Fordlândia (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɔʁdʒiˈlɐ̃dʒjɐ], Ford-land) is a district and adjacent area of 14,268 square kilometres (5,509 sq mi) in the city of Aveiro, in the Brazilian state of Pará.

It is located on the east banks of the Tapajós river roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of the city of Santarém.

Ford had negotiated a deal with the Brazilian government granting him a concession of 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) of land on the banks of the Rio Tapajós near the city of Santarém, Brazil, in exchange for a 9% share in the profits generated.

[1] In the 1920s, the Ford Motor Company sought to elude the British monopoly over the supply of rubber, mainly used for producing tires and other car parts.

An agreement was signed and the American industrialist received an area of about 2.5 million acres (10,100 km2)[4] called "Boa Vista".

It was immediately hindered by poor logistics and diseases that affected the workers who succumbed to yellow fever and malaria.

[citation needed] Seeking workers, several offices were opened in the cities of Belém and Manaus, and, with the promise of good wages, people of the nearby states answered.

Alcohol, women, tobacco and even association football were forbidden within the town, including inside the workers' own homes.

The inhabitants circumvented these prohibitions by paddling out to merchant riverboats moored beyond the town jurisdiction,[6] often hiding contraband goods inside fruits like watermelons.

A small settlement was established 8 kilometres (5 mi) upstream on the "Island of Innocence" with bars, nightclubs and brothels.

[6] In 1930, the native workers grew tired of Ford's imposed diet in addition to a change with how the food was distributed and revolted in the town's cafeteria.

The rebels proceeded to cut the telegraph wires and chased away the managers and even the town's cook into the jungle for a few days until the Brazilian Army arrived and the revolt ended.

Fordlândia was abandoned by the Ford Motor Company in 1934, and the project was relocated downstream to Belterra, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the city of Santarém, where better conditions to grow rubber existed.

Between the 1950s and late 1970s, after being given back the rights to the lands, the Brazilian government, through its Ministry of Agriculture, installed several facilities in the area.

This generated fears of contamination among the population of nearby towns and cities, with people often mentioning the Goiânia accident, causing the authorities to remove the materials following an outcry.