Acre (state) - History

History

Until the beginning of the 20th century Acre belonged to Bolivia. However, since the beginning of the 19th century, a large part of its population were Brazilians who exploited rubber tree groves and who, in practice, achieved the creation of an independent territory.

In 1899, Bolivians tried to gain control of the area, but Brazilians revolted and there were border confrontations, generating the episode which became known as the Acre Revolution (Revolução Acreana).

On November 17, 1903, with the signing over and sale in the Treaty of Petrópolis, Brazil received final possession of the region. Acre was then integrated into Brazil as a territory divided into three departments. The territory became Brazilian sovereignty in exchange for the payment of two million pounds sterling, land taken from Mato Grosso and in accordance with the construction of the Madeira-Mamoré railway.

Having been united in 1920, on June 15, 1962 it was elevated to the category of state, being the first to be governed by a woman, the teacher Iolanda Fleming.

During the Second World War, the rubber tree groves of Malaya were taken by the Japanese, and Acre thus left a great mark on western and world history, helping to change the course of the war in favor of the allies. This was thanks to the Rubber Soldiers, natives mostly of the Ceará plantation. It was perhaps due to Acre and its decisive contribution to the allied victory, that Brazil received North American resources to form the National Steel Company (Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional), and thus aid in the industrialization of the Central-south, which was until such time mostly stagnant, and which did not yet possess basic heavy industries.

On April 4 of 2008, Acre won a judicial debate with the state of Amazonas in relation to the dispute surrounding the Cunha Gomes Line, which culminated in the annex of part of the municipalities of Envira, Guajará, Boca do Acre, Pauini, Eirunepé and Ipixuna. The territorial redefinition consolidated the incorporation of 1.2 million hectares of the Liberdade, Gregório, and Mogno forest complex to the territory of Acre, which corresponds to 11,583.87 km2.