Article: A brief history of rubber - Part 1 of 2; The origins of the industry, deep in the Amazon.(special report)

Byline: Chuck Slaybaugh

Latex-producing trees and plants grow naturally in many regions of the world. Yet the making of rubber products got its start among the primitive inhabitants of the Americas-long before the first Europeans caught sight of the New World.

Moreover, it would be centuries after their "discovery'' of America and subsequently becoming aware of rubber's existence before Europeans and others in the so-called "civilized'' world awakened to the possibilities offered by such a unique substance.

Long before the arrival of Spanish and Portuguese explorers and conquerors, native Americans in warmer regions near the equator collected ...

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