Red Sandalwood

Red sandalwood

Red sandalwood (pterocarpus sandalwood, Lat. Pterocárpus santálinus) - wood, the splendor of the wood of which has left a tangible mark in the history of mankind. Now, when people talk about the "sandalwood", is primarily meant its pleasant smell, but forget about the qualities of the wood, which gave her worldwide fame. This article, I hope, will open rediscover the history of this tree.

Often we hear the name "mahogany", but few people know that "mahogany" is not the kind of wood, and the collective name for all trees with red and even reddish wood, for example, such as aspen. But the first "red tree" was just red sandalwood. He alone, of all the "red", has outstanding qualities such as hardness, antiseptic properties, the absolute resistance to insects, a stunning aroma and of course, beautiful appearance. Also, red sandalwood products over time, not the old one, but on the contrary, become more refined look. The history of red sandalwood begins long before the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery, as evidenced by mention of it in the Torah and the Bible:

"And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and very many spices, and precious stones; never before did not come (to) a variety of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

"" And the fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir, and a great variety of sandalwood and precious stones. "

Torah translated Mossad Rav Kook. Mlahim Alef 10, 11. The jewel of this wood confirms not only mention of it in the Torah and the Bible, but also the fact that it was presented to a gift strong historical figure, King Solomon (Shlomo), from the Queen of Sheba (Malkat Seam). I recall that King Solomon ruled 965-928 BC Red sandalwood - endemic, that is, the area of distribution plants is only limited by geography place, namely in the southern parts of Eastern Ghats (India), namely Andhra Pradesh.Eto evergreen tree grows slowly so that a height of 25-30 meters it reached only at the age of 300 years, but only one-tenth of the volume of the trunk is suitable for the production of precious objects.
Annual rings of red sandalwood is very closely located to each other, the wood is very dense and heavy, has a purplish red color, sometimes with a black hue, and with darkens over time. The tree has a characteristic sandalwood fragrance that in conjunction with deep tints of purple to scarlet red color gives the subjects the interior a touch of elegance and prestige.
Products such as furniture, red sandalwood, were widely popular among the Chinese aristocracy, Ming and Qing dynasties, especially in royals. Officials of all ranks portrayed the emperor of red sandalwood products, hoping to get the location. Almost all the furniture in the "Forbidden City" made ​​of red sandalwood.
The main, and we can assume the sole supplier of red sandalwood has always been India. In 1792, the Sultan of Mysore called red sandalwood property of the king, and established a state monopoly on its felling. Sale of red sandalwood in India banned since 2000. Felling of this precious wood in India is controlled by the most severe and is applicable only to the diseased trees. Attempts to smuggle brutally repressed, bloodshed and people lose their life for the sake of valuable timber.

"In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh at least 20 suspected smuggling of red sandalwood were shot dead by the police" 14.04.2015 the BBC:






Red sandalwood dominates the minds not only of modern smugglers - in the Middle Ages, before the discovery of America, on behalf of the fiery, bloody wood Spanish sailors gave the name of the whole country. Because of scarlet, fire overflows Spaniards, and many others in Europe, called red sandalwood only as "hot, glowing embers." When the Spaniards landed on the shores of the new, yet unexplored continent, they saw the trees, is strikingly similar to the color of your wood red sandalwood. It was overjoyed his finding as to the date of delivery of the precious red sandalwood in Europe entirely captured Arabs and the value equal to that of gold. Translated from the Spanish "fever, glowing embers" sounds like Brazil, and open their country called Brazil. Unfortunately the Spaniards, they discovered there was a tree with red sandalwood, and they turned fernambuk ("brazilwood echinoid"), deprived of many of the qualities of red sandalwood ("pterocarpus sandalwood"). But in spite of this, some time fernambuka wood was the main item of export from Brazil to Europe.

To be continued ...