The tale of how we come to have Rubber is forever tainted by one man’s actions. If it weren’t for the debateable actions of one Henry Wickham, officially an “explorer”, to some but more a thief to others. Rubber and its production could well have remained the sole province of South America, an area that had avoided the interest and domination of the British Empire.
What did Wickham do that was so bad? He took seventy thousand rubber tree seeds out of the country under the guise of it all being for scientific purposes. He did this with the knowledge of the Brazillian authorities who were happy for him to have a few to take back to Kew gardens to study. However when they discovered it was way more their first reaction was “hang on a minute, that’s enough for a plantation”.
This is precisely what Wickham wanted. Under the cover of science the seeds were taken from Kew to South East Asia where it was thought they would do well due to the similar climate. This was a region firmly in British control and soon it became the hub of rubber production. Even though under a quarter of the seeds germinated there was indeed enough to start a plantation. So, even though Rubber Injection Moulding and other rubber products are done via synthetic means now it is still one of the biggest cases of biotheft ever recorded.
From Maya balls to vulcanised tyres
Long before any seeds left South America, rubber was in everyday use there. Indigenous people found that the sticky sap of certain trees repelled water, which was invaluable in the rainforest, and used it to waterproof clothing, weapons and homes. The Maya and Aztecs went further, making rubber balls for games along with beakers, tableware, containers and bags from latex.
European scientists only took real interest in the mid 1700s. The French explorer and scientist Charles Marie de La Condamine wrote a paper on it, and the English scientist Joseph Priestley noticed it could rub out pencil marks, which gave the material its English name.
The breakthrough came with Charles Goodyear’s process of vulcanisation, which made rubber durable enough for wheels on bicycles and carts. Once plantations were established in Britain’s Asian colonies, that region became the main source of natural rubber, though synthetic rubber now means far fewer trees need tapping.
From Olmec ball games to the Empire
Long before rubber was an industrial material, it was a plaything. The ancient Olmecs collected sap from the Para tree and moulded it into balls for a game not unlike football. They also found it kept out the heavy rain, and coated their clothing with it.
After the conquistadors arrived, Spain and Portugal controlled the flow of rubber from South America, and other European powers soon saw how useful the material could be. Britain wanted its own supply rather than relying on its rivals.
That ambition led to the removal of Para tree seeds from under the noses of the plantation owners. Once in Britain, botanists tried to grow them and sent seedlings to Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia, all parts of the Empire with climates similar to Brazil’s. The plants thrived, the Empire gained a steady supply to sell, and the Amazon’s monopoly on natural rubber came to an end.