PLACE OF ORIGIN
The tea plant, Camellia Sinensis has been cultivated for so long that its home as a wild plant is a matter of speculation. Certainly in south – east China tea has been used as a beverage for between two and three thousand years, and nobody has ever claimed to have found wild tea in China proper. From time to time assertions have been made that wild types have been found, but in all probability these plants, usually found in clusters, are relics of previous cultivation in the unrecorded past. Considering the localities in South – East Asia where various types of tea are now established, it is likely that they have been dispersed from a centre near to the source of the Irrawaddy and have been spread out fan – wise into south – east China, Indo – China and Assam. Moreover according to Kingdom Ward it is probable that this locus was only a secondary one and that the indigenous species had its origin farther north. In support of this contention it is pointed out that, in the three areas mentioned, the greater part of the tea conforms to an individual type, but that in each place examples of one of the other types can be found.
From the main centers of cultivation in south – East Asia tea has spread far and wide into tropical and subtropical areas whose broad characteristics correspond to regions of tropical rain forest, tropical savannah and summer rain. From being a traditional peasant cultivation in the Far East, tea culture has developed into an important plantation industry employing considerable capital and controlled at the present time mainly by limited companies of European origin.
SOUTH – EAST ASIA
The extension of the industry in its modern form started in India. Between 1818 and 1834 several private individuals and government officials had interested themselves in the possibilities of tea cultivation in North – East India, primarily as a source of revenue, but also because relations with China, the sole source of the commodity for European trade, were disturbed and from time to time normal trade was suspended. Claims were made that ‘wild tea’ had been discovered in Nepal and the Manipur district. Representations were made to the Governor – General which resulted in the formation of a ‘Committee of Tea Culture’ in 1834 consisting of ‘gentlemen of high character and great intelligence’ in Calcutta. After experimenting at the Calcutta Botanical Gardens with a consignment of tea seed from China attention was turned to tea found growing n a ‘wild’ state within the territory of the East India Company, from Sadiya to the borders of the Chinese province of Yunnan. The Chinese importations were discontinued and the future Indian enterprise was developed from these locally discovered types. From the start, the industry was built up on the basis of the limited liability company.
In Ceylon the serious cultivation of tea began in the decade of the 1870’s. There is a record of ten acres in 1867 and by 1880, 14,226 acres were reported. In the next fifteen years expansion had reached the total of 305,000 acres, for, with governmental encouragement, tea was replacing coffee which was rapidly being devastated by the attacks of the Coffee Rust fungus.
In Java, following an initial importation of seed from Japan in 1824, six journeys were made between 1827 and 1833 by a government envoy to collect seed and workmen from China. Tea cultivation was a government monopoly, and continued so until 1860. It was unremunerative and remained so until the introduction of Assam types in 1878. The foundation of tea culture in Sumatra was inaugurated in 1909 by a British firm.
AFRICA
In Africa tea was being grown at the Durban Botanic Gardens in 1850 and developed into a local plantation industry of small extent in Natal after a coffee failure in 1877 similar to that of Ceylon. In 1943 there were 2000 acres but these have subsequently gone out of cultivation.
The oldest continuing tea industry in Africa is that of Malawi. From an introduction of tea seed in 1878 there were no survivors, but the Church of Scotland Mission procured seed via Kew and Edinburgh in 1886 and 1888 respectively, and from the progeny of the plants thus raised the first estate was planted in 1891.
OTHER REGIONS
Russia now counts as one of the chief areas where tea is grown. In 1913 an acreage of 18,000 is recorded and the latest estimates reach a figure of 162,800 acres in Russian Transcaucasia (Georgia) on the shores of the Black Sea. In the course of development mechanical aids to cultivation, notably mechanical plucking, have been used.
In addition to the major tea – producing territories there are almost a score of others where tea is now grown or has been given a trial. Their wide dispersion is evident from the following catalogue of localities: Malaya, Burma (Shan States), Thailand, Vietnam, Mauritius, Belgian Congo, Rhodesia, Portuguese East Africa, Ethiopia, St. Helena, Cameroons, Brazil, Peru, Argentine, Paraguay, Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, Martinique, Iran, Carolina, Australia, Turkey and Corsica. Their latitudes range from 40° N. to 33° S.
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