Belterra
A rubber plantation town built by the Ford Motor Company in the 1930s, with its American-style wooden house district still preserved.
Belterra was the second town Henry Ford built for rubber plantations in the Amazon, after the more remote Fordlândia. Development began in 1934. The town once had American-style wooden houses, a hospital, schools and a water tower, laid out like a small American Midwestern town. The rubber scheme failed after the Second World War, and Ford withdrew in 1945. Even so, the orderly blocks of wooden houses, the old water tower and rows of rubber trees remain, and some buildings are listed as heritage sites. The town sits on a plateau about 30 km from Alter do Chão and can be combined with Tapajós National Forest or Pindobal Beach as a day trip. There is a small memorial museum with irregular opening hours.
Opening hours
All day
Nearby sights
- Pindobal Beach
- Floresta Encantada
- Araribá Indigenous Art Center
- Alter do Chão Village & Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Saúde
- Ilha do Amor
- Lago Verde
- Serra da Piroca
- Ponta do Cururu