Robert Fortune

Key Contributions & Achievements

• The "Great Tea Robbery": In 1848, hired by the British East India Company, Fortune went undercover in China to acquire high-quality tea plants and seeds. Disguised as a Chinese merchant and traveling into restricted inland regions, he successfully smuggled out over 20,000 plants and seedlings.

• Establishment of the Indian Tea Industry: Fortune's smuggled plants, seeds, and even skilled Chinese tea-makers were used to establish massive tea plantations in British-controlled India, particularly in Darjeeling and Assam. Within decades, India surpassed China as the world's leading tea exporter.

• Scientific Discovery: Fortune was the first to definitively prove that green and black tea both come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, and are merely processed differently.

• Horticultural Introductions: He introduced over 250 species of plants to the West, including the kumquat, Japanese anemone, and various azaleas, rhododendrons, and chrysanthemums.

• Technological Success: He successfully utilized the Wardian Case, a portable glass greenhouse, to keep plants alive during the long sea voyages from Asia. 

Expeditions and Travels

1. First Expedition (1843–1846): Tasked by the Royal Horticultural Society to collect ornamental plants in China following the Treaty of Nanking.

2. Second Expedition (1848–1851): Commissioned by the East India Company specifically for the tea mission.

3. Later Travels (1853–1862): He made subsequent trips to Taiwan and Japan, collecting specimens for both British interests and the United States Patent Office to explore a potential US tea industry.