The rubber belt is a name given to the area where the hevea, or rubber tree, grows. This tree needs a very rich deep soil and a climate that is hot and moist.
Those are exactly the conditions about 700 miles above the Equator and 700 miles below it. These ten degrees of the Equator are therefore known as the rubber belt.
Rubber can be made so elastic that it will stretch nine times its normal length!
