HISTORY OF RUBBER

Rubber was known to the indigenous peoples of the Americas long before the arrival of European explorers. The first scientific study of rubber was undertaken by Charles de la Condamine, when he encountered it during his trip to Peru in 1735.

The first use for rubber was an eraser. It was Magellan, a descendent of the famous Portuguese navigator, who suggested this use. In England, Priestley popularized it to the extent that it became known as India Rubber.

In 1815, Hancock had invented a rubber mattress and through an association with MacIntosh he produced the famous waterproof coat known as the "macintosh". Furthermore, he discovered how to cut, roll and press rubber on an industrial scale. He also noted the importance of heat during the pressing process, and built a machine for this purpose. Finally, in 1842, Hancock came into possession of vulcanized rubber produced by Goodyear.

In 1845, R.W. Thomson invented the pneumatic tire, the inner tube and even the textured tread. In 1850 rubber toys were being made, as well as solid and hollow balls for golf and tennis.

         South America remained the main source of the limited amounts of latex rubber that were used during much of the 19th century. In 1876, Henry Wickham gathered thousands of para rubber tree seeds from Brazil, and these were germinated in Kew Gardens, England. The seedlings were then sent to India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, Singapore and British Malaya. Malaya (now Malaysia) was later to become the biggest producer of rubber. In the early 1900s, the Congo Free State in Africa was also a significant source of natural rubber latex, mostly gathered by forced labor. Liberia and Nigeria also started production of rubber.

In India, commercial cultivation of natural rubber was introduced by the British planters, although the experimental efforts to grow rubber on a commercial scale in India were initiated as early as 1873 at the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. The first commercial Hevea plantations in India were established at Thattekadu in Kerala in 1902. In the 19th and early 20th century, it was often called "India rubber." In 2010, India's natural rubber consumption stood at 978 thousand tons per year, with production at 893 thousand tons; the rest was imported with an import duty of 20%.