000			01783nam a2200169Ia 4500
008			220216s9999 xx 000 0 und d
100			_aGeorge K T
245		0	_aColonial botany and plant transfer: The case of natural rubber (1850 to 1910)
260			_bRubber Science _c2016
300			_a215-223
520			_aThis paper is primarily concerned with decomposition of the major contributory factors for the transplantation of natural rubber from Brazil to the South-East Asian colonies of Europe during 1850 to 1910. The analysis is contextualized to capture and reconstruct the missing links in the debate on the process of transfer of rubber from its natural habitat in the Amazon basin to South-East Asia. The conventional wisdom on the theme has been focused on the three region-specific factors, viz organization of rubber production, supply of labour and plant diseases. However, a centralized system of research and development support provided by the colonial powers of Europe through a network of Botanical Gardens had been pivotal in providing a sustainable platform for transplantation of rubber from the Amazon basin. The unrivalled role of colonial Botany evolved by the network of Botanical Gardens is underlined by the commercialization of plantation rubber within two decades of the Wickham rubber mission in constrast to the stagnation of the interlocked wild rubber extraction system for about a century. In sum, R and D inputs provided by the colonial powers had been the centripetal force leading to the dynamic growth of a cost competitive Asian plantation rubber and gradual exit of the wild rubber from the world market.
650			_aBotanic gardens
650			_aColonial botany
650			_aNatural rubber
650			_aPlant transfer
942			_cJS
999			_c55850 _d55850