Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition
Encyclopedia
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
: Expedição Científica Rondon-Roosevelt) was jointly led by Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and Cândido Rondon
Cândido Rondon
Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, or Marechal Rondon was a Brazilian military officer who is most famous for his exploration of Mato Grosso and the Western Amazon Basin, and his lifelong support of Brazilian indigenous populations...
in 1913–1914 to be the first explorers of the 1000-mile long "River of Doubt" (later renamed Rio Roosevelt) located in a remote area of the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian Amazon basin. Sponsored in part by the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, they also collected many new animal and insect specimens.
Adventure and challenge
Roosevelt had originally planned to go on a speaking trip of ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, followed by a cruise of the Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
. Instead, the Brazilian Government suggested that Roosevelt accompany famous Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon on his exploration of the previously unknown River of Doubt, the headwaters of which had only recently been discovered. Roosevelt, seeking adventure and challenge after his recent defeat for a third term in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, agreed. Kermit Roosevelt
Kermit Roosevelt
Kermit Roosevelt I MC was a son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. He was an explorer on two continents with his father, a graduate of Harvard University, a soldier serving in two world wars, with both the British and U.S. Armies, a businessman, and a writer...
, Theodore's son, had recently gotten engaged to a socialite named Belle and didn't plan on joining the expedition but did on the insistence of his mother to protect his father. The expedition started in Cáceres, a small town on the Paraguay River
Paraguay River
The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina...
, with 15 Brazilian porters (camaradas), the two leaders, Roosevelt's son, and American naturalist George Cherrie. They traveled to Tapirapuã, where Rondon had previously discovered the Headwaters of the River of Doubt. From Tapirapuã, the expedition traveled northwest, through dense forests and then later through the plains on top of the Parecis plateau
Parecis plateau
The Parecis plateau is a mountain range in the municipality of Parecis, in the Brazilian state of Rondônia.- External links :*...
. They reached the River of Doubt on February 27, 1914. At this point, due to a lack of food supplies, the Expedition split up, with part of the Expedition following the Ji-paraná river to the Madeira River
Madeira River
The Madeira River is a major waterway in South America, approximately 3,250 km miles long The Madeira is the biggest tributary of the Amazon...
. The remaining party then started down the River of Doubt.
Problems
Almost from the start, the expedition was fraught with problems. Insects and disease such as malariaMalaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
weighed heavily on just about every member of the expedition, leaving them in a constant state of sickness, festering wounds and high fevers. The heavy dug-out canoes were unsuitable to the constant rapids and were often lost, requiring days to build new ones. The food provisions were ill-conceived forcing the team on starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
diets. Natives (the Cinta Larga
Cinta Larga
The Cinta Larga are a people indigenous to the western Amazon Rainforest of Brazil, numbering around 1300. Their name means "broad belt" in Portuguese, referring to large bark sashes the tribe once wore...
) shadowed the expedition and were a constant source of concern—the Indians could have at any time wiped out the expedition and taken their valuable metal tools but they chose to let them pass (future expeditions in the 1920s were not so lucky).
The most tragic single event was when one of the crew members murdered another. The murder was of particular horror to the group as it happened in the middle of one of the most difficult days of the journey. The victim was the leader of the camaradas (the hired help for the trip), a burly man named Paishon, that had through determination won the affections of Rondon on previous missions into the Amazon. The man who murdered him was, by all accounts, the laziest one on the crew, and he had been caught stealing precious rations on multiple occasions. Though at this time in the full throes of illness, upon hearing of the murder, Roosevelt rose from his cot to chase down the offender and execute a swift punishment with the aide of a carbine rifle. The murderer escaped the pursuing party immediately following the murder only to attempt to return three days later. He called to Rondon from the bank of the river but no one acknowledged his pleas for help.
Of the 19 men who went on the expedition, only 16 returned. One died by accidental drowning in rapids with his body never being recovered, one died by murder and was buried at the scene, and the murderer was left behind in the jungle, presumably swiftly perishing there.
Roosevelt injured
By the time the expedition had made it only about one-quarter of the way down the river, they were physically exhausted and sick from starvation, disease and the constant labour of hauling canoes around rapids. Roosevelt himself was near death as a wounded leg had become infected and the party feared for his life each day. Luckily they came upon "rubber men" or "seringueiros", impoverished rubber-tappers who earned a marginal living from the forest trees driven by the new demand for rubber tires in the United States. The seringueiros helped the team down the rest of the river (less rapid-prone than the upper reaches) and Roosevelt made it home alive to live five more years. Due to the trip, his health never fully recovered.The rubber men were terrified of the Cinta Larga (Long Belt) Indians that lived up the river. Since this expedition was the first to ever descend the River of Doubt, the "rubber men" at first thought they were Indians. They were so frightened of the invading Indians that a small group armed themselves and prepared to attack the expedition. Once they realized that they were not Indians at all, they provided vital food and comfort that most likely saved numerous lives, most certainly that of the former President himself.
Confirmation
After Roosevelt returned, there was some doubt that he had actually discovered the river and made the expedition. To settle the dispute, in 1927 American explorer George Miller DyottGeorge Miller Dyott
George Miller Dyott was an American pioneer aviator and explorer of the Amazon.-Biography:Dyott was born in New York to a British father and American mother. He test piloted planes not long after the Wright brothers, and was one of the first pilots ever to fly at night...
led a second trip down the river, confirming Roosevelt's discoveries.
In 1992 Tweed Roosevelt
Tweed Roosevelt
Tweed Roosevelt is the great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt via Roosevelt's son Archie. He is Chairman of Roosevelt China Investments, a Boston firm. He occasionally lectures and writes on the topic of his great-grandfather...
, with the help of 20 men and women, retraced his great grandfather's journey down the River of Doubt.