Belterra is a municipal seat and rubber plantation site some 40 km (25 mi) south of the Brazilian city of Santarém in the Northern federal state of Pará, at the edge of the Planalto at 165 m (541 ft) above sea level.

While Terra Preta soil patterns occur all over the Brazilian lowland, this site is extremely well developed and also scientifically surveyed and documented[2] The tertiary highland is composed of some 40–50 m (130–160 ft) clay layers (Belterra clay) of kaolinitic sediments of a Pliocene lake, with a distinct escarpment to the North and West of the plain, which leads down to the Várzea forest lowland at the river bank of the Tapajós river.

The municipality holds part of the Tapajós National Forest, a 549,067 hectares (1,356,770 acres) sustainable use conservation unit created in 1974.

In its peak time in the late 1930s some 50 km2 (19 sq mi) were cultivated with Hevea brasiliensis (rubber tree).

In Belterra, new breeding methods with local varieties were applied, which prevented the leaf disease, a result of the monoculture in Fordlândia.