Jalan-jalan Kuala Kangsar - Oldest Rubber Tree in Malaysia

Here's another history lesson. This time its about the rubber tree..more specifically the oldest rubber tree in Malaysia which is located in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

Rubber trees originated from South America and in 1876, Henry Wickham gathered thousands of para rubber tree seeds from Brazil, and these were germinated in Kew Gardens, England. From there, the seedlings were then sent to  Malaya (now Malaysia) which later became the biggest producer of rubber.The first batch of rubber trees planted in Malaysia consisted of 9 trees. However, out of the nine, only one survives till this very day.

Located beside the Kuala Kangsar District Office is the oldest rubber tree in Malaysia. This is one of the first nine trees planted in 1877. H.N. Ridley was the person responsible for making Kuala Kangsar the first rubber industry district in Malaysia. As you now know, rubber has since then become one of the most important material in the whole world.

Here are pictures of the oldest rubber tree in Malaysia...

 

There were also the traditional devices used to process the rubber sap collected from the rubber trees on display near the tree. Some of these devices are still used now by rubber tappers in Malaysia.