History of Rubber

The description of historical events of rubber trees is mostly based on Polhamus 1962. Historically, rubber is a non-wood forest product that has been utilized since ancient times. Its geographic distribution has been present in all continents within the tropical forest areas. Many tree species were utilized until the starting of large scale rubber plantations in the early 1900s. It has been found that rubber was an important commodity in the ancient cultures of Latin America where people used it to have protective clothes, balls for playing games and syringes. Also it has been found that Castilla rubber was an important element of religious rites (rubber was preserved and used in the liquid form and was related in ceremonial use to the blood of living sacrifices: statuettes of gods).

According to the historical evidence, the first rubber trees to be tapped extensively belonged to Castilla species. Native tappers started to harvest latex from Hevea species when Castilla tree population almost disappeared. After the disappearance of the primeval stands of Castilla, Hevea became the first choice of the rubber gatherers, particularly near the streams. Rubber-producing plants are found all over the world – Ficus in India, Funtumia in Africa, Cryptostegia in India and Madagascar, Langdolphia in Africa and hundreds of latex-producing Apocynaceous vines and shrubs in southern China and the Malayan Peninsula. At least some species of Hevea and at least two species of Castilla and guayule had been used for rubber production in the western hemisphere before the time of Columbus. The only usage for latex in the East was as a bird-lime.

Already in the old times, the methods of tapping the rubber tree and processes for making crude articles from latex had been developed. Primitive technology for obtaining latex had been used nearly three and a half centuries after the discovery of rubber in the West. Once technical improvement of rubber tapping took place, the use of rubber increased; but the overall consumption of rubber was not greatly changed during that time. The merged civilization of the East and the West made their first big joint contribution to rubber technology when vulcanization was discovered in 1839. Rubber was imported into the European market in crude bottles nearly four centuries after the discovery of America by Columbus. This raw material was used for manufacturing crude footwear, waterproof raincoat and other coverings.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a period of incubation in the history of rubber. Europeans considered rubber a curiosity and found no particular use for it. By the end of the eighteenth century four species of rubber-bearing plants had been identified and described (Hevea, H. brasiliensis and H. guianensis; one species of Castilla, C. elastica; and an Indian vine, Urceola elastica). In Europe, the usage of rubber in the eighteenth century was to manufacture pencil-mark erasers (rubbers, whence the name), catheters, surgical products and toys.

The nineteenth century had new contributions to rubber development. Vulcanization was discovered, Hevea was introduced to the East, and new methods of tapping and coagulation were introduced. Also other important developments directly caused increasing level of rubber consumption during this century. The automobile industry was developing fast, scientific research increased the knowledge of chemical structure of rubber, and the first rubberlike material was produced synthetically.

In the twentieth century, rubber consumption was significantly increasing due to fast developments that took place in the automotive industry. This event forced the auto manufacturers to establish thorough research to discover new rubber-bearing trees and to deepen knowledge on elasticity properties of rubber, and the synthesizing of new rubber-like materials. The wild-rubber industry almost disappeared in the first half of the twentieth century and at the same time the synthetic-rubber industry increased at a high speed.