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By 1913, 95 percent of quinine production was controlled by the Dutch Kinabureau through large plantations on Java. [2] With the outbreak of World War II, a supply of quinine was essential for successful military operations. In 1942, the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies cut off the supply of quinine to the allies. [1]
Cinchona bark was mainly important for the production of quinine, at that time just about the only effective remedy against malaria. The Kinabureau was part of a cartel of producers of cinchona bark and quinine. [2] About 90% of the cinchona bark was produced in the then Dutch East Indies, [3] mainly on the Pengalengan plateau near Bandung.
The species later named Cinchona ledgeriana [21] yielded 8 to 13% quinine in bark grown in Dutch Indonesia, which effectively outcompeted the British Indian production which focused on a range of alkaloids other than quinine. [22] Only later did the English see the value and sought to obtain the seeds of C. ledgeriana from the Dutch. [23] [24]
Manuel Incra Mamani (? – 1871) was a Bolivian cascarillero (bark and seed hunter) from Coroico. [1] He may have been of either Quechua and/or Aymara descent. Mamani found a cinchona tree species (Cinchona ledgeriana syn. C. calisaya) that had a higher proportion of quinine than most others.
During World War II, Allied powers were cut off from their supply of quinine when Germany conquered the Netherlands, and Japan controlled the Philippines and Indonesia. The US had obtained four million cinchona seeds from the Philippines and began operating cinchona plantations in Costa Rica.
His 1985 book, Seeds of Change: Five Plants That Transformed Mankind, shows how the history of the world since Columbus "discovered" America has been changed by five plants: sugar, tea, cotton, the potato, and the cinchona (source of quinine). His obituary in The Guardian noted that "Seeds of Change altered the way we understand modern history ...
Seeds were also sent to India and Queensland but the trees do not appear to have been grown in Australia. The high-quinine plant was named Cinchona ledgeriana. [2] In 1871, Mamani was arrested whilst on a seed hunting trip, and beaten so severely that he died soon afterwards. Ledger ceased to collect seeds and provided money to Mamani's family. [3]
Cinchona officinalis is a shrub or tree with rugose bark and branchlets covered in minute hairs. Stipules lanceolate or oblong, acute or obtuse, glabrous. Leaves lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, usually about 10 centimetres (3.9 in). long and 3.5–4 centimetres (1.4–1.6 in). wide; acute, acuminate, or obtuse tip; base rounded to attenuate; coriaceous, glabrous above and often lustrous ...