Cinchona, the Malaria Cure that Transformed Global Medicine

Cinchona, the Malaria Cure that Transformed Global Medicine

For centuries, malaria, a mosquito-borne illness, has relentlessly sickened populations around the globe, causing millions of deaths. However, it was not until the 17th century that a cure was discovered in the Andes. The bark of a flowering tree contained a powerful substance that could defeat the disease. The news about the miraculous cure was spread across Europe, becoming a powerful tool for imperial expansion as colonizers were now better e…