The man who stole tea from China and brought it to India

Robert Fortune was a scientist, a botanist and, in some ways, an industrial spy.

But he is best known as the man who stole tea from deep within China and took it to India in the mid-1800s, changing history.

His venture required years of toil up China's rivers by boat to places where no Westerner had gone before, overcoming illness, pirate attacks and untrustworthy associates in the quest for tea seeds and plants that could be grown in India.

Image: A plaque that says it all seen at 9, Gilston Road, Kensington and Chelsea, SW10, London.

Image Courtesy: Flickr Commons

Text: Reuters