Amazon Rubber

I commend Walter Russell Mead (Opinion, Oct. 24) for his insightful analysis of the boom and bust cycles of economic growth and their implications for developing nations. He does, however, make one error. The Amazon rubber boom of the late 19th century was not associated with plantation agriculture, but rather was based on the exploitation of natural or “wild” rubber. It was the removal (or theft) of hevea brasilense seedlings and the setting up of rubber plantations in Southeast Asia that dimmed the lights of the Manaus opera house.

JOHN A. KIRCHNER

Professor of Geography

Cal State L.A.