This book provides in-depth insights into the construction of the first road to reach riparian communities and the main access point to a national park in the Amazonian rain forest. It is based on an ethnographic investigation in Peru’s Manu Province in the Amazon, which explored diverse local attitudes towards the construction of a road in the overlapping buffer zone of two protected areas: the Manu National Park and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. 

The book reveals the applicability of Harvey and Knox’s concept of ‘enchantments of infrastructure’ in the case of first roads, but also makes accessible wider debates in political ecology such as territoriality and frontier development. The promise of first roads sparks feelings of aspiration and anticipation of the advent of development through speedy travel, economic connectivity and political integration. Yet these developments seldom take shape as expected. The author explores the perspectives, social dynamics and political maneuvers that influence first road building processes in the Amazon, which have applicability to experiences and strategies of road development elsewhere.