The rubber that erases the coffe: Notes for a techno-environmental history of the rubber tree in São Paulo

Abstract

The present article aims to understand the arrival and growth of the rubber tree (Hevea spp.) in the western plateau of the São Paulo state, Brazil. To understand how the rubber tree experienced a boom in this region from the end of the 1980’s it will be necessary to go back few decades and recover the history of this important plant species in the most industrialized state of the country. This will be done with an approach defined as techno-environmental, that is, that puts in dialogue the environmental history with the anthropological and historical studies of the techniques.