Putumayo Genocide by Rubber Company

In 1907, the Peruvian Amazon Company, founded by rubber baron Julio César Arana, enslaved Indigenous populations in the Putumayo region to extract rubber under brutal conditions. Driven by global demand for rubber, the company subjected tribes like the Huitoto, Bora, and Andoque to forced labor, starvation, torture, and mass killings, resulting in the deaths of over 30,000 people. It is now known as the Putumayo Genocide. Despite international outcry and investigations by figures like Roger Casement, the company's operations persisted until its liquidation in 1913, leaving a legacy of devastation in the Amazon.

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