First tea planted at Darjeeling
Archibald Campbell, the Superintendent of Darjeeling, sowed China-type tea seed raised in Kumaon at his residence at roughly 2,100 metres, as an experiment in whether the plant would take on the Himalayan ridge. It did, and commercial nurseries and gardens followed within a decade. Darjeeling established that variety and altitude, not merely possession of the plant, determined what kind of tea an empire could make.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Darjeeling · region · India
- Camellia sinensis · plant species · Yunnan–Assam borderlands · not located
- Growing conditions for tea (altitude, rainfall, drainage) · concept · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Annals of Indian Administration — first trial of the tea plant in Darjeeling
Tea was first planted at Darjeeling in 1841 by Archibald Campbell using China-type seed raised in Kumaon.
Government of India (Bengal), Serampore · 1862 · Partly verified
Annals of Indian Administration, vol. VI (1862), notice that 'In Darjeeling the first trial of the tea plant was made in 1841 with a few seeds grown in Kumaon from China stock'
Recorded on Darjeeling
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.