Quinine isolated early - 1750's - Any possibilities?

All,

I'm looking for an early European expansion into Africa and greater European settlement of the West Indies.

The key problem was Malaria (and Yellow Fever) in the Carib). The bark of Cinchona tree, native of Peru and Bolivia, was used by natives as a remedy to those afflicted. However, per typical Spanish Empire efficiency, this was not exploited and disseminated quickly.

Both Charles II of Great Britain and Louis XIV were treated in the 17th century and proved quite enthousiastic but chose to keep it quiet for some reason (Louis XIV ordered the doctor, Robert Talbor, to keep it quiet).

It was the 1820's that two French chemists (see excerpt below in red) were able to really purify the chemicals within to make a more effective drug. Even then, the trees were not swiftly planted elsewhere and the valuable drug delayed in mass production. It would remain very expensive for decades when it need not be.

In 1789, a Scottish Scientist named William Cullen wrote a paper on the subject, which later caught the eye of Samuel Hahnemann, a German scientist regarded as the "Father of Homeopathy".

Expansive use of this treatment did not occur until mid-19th century and the tree was introduced to Mexico, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines, etc for mass production of the valuable bark.

Anyone have an idea how quickly this could be expedited?

Any scenarios or chemists/doctors/etc around say, 1760-1800, whom might improve upon this timing?

I have little background in the development of medicine so I'm asking what would be possible in this era in terms of removing the required chemicals prior to the actual date of purifying the drug in 1820.

I would think that commercially introducing the tree to other places early would be easier, like the Rubber Tree in Brazil, and very commercially rewarding, a new cash crop idea for taxation and encouraging colonial development for all.

Thanks all.


Here's a blurb found online.

In 1820 two scientists, Pelletier and Caventou, isolated an alkaloid chemical in the bark which provided the highest antimalarial effect and named it quinine. Once discovered, methods were developed to extract only the quinine alkaloid from the natural bark to sell as an antimalarial drug.
The South American rainforests benefited from the income generated by harvesting cinchona bark for the extraction of this alkaloid from the bark for the manufacture of quinine drugs. In the middle of the 19th century, though, seeds of Cinchona calisaya and Cinchona pubescens were smuggled out of South America by the British and the Dutch. The calisaya species was planted and cultivated in Java by the Dutch and the pubescens species was cultivated in India and Ceylon by the British. However, the quinine content of these species was too low for high-grade, cost effective, commercial production of quinine. The Dutch then smuggled seeds of Cinchona ledgeriana out of Bolivia, paying $20 for a pound of seeds, and soon established extensive plantations of quinine-rich cinchona trees in Java. They quickly dominated the world production of quinine and, by 1918, the majority of the world's supply of quinine was under the total control of the Dutch "kina burea" in Amsterdam. Huge profits were reaped - but Bolivia and Peru, from whence the resource originated, saw none of it.
 
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Adding a thought.

The Spanish knew about this tree pretty early, as early as 1560's, but the inefficient Spanish Empire wasn't capable of doing much with a complex business like setting up tens of thousands of acres to harvest this priceless drug. Beyond extracting Gold, Silver and Diamonds, the Spanish Empire was pretty much useless.

Note that in 1740ish, Great Britain receiving a greater quantity of goods by weight from the little island of Barbados (45,000 slaves, 5000 Englishmen) than Spain did throughout the entirety of its empire (California to Argentina). That is pretty telling.

Say if this tree was distributed early and European deaths via malaria, if not cured completely, would be reduced by, say 80%.

What would be the effect on slavery?

The majority of slaves came from Africa from 1750-1860. No doubt it cost more to buy a slave from the African Kingdoms than it would to dump Europe's excess, hungry and troublemaking population on the shores of the Caribbean (assuming the Cinchona tree would grow there).

If there had been a useful drug to combat malaria, would African slavery been so prevalent?

Could that tragedy be at least partially avoided?

Thanks.
 
It's not so much that the Spanish were inefficient, but that they WERE efficient.

They knew perfectly well how valuable "Jesuits bark" was, and made sure no one got any seeds or shoots out to break their monopoly.
 
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Only certain strains of the chinchona tree effective in treating malaria. A large part of the problem with malaria was that nobody knew what caused it - until late in the 19th century it was thought to be caused by the noxious exhalations of swampy air (hence "malaria"). Also, issue would be producing enough quinine and furthermore dosage for prophylaxis is going to be difficult to do safely.
 
Say that Britain or the Netherlands got an industry going in 1750's, mass producing in the Carib, Brazil, etc.

The demographic effects would be huge. The southern states would expand much more swiftly. The birth and survival rates lagged behind the north due primarily to disease.

It would be a game changer in the Carib. Spain sold small amounts but not remotely enough to satisfy global demand. Millions of lives could have been saved. They could have made a mint. But Spain was organizationally incapable of exploiting or managing anything in its own empire.
 
I'd be more curious about getting something set up even earlier; it was the Inca that actually introduced the Quinoa tree to the Spanish after all, and there's no reason the cat couldn't have gotten out of the bag even earlier. If the Portuguese had this in Brazil from 1600 onwards....the demographic and political consequences are staggering to think about.
 
Say that Britain or the Netherlands got an industry going in 1750's, mass producing in the Carib, Brazil, etc.

The demographic effects would be huge. The southern states would expand much more swiftly. The birth and survival rates lagged behind the north due primarily to disease.

It would be a game changer in the Carib. Spain sold small amounts but not remotely enough to satisfy global demand. Millions of lives could have been saved. They could have made a mint. But Spain was organizationally incapable of exploiting or managing anything in its own empire.

If they did, then quinine resistance would develop that much faster... Besides, Yellow Fever probably KILLED more people than malaria did (although malaria probably made a lot more people sick).
 
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