8 - Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis)

Abstract

The first attempt at vulcanization of rubber was done in the nineteenth century, which also saw the first development of specialized machinery and techniques to manufacture rubber goods. This led to commercial trade in rubber and also the commercial cultivation of rubber plant. The term rubber has, indeed, a very interesting origin that is shared in this chapter. It is also interesting to know that almost 99 percent of world's natural rubber is produced by Hevea brasiliensis, the “Para Rubber” of international commerce. The rubber boom in Southeast Asia in 1910 led to the great first surge in commercial planting on a very large scale, after which the crop developed remarkably, from a wild jungle tree to a major domesticated crop within a span of about four decades. The growth of plantations in Southeast Asia was favored by rapid developments in the transportation sector, such as railways and steamships, and the opening of the Suez Canal. By the end of the nineteenth century, natural rubber became one of the major plantation crops. The evolution and adaptation of natural rubber, an important ingredient of many modern facilities, thus illustrate the evolution of modern civilization.