumatic tire in 1888, which caused an increase in Booth's service to and from Brazil. In 1901, Booth merged with one of its major competitors, the Red Cross Iquitos Steamship Company. Following the merger, the company changed its name to Booth Steamship Co. Ltd. and extended service to Iquitos, Peru. Booth suffered during World Wars I and II, when the government requisitioned many of its ships for war service. After World War II, the company modernized its fleet and expanded to the Caribbean. The company subdivided into several divisions in the 1960s, and the separate parts were fully liquidated by the 1980s.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Carlos E.C. Hoempler and printed and published by Carlos Fabbri in Lima in 1906. We note 6 examples cataloged in OCLC: University of Michigan, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the University of Chicago, the University of California Berkeley, Sorbonne Université, and the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana.