Acre War

The Acre War, also called the Acrean Revolution in Brazil and the War of the Acre in Spanish, was a conflict between Bolivia and the First Brazilian Republic. It was fought over the Acre Region, an area rich in rubber and gold. The fighting happened in two phases between 1899 and 1903.

The war ended with a victory for the people of Acre, leading to the Treaty of Petrópolis. This treaty made Acre officially part of Brazil. The outcome also had effects on areas disputed between Brazil and Peru.

Causes

The Acre region had lots of gold and many rubber trees. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, rubber was very important because it was used to make tires and other things for cars. There was no synthetic rubber yet, so real rubber from trees was very valuable. This made the area very important and led to disagreements over who should control it. One reason for the conflict was a tax on rubber exports that the governor of Amazonas wanted to collect.

Antecedents

The border between Brazil and Bolivia was set by the Treaty of Ayacucho. The area called Acre, which was about five times the size of Belgium, belonged to Bolivia. Located in South America, Acre didn’t get much attention because it was hard to reach and didn’t seem very useful at first.

But when the price of rubber went up in the late 1800s, around 18,000 people, mostly from Brazil, traveled to Acre to collect rubber from the trees. Since there were almost no roads, people used river steamers, canoes, and rafts to get around.

First Republic of Acre

On January 2, 1899, Bolivia placed a customs office in Puerto Alonso, now called Porto Acre, which upset the Brazilian settlers. They wanted to remove Bolivian control. On April 30, 1899, Dr. José de Carvalho led a revolt against Bolivia.

Under pressure, the Bolivians left the area. The governor of Amazonas sent a team led by Spaniard Luis Gálvez Rodríguez de Arias, who was a Bolivian consul in Belém. Gálvez arrived in Puerto Alonso on June 4, 1899, renamed it Porto Acre, and on July 14, 1899, he declared the Republic of Acre. Bolivia sent soldiers to stop him, but Gálvez was captured by Antonio de Sousa Braga, who briefly took control before handing power back to Gálvez. In March 1900, a Brazilian naval force arrived, arrested Gálvez, and ended the Republic of Acre, as Brazil still saw the land as belonging to Bolivia under an earlier agreement.

Second Republic of Acre

Bolivia sent a small group to take control of a region rich in rubber and gold. But local people stopped them. Later, another group tried to make Acre independent from Bolivia. They were not successful and lost many men in battles.

In 1902, a leader named José Plácido de Castro helped local people fight back against Bolivia. After more battles, they took control of the area. Finally, Brazil and Bolivia made a treaty in 1903. Bolivia gave up Acre to Brazil in exchange for some land and money. This brought an end to the conflict and made Acre part of Brazil.

Treaty of Petrópolis

Main article: Treaty of Petrópolis

The Treaty of Petrópolis was signed between Bolivia and Brazil on November 17, 1903, in the city of Petrópolis. This treaty ended a conflict over land rich in rubber and gold. As a result, Bolivia gave up about 191,000 square kilometers of land, which today makes up the state of Acre in Brazil.