This chapter reviews the often-invisible, powerful processes that drive social and ecological change in the Amazon, and the diverse peoples who inhabit its landscapes. It explores the large-scale development ide- ologies of modernization, and the policy tools that were deployed to carry them out. Outlining general pe- riods of macro policy shifts, it shows the evolution of the framework for today’s complex interactions be- tween large-scale agroindustry, mining, and hydrocarbons; diverse small-scale livelihoods.