
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


In the late 1920s, the Ford Motor Company bought up millions of acres of land in Brazil. They loaded boats with machinery and supplies, and shipped them deep into the Amazon rainforest. Workers cut down trees and cleared the land and then they built a rubber plantation in the middle of one of the wildest places on earth. But Henry Ford wanted this community -- called “Fordlândia” -- to be more than just a huge plantation. He envisioned an industrial utopia. He paid his Brazilian workers good wages, at least for the region. And he tried to build them the kind of place he would’ve loved to live, which is to say: a small Midwestern town...but in the middle of the jungle.
Fordlandia
In the second segment, we discuss Roman’s other show What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.
Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
By Roman Mars4.8
2554525,545 ratings
In the late 1920s, the Ford Motor Company bought up millions of acres of land in Brazil. They loaded boats with machinery and supplies, and shipped them deep into the Amazon rainforest. Workers cut down trees and cleared the land and then they built a rubber plantation in the middle of one of the wildest places on earth. But Henry Ford wanted this community -- called “Fordlândia” -- to be more than just a huge plantation. He envisioned an industrial utopia. He paid his Brazilian workers good wages, at least for the region. And he tried to build them the kind of place he would’ve loved to live, which is to say: a small Midwestern town...but in the middle of the jungle.
Fordlandia
In the second segment, we discuss Roman’s other show What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.
Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

91,243 Listeners

43,827 Listeners

32,233 Listeners

30,670 Listeners

13,254 Listeners

3,010 Listeners

6,892 Listeners

3,926 Listeners

4,204 Listeners

3,981 Listeners

24,564 Listeners

2,683 Listeners

2,125 Listeners

16,503 Listeners

3,558 Listeners

5,115 Listeners

2,233 Listeners

185 Listeners

32 Listeners

58,475 Listeners

113 Listeners

22 Listeners

94 Listeners

18 Listeners

433 Listeners

4,567 Listeners

20,306 Listeners

411 Listeners

164 Listeners

28 Listeners

18 Listeners

804 Listeners

97 Listeners

2 Listeners

704 Listeners