Stuff The British Stole · ABC Australia and CBC

The Fever Tree Hunt

·30 min·2 clips
Indigenous guide Mamani risked everything for cinchona seeds, only to be beaten to death by police.
This episode explores the theft of cinchona bark from Peru by the British Empire to produce quinine, a malaria treatment crucial for colonial expansion. It traces the botanical heist through spies, indigenous guides, and genetic impacts, linking it to the modern gin and tonic.

As heard by us

A bitter bark turns into a clear, tight history of medicine, empire, and smuggling.

The episode starts with a bartender tasting a sharply bitter bark, then moves into quinine, Kew Gardens, and the imperial push to secure cinchona seeds.

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Why you'd press play

Want one small piece of bark to open up a whole imperial supply chain?

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