An ancient Chinese Proverb says that it is better to be deprived of food for three days than not to have tea for once. So, with this phrase, I would like to focus on the history of the tea plantation industry in the Darjeeling hills. Camellia Sinensis or tea is the most popular of all the beverages in the world. The Darjeeling tea industry is a  British venture. It is world-famous for its muscatel flavor. There is no other area in the world that can produce the ‘muscatel’ flavor teas, the mystique of which is a combination of natural factors such as climate, elevation, type of tea bushes, soil, etc. Darjeeling tea is indeed the ‘Champagne of Teas’. So, let’s begin our adventure with the following details.

 

GENESIS OF TEA PLANTATION INDUSTRY IN THE DARJEELING HILLS:

The development of the tea industry in India closely associated with a commercial purpose. The British supported the tea plantations with foreign capital and enterprise. Dr. Campbell, the Superintendent of Darjeeling, pioneered the experimental growth of tea in the hill during 1839-41. Initially, he planted a few seeds from China stock around his bungalow, known as Beechwood. In 1841, Campbell started the first tea experimental nursery in Jalapahar but later shifted to Lebong in 1845. The first tea garden began in Upper Takvar in 1852 raised by Captain Masson and Mr. Treustler. The Government offered land on very favourable terms and private entrepreneurs developed. The first commercial tea factory set up in Makaibari in 1859. Later, tea and cinchona cultivation became major attractions for the immigrants and income for the British themselves.

From Darjeeling, tea cultivation began to spread over to Terai in 1862 under the initiative of the British planters. After the annexation of Terai, experimental plantation started in 1862 and the first tea garden in the area was Champta near Khaprail by Mr. James White.

DEVELOPMENT OF TEA PLANTATION INDUSTRY IN THE DARJEELING HILLS:

Captain Samler was the first tea planter in Darjeeling. In 1856, he started the Alubari tea garden under the supervision of Kurseong and Darjeeling Tea Company. In 1859, Samler, appointed as the agent for the Darjeeling tea company and made the legal owner of Makaibari. Samler died the same year. However, he sold the Makaibari tea estate to his friend G.C Banerjee.  Only tea garden in Darjeeling owned by an Indian family throughout the first four generations and still continuing.

The Wernicke family founded by Johann and Sophie Wernicke, who came to India in 1841 as missionaries for the Moravian Church in Germany. Wernicke’s family were the pioneers to introduce tea in the district on a commercial basis. Their several children carried on the tradition, becoming owners and managers of some of the most important tea estates in the area. The Wernicke’s and Stolkes had owned or managed more than a  dozen gardens:  Lingia,  Marybong,  Tumsong, Steinthal, Soom, Glenburn, Bannockburn, Makaibari, Risheehot (Rishihat), Pandam, Aloobari, Goomba, and Tukvar.

This impressive list included some of the most illustrious gardens in Darjeeling. For instance, Joachim Stoelke, a German priest planted Darjeeling’s first tea estate, called Steinthal Tea Estate, in 1852. He also started Singtom (Singtam) tea estate in 1854, the second oldest tea estate in Darjeeling. Bannockburn tea state established around the 1850s during the early stages of tea plantation in the Darjeeling hills. Lingia tea estate established around 1867 by J.A. Wernicke and F.J. Wernicke. Another Scottish pioneer was George Watt Christisan. He became the General Manager of Lebong Tea Company in 1864. The Selim hill tea estate established in 1870 by Mr. Henry Dominy. He is referred to as ‘Selim Sahab’. So, this tea garden named as Selim tea estate in his name. 

Among the colourful foreign figures in the nineteenth-century annals of Darjeeling tea is Louis Mandelli, an Italian settler in India, a tea-planter and ornithologist. He acquired a contract as a manager for Lebong and Minchu Tea Company at Darjeeling in 1864. Later, Mandelli also became in charge of the Mineral Spring tea estate. In 1872 he came to manage Chontong Tea Estate. Further, the Marybong tea estate (Kyel tea estate earlier) established in 1876 by Louis Mandelli.

Happy Valley Tea Estate established in 1854. It is the second oldest and one of the highest tea estates in the world. David Wilson, an Englishman, had named the garden Wilson Tea Estate and by 1860 had started cultivation of tea. It went into the hands of Tarapada Banerjee, an aristocrat from Hooghly in 1903. Banerjee bought the Windsor Tea Estate and merged the two estates under the name of Happy Valley Tea Estate in 1929.

In 1859 Dooteriah garden started by Dr. Brougham at Sonada valley. Between 1860 and 1874 Darjeeling Tea Company expanded and Darjeeling saw remarkable growth and development of the tea plantations. There were rapid and impressive developments of tea plantations due to the favourable climate and suitability of the soil.

GROWTH OF TEA PLANTATIONS IN THE DARJEELING HILLS:

Period Year	No. of Gardens	Area in Ha	Tea in Kgs.
1866	39	3900	194,850
1870	56	4300	765,000
1874	113	7400	1,767,560
1885	175	15156	4,090,634
1895	186	19170	5,271,518
1905	148	19928	5,601,362
1960		18605	10,130,000
1970	1972	18500	8,833,000
1994		20200	10,403,000
2004	87	19000	9,500,000

 

In 1866, 39 tea gardens were covering 3900 hectares of land under tea. In 1874, 113 tea estates were covering 7,400 hectares of land under tea. By 1905 148 tea estates were comprising approximately 19,928 hectares. In 2004, 87 tea gardens are covering about 19,000 hectares of land producing about 9.5 million kilograms of tea annually. The above table reveals the development of plantations, however, the production of tea decreases in the second half of the twentieth century. Currently, there are 87 tea estates of Darjeeling accorded by the Tea Board of India.

LEGACY OF TEA INDUSTRY IN THE DARJEELING HILLS:

The commercial tea plantation in Darjeeling was more than 170 years under the British regime. Still today, the tea industry forms the major socio-economic mainstay of the local people.  It is the largest source of employment and income for the people of Darjeeling after tourism.

The British transformed a sparsely populated, forest-covered landscape into a hill station, dominated by tea plantations. The British rulers introduced the plantation economy in India and invested huge amounts of capital to serve their motives. However, it benefited India as a new kind of economy which at the same time generated huge amounts of profits. Darjeeling tea possessed something very rare in the world of that time and is by no means common today. It not only became the ‘cup of tea’ of the British but popular throughout the World. It is not mine, not yours but everyone’s favourite ‘cup of tea’.

At present, there are 87 tea gardens with 72 operational tea factories in Darjeeling district producing about 10 million kgs. of tea annually. Tea sales bring about Rs.150 crores as revenue. More than 70% spent within the District on various commodities. By the Tea Act, 1953, the tea-growing areas of India, including Darjeeling managed by the Tea Board of India.

So, the tea plantation industry in the Darjeeling hills brought about a great transformation in the economic landscape, demography, and the entire socio-economic pattern of the district. There is no doubt, the potential for sustainable development for Darjeeling hills lay in the fields of tea and tourism.