Internal colonialism in the Brazilian Amazon: an analysis of socio-environmental pressures on the Ituxi River (southern Amazonas State)

This paper examines long-standing structural issues, including violence and underdevelopment, focusing on the Ituxi River basin, which traverses the municipality of Lábrea in southern Amazonas State, Brazil. The study region is conceptualized as an Amazonian frontier undergoing socio-spatial transformation. Lábrea, located in the northwest region of Brazil, saw its development based on the rubber extraction economy from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, driven by international demand for this primary product. New economic frontiers, especially the expansion of agricultural activities in Rondônia and the advancement of transport and energy infrastructure projects, form a contemporary context of pressure on the Ituxi River basin. The research was conducted through historical research, social observation and document analysis, and presents a cartographic study of active socio-environmental conflicts in the Ituxi River basin. A map of socio-environmental pressures was produced in order to support the discussion on the incorporation of new spaces into the economic model of accumulation, addressing the processes of territorial domination and internal colonization involved in the advance of the economic frontier. It can be concluded that the frontier analyzed is representative of the wider Amazonian reality, a region marked by colonialism and by the persistent dilemma between biodiversity preservation and economic development at any cost.