onedc SM Developer/Designer

Original furniture in the drawing room in the Fordlândia museum. Photograph: Colin McPherson/Corbis

Fordlândia, Brazil

Named, rather modestly, after its founder
Henry Ford, Fordlândia was an attempt by the
car-maker and industrialist to create an
independent source of rubber for the tyres on
his vehicles, free from the existing
manufacturing monopolies. Ford bought a
huge swathe of land in the Amazon and began
building a strangely American-style town in
the jungle, including a golf course, a library
and a hospital, as well as shops and
restaurants to keep his relocated employees
happy. It was a grand failure and now all that
remains are the derelict buildings, which can
be visited by adventurous travellers.