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Landscape Research

ISSN: 0142-6397 (Print) 1469-9710 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/clar20

Valuing the Cultural Landscapes Past and Present:Tea Plantations in Sri Lanka

Chandana Shrinath Wijetunga & Jong Sang Sung

To cite this article: Chandana Shrinath Wijetunga & Jong Sang Sung (2015) Valuing the CulturalLandscapes Past and Present: Tea Plantations in Sri Lanka, Landscape Research, 40:6, 668-683,DOI: 10.1080/01426397.2015.1057803

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2015.1057803

Published online: 16 Jul 2015.

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Valuing the Cultural Landscapes Past andPresent: Tea Plantations in Sri Lanka

CHANDANA SHRINATH WIJETUNGA*,** & JONG SANG SUNG*,***Interdisciplinary Program in Landscape Architecture, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea;**Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

ABSTRACT The study focuses on tea plantation cultural landscapes in Sri Lanka and its historicalformation, present issues and future considerations. [Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon before 1972.At present, the country uses Sri Lanka for all related documents.] According to the research, thetea estate is identified as the main building unit of tea heritage. This paper reveals the historicalformation of tea heritage and its contribution to the existing landscape. This study focuses on theNuwara Eliya region, as it is the main area for tea cultivation. The present condition of teaplantations in Sri Lanka is derived through a survey conducted in Labookellie estate, Blue Fieldestate and Pedro estate. Past and the present circumstances are examined through analysis ofliterature, topographical maps and site observations, while interviews with outsiders (foreignvisitors) were used to strengthen the thoughts on tea plantation landscapes. This paper revealsbasic concepts such as agriculture as a heritage, active agriculture and value added throughfuture conservation and development procedure. The paper first discusses the formation of teaestates and governing factors. Second, the paper explains estate settlement as the main buildingblock of tea heritage with researched case studies and explains existing landscape values. Third,the paper explains future thoughts on the tea plantation landscapes in Sri Lanka. Opinions offoreign visitors to the plantation are considered as a valuable contribution to the conclusions. Thepaper stresses the importance of understanding tea estate cultural landscapes and their heritagevalue for future planning and the conservation priorities in Sri Lanka.

KEY WORDS: Cultural landscape, tea plantations, estate settlements, cultural landscape values,tea heritage, Sri Lanka

Introduction

A cultural landscape is known as the combined work of humans and nature. Landscape,from its beginnings, has been considered as a man-made artefact with associatedcultural process values (Jackson, 1984). This paper tries to understand the concept of‘landscape’ as a way of seeing its morphology resulting from the interplay betweenlandscape values, associated people and land use practices, which has recently beencritically explored (Wylie, 2007), and what (Olwig, 2007) calls ‘an active scene ofpractice’. Landscape shares two ideologies with the culture. Some argue that landscapeis a cultural product, while others argue landscape is a cultural process. Olwig (1996)argues that landscape is both substantive and partly constituted by representations of it.

Correspondence Address: Jong Sang Sung, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul NationalUniversity, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Email: jssung@snu.ac.kr

© 2015 Landscape Research Group Ltd

Landscape Research, 2015Vol. 40, No. 6, 668–683, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2015.1057803

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Identity of a landscape is important to consider its usages, values and future changes.Seeing landscape as a static text to seeing it as a part of a process engaged withformation of identities (Mitchell, 1994). Tilly (1994) agrees with the idea of landscapeas process. Landscape is seen as an entity which is never complete. According toTilly’s idea, human agency has always fashioned landscape.

The landscapes that depict ‘universal’ or ‘outstanding’ values are limited to thedefinitions of the World Heritage Convention (UNESCO), although every landscape isvalued by closely associated people. A cultural landscape is perceived differentlyaccording to place attachment, purpose of interaction and significant values associatedwith the landscape (Stephenson, 2008). As is found in the Convention, Article 1,cultural landscapes are cultural properties that represent the ‘combined works of natureand of man’. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlementover time under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presentedby their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces,both external and internal.

The main ingredients of a cultural landscape can be defined as forms, relationshipsand practices and are visible in any landscape with human involvement. Forms aredefined as the physical aspects of natural and man-made elements. The relationships ofthe forms and setting are important as they create interrelationships with the practices.The integration of the forms, relationships and practices create a cultural landscape thatis continuously broadened over time. Therefore, the past and present condition of anycultural landscape may provide many similarities as well as differences. Anunderstanding of the history of a landscape’s present condition becomes the startingpoint for the cultural landscape research.

Considering agricultural land as a cultural landscape explains the human involvementin the land. Human society and nature are the two main forces that shape landscapestructure and drive landscape processes. Two-thirds of the terrestrial surface of theplanet is covered by agricultural land, livestock grazing areas and managed forests, andalso human activities, all of which clearly play an important role in creating landscapes.According to Farina (2000), substantial parts of cultural landscapes are heterogeneousagricultural areas, in which crop planting and management decisions are based mainlyon interactions with soil characteristics, microclimates and economic convenience.

This research is motivated by two major factors regarding tea plantation landscapesin Sri Lanka: rapid urbanisation and development. These two factors cause thereduction and replacement of tea plantations by other land uses. Moreover, tea heritageis not given relevant importance as heritage or as a valuable cultural landscape in localand international policy documents. According to the UNESCO World HeritageConvention, there are 18 world heritage properties related to agricultural landscape onthe world heritage list, including six of beverage plantations, two of which are relatedto coffee and four to grape wine. Tea is one of the three major beverages of the world.However, tea agricultural heritage in tea-growing countries has not been assessed foroutstanding universal value. A tea culture-based agricultural landscape is a combinationof material and spiritual cultures. The ancient tea plantations of Jingmai Mountain,China, is the only world heritage site wholly related to tea which is under considerationand mentioned in the tentative list. The tentative world heritage proposal of JingmaiMountain explains the ancient tea plantations of Jingmai Mountain as above othermajor tea heritage sites stating,

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The famous Assam tea plantation in India, tea plantations in Sri Lanka, Shizuokatea plantation in Japan are mainly terraced tea landscapes with standardisedmodern cultivation. They are professionally managed by limited corporations at alarge scale. While the ancient tea plantations of Jingmai Mountain are culturallandscapes formed by the adaptation to nature under extreme conditions.(UNESCO, 2013)

The Jingmai Mountain tentative record provides a positive entry in explaining therising importance of tea agricultural heritage as a cultural landscape. However, thefacts in the tentative record should not exclude other tea heritage landscapes forconsideration.

Each user group understands the values of landscape in different ways. The threedisciplinary interests of landscape (as noted above) are forms, practices (includingprocesses) and relationships that are important to understand the given culturallandscape. Natural landforms, contemporary features, historical features, human-madestructures, natural features and vegetation are categorised under forms. Humanactivities, historical processes, historical events, ecological processes and humansystems are categorised under practices. The relationships are seen as sense of place,meanings, aesthetics, stories, memories, symbols, ideologies and spiritual meanings.Literature supports that there are many versions of landscape values that are visible inany cultural landscape. According to the literature, aesthetics, natural landforms,archaeological features, vegetation and historic features are commonly identified aslandscape values in formal landscape evaluations. In this research, surface featuresvisible in the cultural landscapes are the foundation of the main values. Therefore, tounderstand the values, surface analyses can identify visible features and embeddedvalues that should provide understanding of deeper values and reasons behindgenerating these values. Surface values are the perceptual response to the directlyperceived forms, relationships and practices, while embedded values arise out of anawareness of past forms, practices and relationships (Stephenson, 2008). According tothe study, surface values can be depicted in the term, ‘sense of place’. Sense of placecan be elaborated with a number of elements and items connected to place. Culturallandscape conservation researchers such as Hamin (2001) and Villalon (2004) havecautioned that sense of place is a holistic concept that binds cultural landscape in itsform and function. Daugstad, Rønningen, and Skar (2006) reveals the importance ofactive agriculture and value added to uphold agricultural heritage. Therefore, theperceptions of tourists at tea estates are a vital contribution to extend and developtourism that may enhance the quality of tea heritage.

Tea Cultural Landscape: Past to Present

Sri Lanka is a small island (65 610 km2) in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coastof India, 880 km north of the equator. The country experiences a variety of climate andweather conditions throughout the year with 14–27 °C temperatures from the hillcountry to lowlands and southwest and northeast monsoon rains from May–July andDecember–January, respectively (Encyclopedia Britanica, 2009).

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Pre-Colonial to Colonial

Tea heritage in Sri Lanka can be defined as a cultural landscape that shows importanceas the country’s industrial heritage. It takes a more conventional approach as aSri Lankan landscape resulting from colonisation. Agricultural landscapes in Sri Lankaare distributed across the country and have significant importance due to long practisingagricultural traditions. In Sri Lanka, topography, rainfall and settlement patterns areclearly interrelated with the distribution of agricultural landscapes. Tea agriculturalheritage in Sri Lanka is a colonial legacy. However, paddy agricultural heritage andassociated cultural landscapes existed from the sixth century BC from the start of thesettlements in Sri Lanka and were concentrated to Anuradhapura region from sixthcentury BC to 1017 AD and Kingdom of Polonnaruwa till 1310 AD. These regionswere of flat terrain, about 30 to 300 m above sea level.

After the Polonnaruwa era settlements, people shifted their settlements to the centralpart of the country and also settled in various other regions. Plantations wereintroduced by the colonial governments during the eighteenth century. Tea wasintroduced after coffee and rubber and gradually overcame the physical and climaticconstraints that other crops were unable to achieve. If we draw a comparison on paddy(rice) agricultural heritage and tea agricultural heritage, there are a few qualities thatshould be taken into account for the proper understanding of the historiography.

Tea-related landscapes in Asia have their own characteristics and historical evidence.Sri Lanka, as a British colony from 1815 to 1948, manifested drastic changes inagrarian landscapes. The Sri Lankan hill country changed rapidly and remains todaywith its unique land use practices of crop cultivations. The cultural changes occurredwith the tea industry and remain as significant industrial heritage in the country. Thelandscapes of nature changed to domesticated crop cultures. Dutch rulers introducedcinnamon as a crop in 1769. The unsuccessful cinnamon cultivation was replaced bycoffee in 1830 by the East India Company. Gradually, coffee cultivation was destroyedby the coffee rust disease. Tea was first brought to Sri Lanka by Dr H. Trimen in 1839.The Assam tea from India was introduced and then the indigenous Assam teadeveloped in the nation as a crop. The first commercial tea plantation was establishedby James Taylor in Lulkandura estate in the Kandy district. In this study, the features ofthe tea landscapes along with the associated cultural values are given prominence toidentify the heritage values and their significance.

Plantation economy introduced plantation settlement as the third type of settlementsystem in Sri Lanka and major land uses of plantation settlements concentrated on teaand rubber. Sri Lanka’s tea plantations are mainly located in the higher elevations, whichhave a cool and pleasant subtropical climate (Figure 1). The effect of the diverseclimates of Sri Lanka on tea production was a major discovery by the pioneer teaplanters in the later part of the nineteenth century. This discovery resulted in an array offine teas, which are unique to each agro-climatic zone and are not found anywhere elsein the world. These distinct climatic zones produce teas known by romantic names, suchas Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa, Kandy and Ruhuna. The climaticdifferences caused by elevation are significant. The classification of low-altitude growntea (sea level to 610 m), medium-altitude grown tea (610–1220 m) and high-altitudegrown tea (1250 m and above) areas also creates a marked difference in the quality ofteas. The contrast is mostly between low- and high-altitude grown varieties.

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Significant land use changes occurred in areas as a result of the tea plantationlandscapes. Progressive tea landscapes are a result of changing the natural setting of thelandscape, new systems of cultivation and plucking, and new machinery for the teaproduction that transformed the tea plantation into the tea industry. The landscapefeatures that can be evident in tea plantations result mainly from the tea plantcultivation process.

Tea nurseries, planting and pruning are important agricultural techniques that helpbuild the unique appearance of the landscape. In general, tea plants have a distance of0.6 m between each other and a distance of 1.2 m between rows. There areapproximately 5500 tea plants per acre.

Pruning methods maintain the existing appearance, which is a feature of the teaplantations. The continuous involvement of people is a major concern in the industry.Pruning is usually a manual process requiring additional labour. Different methods ofpruning are used and in the areas where the survey was conducted, pruning cuts wasthe main method. Apart from pruning cuts, other methods used are, rim-lung pruning,

Figure 1. Tea estate disribution in Sri Lanka and topographical map showing drainage.

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clean pruning with lungs, clean pruning, slope pruning and table pruning. Thepicturesque landscapes evident in different tea heritage areas are based on the pruningand the topographical features.

The major landscape changes that usually occurred with the tea plantations weredeforestation and establishing the drainage system. The drainage systems are prominentfeatures and the technology used to build and maintain the landscapes are unchanged todate as traditional knowledge is used for landscape sustainability. To mitigate soilerosion effectively, four kinds of drainage systems are commonly used: (1) Netti Kanu(main drains collect water from the contour drains), (2) Haras Kanu (contour drains),(3) Kutti Kanu (lock and spill), (4) Deni Kanu (drain and silt pits); the soil is protectedby advanced planting of alternative trees and shrubs that include Gotha mala(Tripsacum laxum), Mana (Nephrolepis biserrata), Pangiri mana, known in English asCitronella (Cymbopogon witerianus), Ergosthris grasses, Savandara (Vetiveriazizanioides) and Illuk (Imperata cylindrica), all of which provided soil protection withinthe landscapes that we surveyed.

The first tea house or factory was built in 1873 by James Taylor, bolstered by thesuccess of his initial experimentation with converting green leaf to black tea. Taylorinvented a tea leaf roller, which was powered by a 20 ft. water wheel, as he realisedthat manual rolling was not only inefficient, but also expensive. The demand formechanisation created by the growing tea production industry was a golden opportunityfor enterprising inventors and engineers. In a relatively short time, clever machines thatmimicked manual operations at much higher speed and efficiency were invented andbecame mandatory in a tea factory.

By 1900, the production of tea outstripped that of all other crops and the value of teaexported was far greater than that of any other crop. New technologies and massproduction introduced to Sri Lanka through the tea industry can be considered as thecountry’s most important modern era industrial heritage. The factories, machinery,vehicular equipment and techniques that can be seen today are historical evidence.

Tea Plantations Workers, Culture and Practices

Hill country or the Central Highlands of the country remained uninhabited till 1815.Local beliefs and myths about the mountain forests kept locals away from inhabitingthe Hill country (Davy, 1821; Skinner, 1891). The beginning of the plantationagriculture faced the reluctance of native workers as labourers. The colonialgovernment took workers from India as both territories were under the British Empire.The ‘coolies’, as they called Indian migrant workers, came in the thousands to SriLanka crossing the Palk Strait. They made their way on foot from the north andnorthwest coast into the Central Highlands, where Matale area was considered the gateof entry. The so-called ‘coolie routes’ were developed with this process of transportinglabour.

Tea plantations have a unique social structure not seen in other regions in Sri Lanka.The majority of the tea estate workers are Indian Tamils and their cultural practicescontribute to the creation of the cultural landscapes of Sri Lankan tea plantations.

Indian immigrant tea plantation workers form 6% of the total population of SriLanka, however, even after more than a hundred years, assimilation with the

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mainstream population is problematic. Permanent Indian immigrant plantation workersmade sociocultural changes among the working community. They were hired to workin Central Province, Uva Province and low-country tea estates. As immigrant workers,they were excluded from the majority’s Sinhalese culture, but practise their ownculture. Marby (1972) shows that the Indian immigrant workers’ establishmentsdeveloped solid roots following initial family settlements. Later immigration, such as inthe 1950s, tried to assimilate with the existing system. However, from the beginning,immigrant workers establishments developed as isolated groups of people.

In the early twentieth century, Indian Tamils were referred as ‘Kandyan Tamils’, or‘Ceylon Tamils’, even though after 1948, when Sri Lanka became an independentnation, they were mostly referred to as ‘people of Indian Tamil Origin’. They were alsoreferred to as ‘coolies’ (thotta kattan) and ‘illicit immigrants’ (kallathoni)(Kanapathipillai, 2009). Estates were separated from the urban areas and othercommunity settlements. The workload and long working hours restricted the workersfrom leaving the estates.

Indian immigrants became established as introverted groups of people. The language,religious practices and rituals of Indian Tamil immigrants differed from the majorSinhalese communities. The intangible values of the cultural practices of plantationworkers is an integral portion of the landscape identity of the estates. Diversity of thecaste system amongst the immigrants also separated them into groups for some ritualsand practices. The immigrants from India belonged to 25 different castes that includedAyyar, Vellae, Kudianar, Akampadi, Kallar, Konar, Endayar, Dewar, Sannali,Marayachchi, Walayar, Udayar, Awar, Pandaram, Chetti, Ambar, Wannar, Pullar,Palayar and Melan castes. Wellalan, Kallon and Kowendan castes’ population were themost prominent in Nuwara Eliya region and the Hill country.

The religious practice of the plantation workers displays unique characteristicscompared to other groups. They practise Hinduism; each and every caste had their owngod or goddess. They have festivals and celebrations that directly or indirectly representtheir religious beliefs (De Silva, 2005). Thipongal, Thi pusei, Kamim kuttu dancing,Adipusei, Saraswathi ceremony, Thiwali purattasi Virudan are some of their celebratedfestivals. Moreover, Kawadi dancing is famous and practised in every plantation by theIndian-migrated Tamil plantation workers. Thappuwa, a musical instrument, widelyused in tea estates, is also used in many occasions to convey messages inside theplantations.

Research Area and Methodology

The research area is located in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. The district is calledNuwara-Eliya and bordered by Kandy, Badulla and Rathnapura districts (Figure 2).Nuwara-Eliya is an oval-shaped mountain valley, the plateau being 2000 m above sealevel, and is an area that produces tea with a unique flavour. The air is always scentedwith the fragrance of cypress trees, mint and eucalyptus. It is a combination of thesefactors that produces a tea that is recognised by connoisseurs of tea in the world. It hasbeen said that Nuwara Eliya is to Ceylon tea what champagne is to French wine.

In this research, a combined methodology to gather data and related information wastaken. This combined methodology consists of three parts: literature review, site

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observation and in-depth interviews with 20 selected foreign tourists as outsiders to thetea plantations. The 20 overseas tourists or outsiders, also referred to as respondents inthe study, were interviewed during the period from April to August in 2013 over aperiod of four months. Every interview was conducted individually and samples wereselected with diversity of age, gender and purpose of visit. The selected samplerespondents visited all three case study areas (Labookellie, Blue field and Pedroplantations).

Estate Settlement and its Character

Sri Lanka’s main agricultural heritage remains as paddy (rice) heritage and tea heritage.Both paddy rice and tea agriculture contain diverse values. The relative importance oftea agricultural heritage compared with paddy agricultural heritage seems to be that thelandscapes convey the characteristics of tea heritage more clearly (Figure 3).

Paddy agricultural heritage has a long tradition of practice that has a documentedhistory starting in the sixth century BC. The paddy agricultural landscapes aredistributed across areas where there were satisfactory topographical and climaticconditions or where the people overcame the constraints. Village distribution and paddyagricultural expansion shows close interconnections. We can identify three majorsettlement (village) types associated with paddy agricultural landscapes, namely

Figure 2.Map showing Nuwara—Eliya district and research area.

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tank-fed villages, where agriculture depends on a built reservoir; rain-fed villages,where agriculture depends on the annual rainfall; Chena-settlements, where agriculturedepends on seasonal rains and settlements are located within a forest or a woodland.The main paddy agricultural landscapes are distributed along the flat terrains in the dryzone in Sri Lanka with tank-fed village settlements.

The tank-fed village and the settlement mainly focus on the reservoir as its majorlandform feature. As a cultural landscape, the village tank system is a watermanagement system with the rainwater reservoir, a large tank, village tanks andirrigation channels combined together along with a cluster of settlement houses locatedimmediately below the tank. Likewise, tea agricultural heritage is concentrated intoestate settlement landscapes. In the postcolonial period, the tea-related landscapes weremainly separated into two sections according to the ownership and the sizes.

The main landform feature in the tea estate settlements is the extensive plantation.The tea factory, which is large in scale, is the major building component of the estatesettlements with staff quarters and worker (coolie-line1) houses. The landscapeformation of the tea estate is mainly concentrated on hill or mountain sites of Sri Lankaand the Nuwara-Eliya area and the case study area is a tea-terraced landscape (Tables 1and 2). The tea factory is adjacent to the main road constructed during the colonial eraand widened or reconstructed during the postcolonial era. The labourers’ houses aremostly located next to the tea factory, while some other labourers’ houses are scatteredthroughout the plantation to enable greater estate efficiency. The staff quarters orbungalows are located at a higher elevation than the plantation terrace to enable easyobservation and proper governing as well as more protection in the estate settlement(Figure 3).

The Nuwara-Eliya estate settlements contain Indian immigrant Tamil workers withethnic and religious cultural practices that differ from the majority Sinhalese people ofSri Lanka. They speak Indian Tamil (dialectical differences with the Sinhalese Tamillanguage) and are devoted to Hindu religious practices. After the end of colonisationera in 1948, the Indian Tamil workers continued to practise their religious customscelebrating every important day and adjusting them with their traditionally low-incomelabour occupation. The cultural practices of the Indian Tamil workers and the tea estatelandscapes in Nuwara-Eliya cannot be separated, as the intangible heritage is thebackbone of the tea plantation heritage and the agricultural activity.

Figure 3. Tea estate as a settlement—typical plantation sectional view—author’s survey.

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Landscape Values of Tea Plantation and Future Considerations

In order to obtain a correct understanding of tea plantations for future consideration, asurvey targeting foreign visitors to the Tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya region wascarried out. The tourist interviewees showed strong preference for landscapes that havescenery, and visual and recreational values. Among the three estate sites surveyed,Pedro plantation and its background mountain range was highly valued by most of thevisitors. The tea landscapes of Nuwara Eliya region have encouraged tea heritagetourism due to the scenic visual features that blend together with the natural setting ofthe region. Pedro tea plantation has the backdrop of Mount Pedro, the highest mountainpeak of the country, while another side of the plantation merges with the CentralHighlands, one of Sri Lanka’s World Natural Heritage Sites.2

One visitor stated that:

The mountain gives an amazing backdrop to the plantations. The mist that coversthe mountain range flows towards the tea plantation, showing that both belong tothe same environment. The mountain is much higher than what we expected. Iactually travelled to the peak. The tea plantation gives me calm, relaxing feelingswhich I like the most.

Other features perceived and appreciated by the visitors were the irrigation channelsbuilt along the vertical segments of the tea plantations located in the mountains. Thepathway system in the Blue Field estates creates a unique quality throughout theplantation (Figure 4).

Moreover, the estates are settlements that connect with tea trails linked to each andevery part of the plantation. The trails are connected as a web throughout the plantationwhile stone borders separate plantations. The trails are long but safe routes for thetransportation vehicles. They are covered with Cabook (Boralu) stones and roughconstructions with stone margins to their sides (usually where hilly). The hill avenue

Figure 4. Pathway system in the Blue Field estate—photograph by author.

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Boralu road is a steep path leading to the mountain meditation centre near HortonPlains. The picturesque features of the trails add value to the cultural landscape asconfirmed in interviews with the respondents who described the visual aspects of tea

Table 1. Total extent of tea in Nuwara Eliya District in small holding sector and estate sector SriLanka.

Extent in acres

DS Division

Small holding sector Estate sector Total

No. ofholdings

reporting tea

Extentundertea

No. ofholdings

reporting tea

Extentundertea

No. ofholdings

reporting tea

Extentundertea

Kothmale 6281 5674 13 6225 6294 11 899Hanguranketha 1176 807 8 4057 1184 4864Walapane 941 633 14 8569 955 9202Nuwara Eliya 20 153 66 43 860 86 44 013Ambagamuva 3518 2727 94 51 503 3612 54 230

District total 11 936 9994 195 114 214 12 131 124 208

Source: Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning—Sri Lanka(2013).

Table 2. Population distribution in Sri Lanka in urban, rural and estate areas.

District

Total population Urban Rural Estate

No. % No. % No. % No. %

Colombo 2 251 274 100 1 229 572 54.6 1 014 388 45.1 7314 .3Gampaha 2 063 684 100 300 933 14.6 1 762 028 85.4 723 .0Kalutara 1 066 239 100 113 188 10.6 915 477 85.9 37 574 3.5Kandy 1 279 028 100 155 987 12.2 1 030 172 80.5 92 869 7.3Matale 441 328 100 36 103 8.2 383 468 86.9 21 757 4.9Nuwara-Eliya 703 610 100 43 073 6.1 283 659 40.3 376 878 53.6Galle 990 487 100 109 921 11.1 863 309 87.2 17 257 1.7Matara 761 370 100 64 361 8.5 676 499 88.9 20 510 2.7Hambantota 526 414 100 21 571 4.1 503 410 95.6 1433 .3Ampara 592 997 100 112 536 19.0 480 461 81.0 – –Kurunegala 1 460 215 100 34 691 2.4 1 418 881 97.2 6643 .5Puttalam 709 677 100 65 294 9.2 642 210 90.5 2173 .3Anuradhapura 745 693 100 53 151 7.1 691 573 92.7 969 .1Polonnaruwa 358 984 100 – – 358 679 99.9 305 .1Badulla 779 983 100 51 536 6.6 567 178 72.7 161 269 20.7Moneragala 397 375 100 – – 388 226 97.7 9149 2.3Ratnapura 1 015 807 100 58 245 5.7 855 178 84.2 102 384 10.1Kegalle 785 524 100 17 139 2.2 712 914 90.8 55 471 7.1

Total (18 districts 16 929 689 100 2 467 301 14.6 13 547 710 80.0 914 678 5.4

Source: Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning—Sri Lanka(2013).

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plantations and their picturesque qualities. The associated mountain ranges wereconsidered mesmerising, providing distinctive backdrops to the tea estates.

The group of respondents valued the tea cultural landscapes from an aestheticperspective. The economical point of view was another concern raised by the tourists,as some claimed that scenic beauty could be used for more efficient marketing. Pedroplantation and its mountain range setting were selected by the majority of therespondents as the most significant for scenic and recreational value. One respondentclaimed: ‘I would like to camp in an area like this instead of a hotel. The spring waterstreams are amazing. The stream seems to be carrying the freshest water I ever drank’.Moreover, one respondent commented, ‘So relaxing is the feeling that I prefer teaplantations over mountain peaks. Tea plantations maintain a quality of calmness. Wefelt the environment and it is refreshing’.

Other tourists claimed that the scenic beauty of the mountain range with the teaplantations; climatic condition with the mist; and the beauty of the tea plantationformations were values that they identified in the landscape.

Other values identified as values by the visitors (respondents) were the naturallandscapes and the traditional practices seen in the tea landscapes. The respondents alsonoted that the natural landscape was enhanced, and that minimal damage occurs fromtraditional practices of tea agriculture. The natural settings of the tea plantations werehighly appreciated by all of the visitors that were interviewed.

Some of the tea trails are not covered with any surface material and over time havemerged with the existing natural setting of the plantations. Pedro estate consists ofnatural tea plantation trails that have become a particular landscape feature. Visitorsobserved that the tea plantations that have been in operation for centuries remain asfunctioning sustainable systems, and that those systems and practices are integralcomponents of the tea estate settlement system. The unique drainage systems and soilerosion mitigation techniques associated with the tea plantations were appreciated andvalued by visitors.

I noticed the rain and the filled drains that seem to be a better construction forexisting soil conditions as I saw that the water flow clear and not muddy. (onevisitor commented)

The waterways and spring water flows were common features due to the high rainfall.The use of materials such as stones, rock boulders and Cabook in constructing drainsand roads ensures the existing landscape is suitable for both human habitation and soilprotection. The unique drainage system and soil erosion mitigation techniquesassociated with the tea plantations were features noted by 40% of the respondents ashaving the highest value. According to the responses, one said,

I think the most important ecological concern in this area should be avoiding soilerosion. I agree that they try to mitigate the amount of erosion by providingdrains.

According to another comment, ‘We used the drains at trails to climb the mount andthe experience was rocking. I think the drains are trails when the rain is not there’.

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As well, many respondents believed that the drainage system is well designed,extremely useful and needy for the mountain topographical conditions in the area.Others think the drainage system could be a more sustainable irrigation system forvegetable cultivations in the mountain valleys.

Historical and heritage values characterised the tea estates according to the perceptionof the majority of the tourists. Many tourists identified the old Pedro plantation teafactory as a valuable heritage feature in the tea estate landscape. With regard to colonialheritage, outsiders were interested in old machinery displayed outdoors in Labookellieplantation. Other features that were highly rated include the Labookellie plantationsworker quarters, the factory and the colonial period guesthouses visible around the area(Figure 5). In-depth interviews with the respondents confirmed the values and the threemain historically significant features of the tea plantations in Nuwara-Eliya as thehistorical routes along the Nuwara-Eliya district, tea plantation-related buildings andearly industrial machinery displayed inside and outside factories. Historical features anddisplay items are part of heritage tourism promotional campaigns. One touristexplained,

The power plant display outside the factory gives us evidence of its age. Before, Ithought the factory was not very old. At first I was interested in seeing themanufacturing process of tea, but there are many other items that recreate thehistory of colonisation.

People and cultural values are another form of values that were determined from theinterviews. The visitors (respondents) repeatedly stated that the length of their visitswas not long enough for them to understand the whole structure of the socioculturalsystem. At the same time, the visitors observed certain qualities that they considered asvalues embedded in the tea plantations. The tourists were interested to see the ‘line’houses and the people who lived inside and outside the neighbourhood areas. The

Figure 5. Labookellie plantation, worker quarters and tea factory—photograph by author.

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women plucking tea was a great attraction for many tourists and they were interested toobserve the real living process of producing tea.

Many tourists appreciated the generations of knowledge held by the local woman,Sangi amma. The tourists were also able to feel the Tamil traditions and practices in thearea, which differed from other regions they had visited in Sri Lanka. The tea leavesready for the drying process was of interest to visitors as they demonstrated thepreliminary stages of the establishment of national identity and as others have explainedand literature proves, landscapes can show the national identity.

National identities are coordinated, often largely defined, by legends and landscapes.Landscapes, whether focusing on single monuments or framing stretches of scenery,provide visible shape; they picture the nation. As exemplars of moral order andaesthetic harmony, particular landscapes achieve the status of national icons (Daniels,1993, p. 5).

Conclusion

Significant landscape changes occurred regarding plantations in the colonial era and thecrop agrarian landscapes are a prominent feature in the hill country of Sri Lanka.According to the study, it is understood that the tea estate is the unit of the tea heritagecultural landscape. The tea estate landscape consists of tea plantations, tea factories andactivity area, staff quarters, labour housing (coolie lines), water drainage systems, teatrails and the associated Indian Tamil culture. The tea estate is significant as asettlement type in the island due to its unique character and elements. Therefore, teaestate settlements are considered as a third type of settlement pattern in Sri Lanka withurban and rural settlements. As agricultural heritage, the tea estate presents uniquecharacteristics that differ from paddy (rice) agricultural heritage. Major elements of teaestates are their topographical features (high-elevation locations), settlement pattern anddifferent sociocultural practices, all of which create the cultural landscape. Moreover,the cultural routes of Immigrant Indian Tamil Plantation workers are yet to be explored.The cultural representation of the Tamil plantation workers in estate or plantationlandscapes creates identity of the Tea cultural landscape.

Tourists that participated in the interview research enhanced the values of the teaplantations (Labookellie, Blue field and Pedro plantations) by providing their personalperceptions. Scenery, visual and recreational qualities, natural landscape features,traditional practice values, historical and heritage values and people’s cultural valueswere understood by the visitors as values depicted in the tea heritage of Sri Lanka.Every category that we considered contributed to the appreciation of tea heritage as acultural landscape. As existing active agriculture, tea heritage has to find appropriatemeans of protection instead of losing areas for urbanisation projects. Value adding as aconcept can be implemented to increase the economic value of the plantations. The teaheritage tourism can be promoted. The tourism board and other authorities are workingon value-adding campaigns and the perception of tourists on the heritage landscapevalues of tea estates can be used for the betterment of heritage protection.

Among the other suggestions, the visitor respondents stated that most of the valuesin the system itself could change due to external and internal factors and theysuggested that conservation of the cultural landscape values were important. Special

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policy enactment was another suggestion that European countries already practise.Heritage documentation and cultural landscape identification should be developed fromthe early stages of documentation and agricultural landscapes should be considered as aheritage due to their unique and comparative values. Nation branding could be centredaround tea heritage, as Sri Lanka is best known for tea production.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the BK21 plus Project in 2014 (Seoul National UniversityInterdisciplinary Program in Landscape Architecture, Global Leadership ProgramTowards Innovative Green Infrastructure).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Coolie-line is the word used by the Brtish colonial government for their labour houses which form a linewith stacked small square-shaped houses to house one or several families.

2. In the year 2010, the UNESCO declared Central Highlands as a World Heritage. The property comprisesthe Peak Wilderness Protected Area, the Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles ConservationForest.

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