History of Ceylon Tea is delighted to present an essay on the history of Ceylon tea written by former tea planter Monte Holsinger as a thesis for his Bachelor’s Degree in Management in 2002. This well-researched document comprehensively captures the history of the plantation industry while also touching on the country’s colonial past. HOCT is indeed grateful to Mr Holsinger for making it available to us and our readership.

By Monte Holsinger
2002
PART ONE

OUTLINE OF RECENT HISTORY

The Island of Sri Lanka has a heritage rich in culture and rife with conflict. The aborigines of the country bear no relevance in this study and are of more interest to anthropologists and paleontologists, who have postulated that Homo sapiens possibly first set foot on the isle about 500,000 years ago.

The more recent history, which is pertinent to this paper, is unfortunately, a combination of myth, legend, folklore, epigraphics and historical records. The historical records do not necessarily embody an unbiased or objective narration of historical events, and may well reflect the historian’s perception, or even be a valediction of the kings and rulers of a given period. Much research has however been done by the students of history in their assiduous search for the truth, and we are the beneficiaries of their diligence. We can now safely assume that these scholarly dissertations have unraveled the past with reasonable accuracy, and we can now rely on this historical perspective on which to predicate this thesis.

Sri Lanka, known as Seilan or Ceylon in the days gone by, occupies an enviable geographic location. Like a tear drop shed by India, Sri Lanka lies below the southern tip of the mainland, about 8 degrees above the equator. This is directly in the path of the ancient trade routes and therefore the country has been a haven for seafarers and mariners from time immemorial. Although the island is now separated from the mainland by the Palk Straits, (a distance of only 40 kilometres), it was undoubtedly connected with mainland India at some point in prehistory. These factors have rendered the island, so rich in natural resources and bio diversity, vulnerable to invaders on the one hand and inviting to travelers, on the other. Sri Lanka was truly a tropical Paradise, ripe for the picking, beckoning to be exploited and small wonder that nations all over the world vied for this prize.

The history of man in Sri Lanka, in recent times as can be gathered from that indispensable record, the ‘Mahawamsa’ begins with the arrival of Vijaya, the legendary founding father of the Sinhalese (Sinhala). According to legend, Vijaya was banished for misconduct by his father, Sinhabahu, the ruler of the North Indian kingdom of Sinhapura. Vijaya and his disorderly group of cohorts numbering about 700 in all reached the Northwestern shores of Sri Lanka, near Puttalam and gained foothold in the country.

The ‘Mahawamsa’ and its sequel, the Culawamsa were literary works of buddhistic chroniclers and quite naturally, liberally interspersed with miracles, supernatural interventions and fanciful inventions, all evincing a strong religious bias. While the cursory reader may go along with the story and its contrivances, the true historian will view this against the backdrop of world history, in piecing together the puzzle of the past.

Suffice it to say that the advent of Vijaya to the island as per the Mahawamsa coincides with the colonisation of Sri Lanka, by Indo-Aryan tribes from Northern India. A Later immigration from Bengal and Orissa is also strongly indicated.

Although the sub continent exerted a great pressure in the shaping of Sri Lanka, its strategic location athwart the main sea routes, led inevitably to other equally important influences being brought to bear in this metamorphosis.

Whilst the archeologists continue their scholarly research into the cradle of human civilisation, we are here mainly concerned in establishing with reasonable accuracy, a historical basis for the ethnic diversity in the demography of Sri Lanka.

Anthropological postulations place the arrival of ‘Home Sapiens’ on the island, to around 500,000 thousand years, but there is very little evidence to go on about subsequent cultures in Paleolithic terms.

Comparatively recent stone cultures show up around 10,000 BC and probably lasted up to around 1000 BC or less, when the metal ages surfaced.

Traces of Mesolithic man have been found and these continue into proto-historic periods, via the ‘Balangoda Man” and ‘Balangoda Cultures’ which were submerged by the pressures exerted by the early Indo-Aryan colonisers, probably in the period 500 BC to the Christian era. The aboriginal of Sri Lanka has now disappeared. The Veddah tribes found today in the jungles of the Vanni are the descendants of the Balangoda Man intermixed with the Sinhalese and the Tamils. However, even this questionable ethnic integrity has been highly diluted and it is now not very long before the remnants of the Veddah ‘race’ will cease to exist being totally assimilated into the predominant ethnic groups.

The early settlers were romantically portrayed as warrior nobility building new empires by conquest. However, more realistically, seafarers and traders of both West and East Asia found the country and its wealth of natural resources incentive enough to found their own settlements, in the Maritime Provinces.

The Indo Aryan immigrants settled in various provinces of the island especially along the west coast and the banks of the Malwatu Oya River. Some settled on the East and moved inland along the Mahaweli River. Still later, a new wave of immigration settled in the Ruhunu Province along the Walawe River. These settlers were of various clans, the foremost among them being the Sinhalas, and the settlements were in the dry zone. By now the metal age had revolutionized archetypal existence.

By the end of the Pre Christian era, Buddhism had gained ascendancy over other forms of religion and was under the patronage of the rulers. An agrarian economy was well established and self-sufficient and self-governing villages (settlements) began to flourish.

The picture of this proto historical period is completed by the Dravidian incursions to the island. There was already a strong Dravidian Civilisation in South India, which relied substantially on international trading. Quite naturally therefore, Dravidians entered Sri Lanka either for trading by peaceful means or through more bellicose invasions. All historical evidence would tend to support the hypothesis that the Dravidians entry to Sri Lanka was preceded by the Indo Aryans. However, by the beginning of the Christian era, they were firmly established in the country, in several settlements in the North and the East.

Evidence also suggests that Sri Lanka, a multi ethnic society, lived in tolerance and racial harmony when under a unified polity, rather than a pluralistic one where ethnic tensions are a prime feature.

The truth as to the actual conditions obtaining under a single polity is rather obscure. Myth and legend portray all their kings since the (mythical) Vijaya as rulers of the entire island, but this was not so. There were several kingdoms in the island during this period, with the strongest among them having hegemonic notions over the others. Even during the reigns of the few powerful kings who held sway over the entire island, there was no highly centralised autocratic power structure in the heyday of the Sinhala era, but one where the “Balance of political forces incorporated a tolerance of particularism, charactistic of most feudal polities”. (K M de Silva). This was mainly due to practical difficulties in administering far-flung lesser “kingdoms”.

Although centripetally may have been the aspiration of several of the Sinhala kings, very few achieved it. The Anuradhapura period (250 BC –1050 AD) and Polonnaruwa period (1050 AD – 1250 AD) are fraught with accounts of invasion from India. By the turn of the 11thcentury Cola invaders from India overthrew the Sinhala regime and a Cola king was installed. The Sinhalese then retreated to Polonnaruwa from where a protracted war was waged upon the usurping Colas, the country liberated and the Sinhala monarchy restored.

Although there are two periods of unified rule during the Polonnaruwa period, very often stability in the country deteriorated into bloody squabbles among motley congeries. Moreover, relentless invasions mounted by the Colas and Pandyans always accompanied by an orgy of destruction and desecration and led to the fragmentation of power and polity.

Other factors, which precipitated the downfall of the Polonnaruwa kingdom, were firstly the highly centralised governance of the era, which proved unable to maintain, much less develop the mainstay of the economy – agriculture. Secondly the malaria epidemic, which gripped the country, ravaged the population. The malaria epidemic could well be a direct consequence of the latter day centralised authority’s failure in agriculture. The extensive and intricate network of reservoirs and channels fell into disuse and offered excellent breeding grounds for the dreaded Anopheles mosquito.

The Sinhala kings and kingdoms continued their retreat Southward to Dambulla, Kurunegala, Gampola, Dedigama, Kotte and Sitawaka. S

A parallel kingdom was established in Kandy, in the mid 15th century and shortly, the kingdom of Jaffna was also established by the Tamils in the North.

The fragmentation of the country was complete with the Sitawaka Kingdom making its appearance around 1520 AD.

Thus, when the Portuguese first set foot in Sri Lanka, the country was governed by at least 4 kingdoms, whilst in the thickly forested and almost impenetrable Vanni Province there may have been several chieftains or Vanniars holding sway over smaller tracts of the province.

The Portuguese, whose first entry to the country was in 1505/6, was by accident returned 12 years later, with the intention of opening up a trading post.

The Sinhalese, and, more importantly, the Moors who had long established themselves as the major trading community in the country regarded this new development with great suspicion and hostility.

The Portuguese era in Sri Lanka is studded with fierce fighting throughout their 135 year colonization of Sri Lanka. Their primary aim was to set up trading posts in the maritime regions of the country, but frequent outbreaks of hostility from the natives, fanned by the Moors, apprehensive of their position as the prime trading community, resulted in their several unsuccessful forays into the Kandyan stronghold.

The status quo of the country’s social structure at this point of time is of vital importance in this study. The basic elements in the demographic make up were Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors and Veddahs, in that order. However due to the continual invasions mounted by the Colas and Pandyans and other South Indian interlopers, the ethnic purity of the Indo Aryan Sinhala must have surely been adulterated considerably. It is also worthy of note that even in times of peace with the mainland, whenever succession of the monarchy was in question (a lack of an heir apparent) the Kandyans resorted to a Tamil pretender to the throne, or more often, a Tamil queen.

The culture of the inhabitants had evolved to a high degree but was concentrated in the hands of the hierarchy. Literacy was developing rapidly and literature began to blossom. Architecture had evolved from its Indian origins and assumed a discrete identity though it retained the original influences.

A system of barter prevailed, but monetisation was making headway in commerce and commercial transactions. International trade flourished and Spices, Gems, Areca, Cinnamon, and even elephants, were traded for Cloth, Salt and luxuries.

Craftsmanship in metals and wood reached new heights. More sophisticated armament and weaponry developed with the acquisition of these skills.

The social structure of the two main ethnic groups had by now stratified in rigid caste systems.

The great Sinhala hydraulic society suffered under the continual Cola and Pandyan onslaughts, the centralisation of authority in latter times of peace and the ravages of malaria. At the time of Portuguese occupation a feudal system went hand in hand with the religio-political governance that prevailed in the Sinhala kingdom. In the North, in Jaffna too, feudalism and the caste system buttressed a religion biased monarchical administration.

Feudalism imposed fairly heavy taxes on tenants and peasantry alike. Private owner ship of land was mainly through privilege. The Monasteries received great patronage from the rulers of the day and these soon became the largest holders of private land. Taxes for use of land and water (water was all held solely by the kings) were either by labour or produce or both.

There was also a tenurial system whereby those who worked temple lands were given a share of the produce, unless of course they were slaves. Slavery is however, unimportant to the central theme of this paper and also drew no significant interest from the historians.

Therefore, it can be safely assumed that the country was at this time undergoing fragmentation with the decline of the Sinhala Empire. The various Monarchies governed their territories in a religio-political system with strong feudal underpinnings. A cast system was firmly established and a system of compulsory service (Rajakariya) was in force.

The upper strata of society, namely the Royal Family members, the Aristocracy and State and Army officials enjoyed a comfortable, if not luxurious life style. They were the beneficiaries of the rich culture of the times. The peasant masses lived in much different circumstances. Condemned to live in mud and wattle houses and subjugated by to the upper classes, they were fettered by the deep-seated caste system.

The Portuguese occupation of Sri Lanka is punctuated by a continual warfare with both the low country and Kandyan kingdoms. Never at any time did they have complete control over the land. Their main objectives were trade and proselytism and so they did not interfere much with the native administrative machinery of the time. The Sinhala in the Hill Country never actually capitulated to the Portuguese and entered into treaties only when expedient. The low country kingdoms on the contrary, being more vulnerable, were more often than not subservient to the Portuguese.

The Portuguese were bent on religious conversion apart from exploiting the resources of the country and they gradually established monopolies in trading especially in Cinnamon. They used the caste system to further their ends with clever innovations, which stopped just short of altering its basic structure.

Local produce was purchased compulsorily, at prices which did not reflect market conditions, to the detriment of peasant farmers. Areca nut was the primary commodity purchased and this was bartered for rice in India. Gradually, commercial activity and monetisation gained momentum and the economy began to prosper, through this prosperity did not percolate down to all levels.

The greatest contribution made by the Portuguese during their occupation of Sri Lanka was the introduction of Roman Catholicism. The administration and the missionaries pursued the conversion of the natives with furious zeal. Temples, both Buddhist and Hindu were ruthlessly destroyed and temple lands handed over to Roman Catholic clergy. Proselytisation went all the way up to the monarchy and Roman Catholicism acquired an inquisitorial tinge. Where enticement failed coercion prevailed. The Tamils in the North and other littoral areas suffered more than the Sinhalese, whose clergy found refuge in Kandy.

Religious persecution was not a new phenomenon in Sri Lanka, but by the 16th century religious tolerance was an ensconced Buddhist precept.

Nevertheless, the influence of Roman Catholicism wasn’t all bad. The concepts of monogamy, and the sanctity of wedlock went a long way towards eradicating polygamy and polyandry in the littoral.

The Portuguese also influenced the construction of permanent dwelling houses, in contrast to the mud and wattle shelters of the masses. Portuguese language and attire too found acceptance among the people of the Maritime Provinces.

The Dutch finally ousted the Portuguese from Sri Lanka. The Kandyan King Rajasingha II, after a prolonged negotiation with the Dutch formed an alliance for the purpose of overthrowing the Portuguese. The Dutch defeated the Portuguese and captured the important sea ports of Trincomalee, Galle and Negombo

The VOC or Vereenidge Oost-Indische Campagnie that was formed in 1602 grew into what was to become the greatest commercial company in the world. The Dutch colonisation of the Asian subcontinent was coordinated by the VOC who set up head quarters in Batavia (now Djakarta) in 1610. Batavia became the capital of the Dutch East Indies and their superiority in the region made things very difficult for the Portuguese, who had no recourse but to withdraw entirely from the island.

In 1639, the port of Trincomalee was handed back to the Sinhalese, but not Galle
and Negombo. In 1640, these were retained under Dutch control on contrived grounds, in violation of the treaty.

In the meanwhile, European politics also took a dramatic turn vis a vis its impact on Sri Lanka’s future, which led to a cessation of hostilities between the Dutch and Portuguese and rendered the succession of the Dutch, as the new rulers of the island, much easier.

The V.O.C., like the Portuguese before them, adapted the indigenous administrative system to suit their needs and left it much as found.

With the abdication of the Portuguese, the local administrative power lay in the hands of Sinhala Christians in the south and Tamil Christians in the north. These officials were not retrenched provided they proved their loyalty to the V.O.C. and eschewed Catholicism in favour of Calvinism.

The Dutch, by necessity had to place much trust in these officials who proved corrupt in general, and deprived the VOC of much revenue. These indigenous officials acquired power and wealth over the years from blatant maladministration and abuse of authority over their own countrymen.

The cast system was refined and used to the advantage of the company, and village chiefs (headmen) were appointed on a caste basis i.e., a single Head-Man for single-caste villages, and several for multi-caste villages.

These Headmen, and higher officials too exploited the dependence the Dutch had on them to further their own ends and amass wealth.

The Dutch, on the other hand, in their efforts to ensure receipt of their rightful revenue, adapted a Portuguese method of Cadastral Survey for this purpose.

This project was long drawn out and rendered extremely difficult and frustrating by the non- cooperation of the Sinhala headmen. However, in 1770 this arduous task was completed and owed much to the victory of the Dutch against the Kandyan kingdom in1766 and their recognition of Dutch sovereignty.

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) under early Dutch rule suffered from corruption and maladministration, and even misrule. This untenable situation reached a peak in 1732 when Governor Petrus Van Vuyst was tried and found guilty of excesses and executed in Batavia.

Thereafter, the reforms introduced by Van Imhoff restored responsible administration that prevailed until the latter years of the 18th century.

An important aspect of Dutch governance was their discrimination against Muslims. Muslims were debarred from renting lands – an early manifestation of anti fundamentalism perhaps.

The most durable residue of Dutch rule was their introduction of Roman-Dutch law in the land. Roman Dutch law was designed to upgrade and complement indigenous laws. Where these were unclear or unreasonable, Roman Dutch law supplemented justice and fair play. It also consolidated the Portuguese introduced concepts of monogamy and sanctity of marriage and gave legitimacy to land holdings and land transactions – the greatest beneficiaries of which were the local chiefs or headmen.

When it came to religious persecution the Dutch were not second to the Portuguese and they proscribed Roman Catholic worship under severe penalty. Although this engendered many conversions, a large proportion of the converts embraced Calvinism merely for convenience or other venal reasons. The harried Roman Catholic clergy and faithful disciples found a safe haven in which to profess their faith in the Kandyan kingdom.

However, the Dutch were more tolerant of the indigenous religions than the Portuguese. The link between conversion and education forged by the Portuguese was maintained. By the end of the 18th century a practice of sending a few of the brighter students for higher studies in the Netherlands had commenced.

Living standards in the littoral improved marginally except in the upper classes who began acquiring Dutch traits in dress, housing and even food and drink. In the Kandyan Kingdom though, this influence was much less felt, due to the resistance of the Kandans to foreign occupation. The Kandyans kept up regular incursions into the lowlands causing unrest and even rebellion among their low country counterparts. This led to frequent interruptions in the commercial activity of harvesting and exporting Cinnamon abroad and extracting tenurial toll from tenant farmers.

The latter day Dutch Governors, notably Van Gollonese, preferred the use of flattery bribery and cajolery, to force or coercion, but their ever-increasing cupidity exerted enormous pressure on the Sinhalese to meet stiff quotas and arbitrary taxation.

Unfortunately for the Dutch, the struggle against their trade monopoly intensified with the increasing number of Indian settlers who arrived at a time which coincided with the establishment of a lucrative smuggling trade through the Kandyan ports, courtesy of the Kandyan King, Kirthie Sri Rajasingham, and his Indian “Nayakkar” connexion. This led to renewed intrusion of the Kandyans into Dutch controlled territories and these hostilities culminated in open warfare again, after a cessation of over a century.

Thus the political scenario when the British made their appearance in these waters, in 1762 was one of great ferment. The English East India Co. sent their first diplomatic mission under John Pybus. Their intentions were merely reconnaissance and intelligence related.

The Kandyans on the other hand were desperate to form an alliance with which to drive away the Dutch, and vigorously pressed their proposals. The English were not prepared to antagonize the Dutch who were neutral in the SEVEN YEARS WAR and were merely testing the waters.

The discovery that the Pybus Mission was conducting negotiations in Kandy greatly surprised the Dutch, who were at war with the Kandyans and served to strengthen their resolve to conquer Kandy and reverse their earlier policy of bilateral relations.

After an initial setback, they finally captured Kandy and extracted a harsh treaty from the Kandyans in 1766.The Dutch were finally the paramount power over the island and the Kandyan Kingdom reduced to a land locked dependency.

The hard reality of enforcing the treaty was soon evident to the Dutch. The recalcitrant kandyans began flouting the terms of the treaty often with impunity. In their desperation to avenge their defeat at the hands of the Dutch, they sought the assistance of the French against the VOC. These were times of great turmoil in the world. In America there began a colonial revolt against the British, which led to the declaration of independence of July 1766. The French role in this episode is possibly a part of a master plan to displace the British Empire from the lucrative Asian region.
Trincomalee was no longer available to the British as in the past, and the possibility of France upstaging them in the waters of the Indian Oceans was not lost upon them. The British therefore seized the port from the Dutch in 1781 but subsequently lost it to the French in 1782. This was a great blow to British prestige in the war that lasted until 1793.

A consequence of the French Revolution was the defection of the Dutch Stadholder to Britain. The French occupation of Dutch Territory resulted in the famous “Kew Letter” in which the Dutch Stadholder agreed to cede all forts under their command to the British – until Dutch independence was regained from the French.

When the French were finally defeated by the British in the waters of the Indian Ocean, the British then sought enactment of the terms of the “Kew Letter” by the use of force if necessary. However, the Dutch showed only token resistance. The kandyans were once again inveigled into accepting a treaty with the British, precipitated by their own desire and policy, of seeking foreign assistance to oust an already established power.

Nonetheless, the position now was that their new ally was much more powerful and potentially more dangerous to them than either the Portuguese or the Dutch.

EARLY BRITISH OCCUPATION
The coastal provinces of Sri Lanka that fell into the hands of the English were proclaimed English territory in 1796. The administration of the colony was jointly with the English East India Company, who took over the cinnamon trade by a payment of Sterling Pounds 60,000 to the Crown.

The English East India Company began its administration following their usual practice of allowing the laws, customs and institutions to continue in the former Dutch colony. Except for officials who held very high positions, the services of others of the VOC who chose to remain were all retained by the EEIC, in this period of uncertainty as regards the restoration of Dutch rule in Ceylon. There was also disagreement on policy matters with the Company Presidency in Madras, which eventually led to the vesting of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) as a British crown colony in 1802.

The policy of the English in the brief interim of uncertainty, was to woo the native population and ingratiate themselves with them. They did so by rescinding Dutch taboos on Roman Catholic worship and restrictions on Muslims in matters of trade.

The full extent of the reforms of 1796 introduced by Andrews unfortunately resulted in wide spread opposition and rebellion, which was quelled finally by a withdrawal of the reforms. Thereby, ‘Rajakariya’ and ‘Uliyam’ were reintroduced. The caste system was craftily maintained and manipulated to their advantage. Nevertheless under this system the highest posts were restricted to persons of the highest caste – in this case, the Goigama (Sinhalese) and Vellala (Tamil) castes. The many administrative ‘faux pas’ made by the East India Company and the frequent disagreements between the Presidency in Madras and the Governor in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) also caused unnecessary unrest in the country, all which alarmed Whitehall.

When the former Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka were formally ceded to the British at the ‘Peace of Amens’ in March 1802, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) had already been declared a crown colony (Jan 1802) with Hon. Frederick North as its first Governor. The English East India Company were relieved of their political power by Whitehall, but they were allowed to retain their monopoly on trade and they wielded a strong influence in shaping the colony’s economy.

In the early years succeeding the formal British acquisition of the Sri Lanka littoral the East India Company actually determined the economic policy and production. They were in total control. Cinnamon was the king of commodities and revenue from this source was the mainstay of colonial finances. The vast profit made by the English East India Company was no secret and led, finally, to cinnamon export coming directly under government control.

In 1815, the English finally captured Kandy through a conspiracy with Kandyan chiefs disenchanted with the king, notable among whom was Ehelapola whose family was executed by the king, a ruthless despot. Kandy was formally ceded to the British with the signing of the Kandyan Convention on March 2, 1815. This by no means gave the British total command. It was only after the Great Rebellion of 1817 – 18 was broken that they finally became masters of the whole of Sri Lanka. In these early stages of British occupation they ran two separate administrative systems, one for the littoral and another for the Kandyan high lands in acknowledgement of the fractious and volatile nature of the Kandyans as compared with the lowland Sinhalese who seemed more complaisant.

Although the British ousted the Dutch in 1796, the areas of the country under the Dutch were ceded to them only 1802. Kandy was still an independent kingdom and finally captured by the British in 1815. A brief lull in hostilities preceded several uprisings and revolts of the natives against their new rulers, which went on till 1848. However, except for the revolt of 1817 – 18, the others were of lesser magnitude and did not disrupt the steady formulation and implementation of British governance and policy.

The British also showed greater perspicacity and sagacity than either the Dutch or Portuguese and acknowledged the fundamental importance of developing infra-structure. Very quickly all possible energies and resources were deployed into construction of roadways to link all cities, towns and villages. Military mobility was thus greatly enhanced and travel and communication gave an added impetus to commerce.

THE BEGINNING OF THE PLANTATION ENTERPRISE
The glorious days of Cinnamon were drawing to a close. There was also less interest in other spices and commodities such as chanks, pepper, cardamom, arecanut etc. Cinnamon prices plummeted from a high of 9 s. 9 d to 1s. 3d. Foreigners sold out to locals who rescued the trade, but it did not regain its premier status.

A new glamour crop had emerged. It was coffee. Coffee, which was introduced into the island by the Arabs in early medieval times, survived as a garden crop, proliferated and grew wild over most of the human inhabitations in the country. The renewed interest in the crop led to more methodical cultivation of it and ere long, coffee displaced cinnamon as the primary export. Not since the 1730s was there such a boom in coffee as in the 1830’s. Of course, in the eighteenth century, large-scale plantations were rare and the production of coffee was more or less a cottage industry.

The pretty, white, heavily scented flower of the coffee tree was extensively used in religious offerings and ceremonies, and temple lands usually had an abundance of coffee growing wild in their extensive premises. Even though George Bird is generally acknowledged as the father of the ‘plantation enterprise’ in Ceylon, the success of large- scale coffee growing was largely due to the energetic, even aggressive initiative of Sir Edward Barnes. He was a most picturesque character himself, who was obsessed with the commercial exploitation of the crop. He granted George Bird, (brother of Col. H.C. Byrde) 400 acres and a tax-free loan of 4000 Rix dollars with which to commence work on the coffee project. Bird experimented in various locations and finally settled on the slopes of the Sinhapitiya hill at Gampola. Here he, in his meticulous way evolved a technique for jungle clearing and planting operations, and a style of management of seasonal immigrant labour from South India, all of which was adopted later, as standard procedure, by the Planting Community.

The British fell with a will to planting up virgin jungle land with coffee. Successful coffee plantations were in operation by 1825 in the midlands of the country, especially Kandy and the surrounding regions.

So successful was the coffee industry in Sri Lanka that by 1860, it had become the world’s largest producer of coffee, but this happy situation was not to last for very long.

In 1868, coffee export reached its zenith, but the euphoria of the coffee planting fraternity was effectively destroyed by the arrival of Haemelia Vastatrix in 1869. Haemelia Vastatrix, or coffee rust, as the fungus is commonly known, proved to be so deadly that in two short decades, it had wiped out almost 250,000 acres of coffee.

The land area under coffee cultivation was about 334,686 acres according to British governmental statistics of 1878. Crops had already exceeded 1,000,000 cwt and prices had risen as high as 109s per cwt. However, the ravages of “Coffee Rust” proved lethal and the decline of the industry was exacerbated by sharply falling prices in the wake of global overproduction. By the year 1900, the statistics recorded only 11,392 acres under coffee cultivation.

During the reign of coffee as the supreme crop, tea cultivation was insignificant, and it was grown as an experimental or home garden crop, from 1839 onwards. It was also found in the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens in Kandy.

In India, however, tea was by now, a thriving industry.
The beverage of tea was a gift to the world from China, several hundred years ago. Its cultivation and processing was a well-guarded secret. If legend were to be given credence here, tea was consumed in China as a beverage as far back as 2737 BC, during the reign of Emperor Chen Nung. This is about parallel to the time that Noah was casting off in his Ark of Biblical fame.

The British later discovered that tea grew in the wild, at elevations ranging from 2500 to 6000 feet, in the Northern Districts of India, running from Nepal, eastward along the lofty escarpments bordering India and onward through Assam into the Chinese provinces of Sechuan and Yunan where the best China tea was cultivated. The similarity of climate in the Chinese and Indian districts where this tea grew, was quite striking.

Although this discovery was made as early as 1788, nothing much was done about it for nearly half a century. When the East India Company’s monopoly of the tea trade was abolished by parliament in 1833, the company turned its attention to India as a possible tea producer to rival China. So it was in 1834 that Lord Bentinck set up a committee to investigate the viability of commercial scale manufacture of tea in India.

Later, during the same year, G.J. Gordon, on the instructions of the committee proceeded to China on a mission to purvey as much tea seed as possible and also purloin the closely guarded secrets of tea manufacture (or processing). The wily Britisher was successful in both and returned with a large quantity of China tea seed. However, it was simultaneously found that the indigenous Assamese variety was superior in many ways to the Chinese tea, but by then it was too late to halt the planting out of this Chinese seed.
Nevertheless Gordon’s trip to China was a resounding success in terms of the expertise he returned with, in the form of tea cultivators and tea makers recruited from China. Tea seeds of both Chinese and Assamese variety reached Sri Lanka in the succeeding years but its commercial exploitation did not commence until 1867.

The first commercial plot of tea was planted in 1867, on Loolcondera estate, in the Hewaheta mountain range, South of Kandy, by James Taylor. The writer has had the good fortune to see this tea field himself about 20 years ago. From all accounts these tea bushes are still alive and are regularly cultivated and harvested. This is immutable testimony to the indestructibility of this exceedingly hardy perennial.

POLITICAL CHANGES
In order to better appreciate and understand the situation in the country vis-à-vis its economy and political structure and governmental policy a brief look back to the early days of colonisation and the activities of English East India Company is essential.

Although the political mandate of the English East India Company was withdrawn in 1802, they still retained a monopoly on trade that lasted over two decades. Their activities ranged over the whole field of the island’s external commerce as Sri Lanka lay within the area in which the company enjoyed charter privileges.

The free trade aspect of the country was slow to develop, being hampered by the lack of capital and the English East India Company’s monopoly. It was only after Sir Edward Barnes (Governor) withdrew government involvement in importation that free trade slowly established itself.

In those early days the favoured position of the English East India Company resulted in the continual agitation of the emerging business community in Sri Lanka, against it. However, the influence of the English East India Company prevailed and it was only the aspect of trade with the south East Asian Countries that were unaffected by the interests of the English East India Company.

The British government was, at the time, far from being the proponent of liberalised trade it pretended to be. It resisted both this indigenous and European spirit of individualism and enterprise that was blossoming in the country in every venture save the export of coffee.

There was also, in Whitehall, about this time, the thinking that Sri Lanka (Ceylon) should not be modelled on the West Indian ‘plantation’ prototype. Europeans were prohibited from owning lands outside the vicinity of the cities. Early governors adopted the view that this new British outpost was a military station containing a commercial economy. This created much ill feeling with the European residents in Sri Lanka who applied sufficient pressure to have this law rescinded. Nevertheless, during this period, more virgin land was acquired, by British military personnel, especially those who were posted in the outstations, and paid scant regard to this edict.

During the stewardship of Thomas Maitland, governor,(1805 – 1811), the embargo on ownership of land was withdrawn. This however did not signal the end of the governments’ ambivalence in its economic policies.

Sri Lanka became an attractive proposition for investment and for settlement by Europeans. Cinnamon was still the prized commodity but the English East India Company had government-sponsored monopoly on this trade, and new investors turned their attention to other crops. In a relatively short period, coffee emerged as the crop of great promise.

As from 1812, ownership of land by Europeans was permitted and British subjects could purchase or receive grants of land of up to 4000 acres in extent. Land auctions and sales were regularly conducted and the going price of an acre of virgin jungle was only five shillings! The succession of Sir Edward Barnes as governor in 1824 saw a surge of activity in plantation enterprise. New government policy espoused the cause of the coffee plantation entrepreneur. Investors in coffee were favoured with loans, waste land grants and tax exemptions. Even the duty on coffee exports was abolished. The govt. itself opened an experimental coffee plantation in Peradeniya (Kandy) adjacent to the botanical garden. It is worthy of mention the Military, Clergy and Civil Service and in many an instance, Governors themselves acquired large tracts of land for themselves by “Special Preference”, most of it in the highlands of Kandy.

By and by, the success of coffee engendered more success and, as mentioned earlier, Sri Lanka rose to the position of the world’s largest producer of coffee in the 1860’s. Approximately 250,000 acres of land had come under coffee cultivation by this time, excluding the existing “Garden Coffee” and indigenous small-holdings.

Earlier it was mentioned, that shortly after the coffee industry reached such supreme heights in the 1860s, over production led to a fall in prices and ‘Coffee Rust’ proved far too lethal, and snuffed out the life of a thriving industry in short order.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES
The British unified the administration of the entire island in 1832, before which the two tier system, one for the littoral and another for the Kandyan provinces, prevailed, since the unification of rule in 1815. The Colebrook – Cameron reforms of 1832 provided the framework for the unification of the island’s governance. The reforms provided legislative and administrative framework including that of the judicial as well. The success of the plantation agriculture provided a bulwark for the consolidation of this unification.

These reforms were in many ways a radical departure from the existing administration. They introduced a true “Laissez-faire” element, which was hitherto conspicuous by its absence. The Cinnamon monopoly was abolished and private enterprise, encouraged. The ‘Rajakariya system’ of compulsory labour was also abolished. Education was given a much-needed fillip.

Opportunity for economic advancement and education sparked social change in the 19th century, but those who profited most were the upper castes, the social and administrative hierarchy – the headmen belonging to the Goigama (farmer) caste. They also had accumulated fortunes by manipulation of the compulsory labour system. In this new environment of opportunity and enterprise, these headmen and their families were able to consolidate their position in society.

The liberal attitude of the British towards Religion was a boon to Buddhism, which had suffered under previous colonisations. Roman Catholicism also benefited from the religious freedom and gradually, after the catholic emancipation act in Britain, recovered from the near desperation in the Dutch era.

Be that as it may, the British Protestant missions were possessed of much greater vigour than other Christian religions. The Protestant Missionary was therefore a very important factor in the changing nature of the colony and was indeed an agent of change through the impulsive evangelism of their ministers.

The Dutch, as well as the British Christian missions used the mission school system as a tool for evangelism. The legacy of the Dutch in this regard was not allowed to deteriorate.

Governor North, Rev. James Cordinor and later governor Maitland were instrumental in pressurizing the powers at White Hall into recognizing the necessity of the survival of the parish schools, whose existence owed much to the missionary societies and also to Sir Alexander Johnson, chief Justice of Ceylon at the time.

Succeeding Governors showed a disinclination to persevere with the parish schools (governors Brownrigg and Barnes) but missionary zeal prevailed, and from their experience emerged a system of denominational schools, which lasted for over a century. The 1831 Colebrooke – Cameron reforms ensured that state intervention in education gradually entered the islands administration

The Judicial Charter of 1801 established the Supreme Court and the English language was the medium of law giving. This Anglicisation of the judicial process set in motion two centuries ago, persists to this day!!

There were of course skirmishes of the governors with the judiciary and they were resentful of the independence of the Supreme Court.

An important aspect of the British administrative policy was the europeanisation of the higher echelons. This resulted in a heavy increase in administrative costs, which in turn caused recurrent budget deficits. The upshot of all this was the creation of the Ceylon Civil Service, an elite corps of highly paid covenanted officers. The next rungs of bureaucracy were also manned by a host of British immigrants. The clerical services went to Burghers and Eurasians, who embraced it as their traditional occupation.

Local village headmen lost their judicial powers and were paid a salary instead of accomodessans (land grants)

The administrative process was continually refined and powers and functions crystallized. The administration of the British was manifest at local level by the Collector. Each province had a Collector who collected revenue through the village headmen. The Collector held all administrative, revenue and fiscal powers of the provincial administration. With the passage of time the British developed quite a comprehensive administration of the colony of Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

1 A Commissioner of Revenue (installed by governor Maitland) supervised the Provincial Collectors.

2. A Cinnamon Department was created modelled on the “Mahabadda,” of old.

3. A Registrar General’s department looked to births, baptisms, marriages and deaths.

4. There was also a Surveyor General’s Department combined with a Civil Engineers Department.

5. A Registrar of Lands was also put in place.

6. The separate Kandyan administration was in 1932 finally abrogated except where inheritance, caste marriage, land tenure, and personal services were concerned.

In contrast, the Portuguese and Dutch had occupied only the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka. Their administration did not greatly affect the Kandyan regions that were still under the Kandyan Monarchy. The Portuguese were bent on proselytism and the Dutch, on commerce. The Dutch, who used the cinnamon Peeler caste or ‘Salagama’ for this purpose, exploited the Cinnamon trade. Barter was the main instrument of trade and compulsory service. (Rajakariya) was used to liquidate other debts, such as land tenure. The Sinhalese were traditionally farmers, and trade was in the hands of the moors, other itinerant traders, and some of the Ceylon Tamils.

The Urbanisation, was concentrated in and around the Dutch Forts in Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Matara etc.

The Dutch administration had extracted taxes in the form of Rajakariya and had revived the Portuguese ‘Thombo’ or registration of individual dues to the state.

The Dutch had introduced private ownership of land via the Roman Dutch law, which persists in the present day.

Roman Catholicism was banned and so also was Hinduism and Islam in the cities. Muslims were debarred from the lucrative appointments as renters of land.

Dutch preoccupation with Cinnamon extraction made heavy demands on the cinnamon peeler caste (Salagama) and later led to their favoured status during their regime, which in turn provoked rivalry with the higher castes.

To cap it all, the VOC’s administration was inefficient and expensive due to the high degree of corruption in its officials, which eventually led to the strengthening of the local Headmen’s influence and the increasing of their wealth.

The Dutch legacy was, in addition to the Mission School System, their Roman Dutch Law, Dutch Architecture, Dutch Forts and the famous Dutch transport canals in the West of the Island

It was The British administration of the colony of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) that made a truly lasting impression.

01. In 1801 a supreme court of Judicature and a court of appeal were set up by the Special Judicial Charter.

02. A nascent legislative authority could be perceived in the advisory council of 1802.

03 The use of English in the courts was also established.

04. Europeanisation of the Higher Bureaucracy was a conspicuous feature of their administration – leading to elitism – viz; The Ceylon Civil Service – the highest paid officers in the British Empire outside of India.

05. Although prohibited, they engaged in plantation and other commerce.

06. In 1815 with the capture of Kandy, the British unified rule in the country for the first time since the time of King Parakramabahu VI in the 15th century AD.

07. They introduced the Provincial collector, begun with revenue in mind, but evolving into a decentralized administration over all departments (except the military) and responsible to the commissioner of revenue under the Governor.

08. Religious tolerance permitted freedom of worship.

09. A comprehensive administration, on the lines of the Indian Model was set in place.

10. Roads and Railways proliferated

11. The Colebrooke-Cameron reforms of 1832 took on substance.
a. The new legislative council was formed
b. Provincial boundaries were redrawn and 5 new provinces were created.
c. The separate Kandyan administration was abrogated.
d. An Education Policy was implemented

This new administration and new economy not only caused the dichotomy of society in the plantation districts, but also led to the polarization of the peoples in the other areas.

The new occupation also influenced the emerging social order. The high caste Goigama had consolidated their position at the top of the social pyramid with the Karawes coming in next.

The English Language created a further rift in the indigenous peoples, especially the rural population who had no access to the missionary schools

Source : http://www.historyofceylontea.com/feature-articles.asp

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