Java cinchona plantations and the ledgeriana variety
Plantaciones de cinchona en Java y la variedad ledgeriana
- Date
- 1854-1880 · confidence high
- Place
- Lembang, West Java, Indonesia
- Credited to
- Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn, Justus Karl Hasskarl and Charles Ledger (seeds), Dutch colonial administration
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The Dutch brought cinchona to Java from 1854 and, from 1865, cultivated the ledgeriana variety (up to 13% quinine) from Bolivian seeds. In the 20th century Java came to produce over 90% of the world's quinine.
Credit for the ledgeriana seeds is disputed: Ledger and his Bolivian servant Manuel Incra Mamani obtained them in 1865; the Dutch government bought them from Ledger and the British declined the offer. Mamani died tortured in Bolivia.
What it led to
- abundant, cheap quinine to treat and prevent malaria in the colonies
- the Dutch quinine cartel (Kina Bureau)
- a shift of research towards synthetic drugs (chloroquine) after the 1942 war