Roosevelt proclaimed Rondón’s telegraph line project one of the two greatest technological and engineering wonders of the age.
Rondon published over 100 scientific papers and remains the largest single contributor of specimens to the National Museum in Rio
The telegraph lines Rondon built resonate in the national psyche as an inspiring feat of national integration in the same way that the building of the Transcontinental Railroad was celebrated in the United States.
He was engaged first and foremost in an exercise in nation building meant to thwart European imperialism.
Africans, many plantation owners believed, could at least be made productive through forced labor once enslaved. Indians ferociously resisted capture and encroachments on their ancestral lands and, when apprehended, would often refuse to work, seemingly willing themselves to die rather than cooperate.
Rondón rose at 4, went for a long swim, then took a cold shower. By 5 he was back in his Spartan accomodations, where he would cram in a full hour of study before his fellow students awoke.
The Paresi regarded the Nhambiquara as backwards due to their habit of sleeping on the ground, sometimes out in the open, instead of using a hammock.
Brazil had much the same boarding/residential schools as Canada does
French was the language of choice for communicating between Roosevelt and Rondon
Rondon would leave fliers with unarmed soliders for Indians to find in the jungle. He did the same “psyop” against rebels later in his career.