Author(s): Austin Coates

General History

In itself, rubber is a dramatic subject; and the history of rubber and the trade in it, embracing as it does five continents over a period of 250 years, is of compelling interest. This book is a history of the rubber trade going back to the beginnings, and to original sources. It starts withthe discovery of rubber in Brazil and describes some of the early industrial uses made of it in France, Britain and the USA. The story then moves across the world to India, Burma, Ceylon, Singapore, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where plantation cultivation gradually took hold from the 1870s, toportray in detail the commercial aspects of the market, with its booms and slumps, during the first part of this century. Finally, the years following World War II are recorded, when natural rubber struggled for commercial existence against the challenge of synthetic, a struggle which centred on thetwo giant producers, Malaysia and Indonesia, and on Singapore, the world centre of the rubber trade. Thus chapter by chapter, the author traces the history of rubber and the trade in it from its first emergence in Brazil in 1735 to the present day. The book, however, is not only a chronicle ofevents. It provides a source of information much of it newly researched from contemporary resources.The 68 illustrations range from photographic records of historical events to cartoons and caricatures and have been chosen to reflect and complement the contents of the book.