Indian tea culture the Yandaboo Treaty. In 1837, the first English tea garden was established at Chabua in Upper Assam; in 1840, the Assam Tea Company began the commercial production of tea in the region, run by indentured servitude of the local inhabitants. Beginning in the 1850s, the tea industry rapidly expanded, consuming vast tracts of land for tea plantations. By the start of the 20th century, Assam became the leading tea producing region in the world. But despite the discovery of the indigenous "Camellia sinensis" plant, the tea industry in India began with 42,000 seedlings germinated from a consignment of 80,000 seeds
History of tea and Travels", containing the first European reference to tea, which he calls "Chai Catai"; his accounts were based on second-hand reports. Portuguese priests and merchants in the 16th century made their first contact with tea in China, at which time it was termed "chá". The first Portuguese ships reached China in 1516, and in 1560 Portuguese missionary Gaspar da Cruz published the first Portuguese account of Chinese tea; in 1565 Italian missionary Louis Almeida published the first European account of tea in Japan. Commercial production of tea was first introduced into India by the British, in an attempt to break