Carlos Scharff

Carlos Scharff
Scharff (right) in 1905
Born	Carlos Scharff (1866-10-30)30 October 1866 Chachapoyas, Peru
Died	28 July 1909(1909-07-28) (aged 42) Las Piedras, Peru
Cause of death	Killed in mutiny
Occupation	Rubber baron

Carlos Scharff (30 October 1866 – 28 July 1909) was a Peruvian rubber baron of German descent who was active along the Upper Purus and Las Piedras rivers during the Amazon rubber boom in Peru. He also served for many years during his youth as an agent for the Belgian consulate in Brazil.

Between 1897 and 1909, Scharff enslaved and exploited indigenous peoples in the territory he controlled, primarily for the purpose of increasing rubber extraction for his firm.^[1] He was responsible for the displacement of numerous indigenous populations, forcing them to migrate along with his enterprise when the latter would relocate. These populations include tribes of Piro, Amahuaca, Machiguenga, Asháninka, Conibo, Yine, and Yaminawá people.

Scharff was heavily involved in a border conflict between Peru and Brazil in 1903–1904, which he had a role in instigating. Brazilian journalist Euclides da Cunha referred to Scharff as the "great land lord" of the Upper Purus, where many rubber exporters were dependent on him by 1905.

The Geographic Society of Lima credits Scharff with the establishment of a portage route around 1905, that connected the Upper Purus to the Madre de Dios River. Along this section of the Purus, he facilitated the exploitation of rubber sources, as well as a general increase of commercial movement along the course of the river. Scharff was killed in 1909, after a mutiny by his workforce near the Piedras River. The India Rubber World reported that at the time of his death, Scharff was $3,000,000 in debt. Anthropologist William Curtis Farabee referred to him as "the most notorious of all rubber gatherers in the Upper Amazon region."