Modern rug shoppers love Sisal for many reasons. It’s affordable, durable, and made of natural fibers. Sisal isn’t just for the 21st Century. Sisal has an older history than the United States or the New World concept itself. Please continue reading to discover more about Sisal’s history and its impressive pedigree.
What is Sisal?
The plant, Sisal, and the fiber spun from it are both called Sisal. The answer to “What is sisal?” is easy: Sisal comes from Sisal. When we refer to Sisal, the material, we mean the woven fibers, not the entire plant.
The scientific name of the sisal is Agave sisalana. This is closely related to blue agave, which produces tequila. The designation Sisalana comes from Sisal, Mexico. This is the city where the first sisal fiber products were shipped to international markets in the 19th Century.
Sisal has ancient roots in Mexico.
Sisal, as a plant or as a material of use, was not invented in the 19th Century. Before the Spanish conquest of America, Sisal had been known as Yaxci by the Mayans, and both the Mayans and Aztecs used it for ropes. The sisal ropes of today are among the strongest.
After the Spanish invasion of what is now Mexico a few centuries ago, Sisal was used to make more than just ropes and twine. The fibers of Sisal were eventually used in other products, such as hats and rugs. Soon, sisal-based products began to be exported from Mexico. A few decades later, the sisal plant itself was exported.
Richard Hindorf, a German agronomist, brought 1000 sisal trees from Mexico to Tanzania in 1893. Only 62 of the 1000 plants survived, enough to sow the seeds for Sisal in Africa. Around the same time, Sisal spread to other countries that had warm, arid climates, such as Brazil and Cuba.
The 20th Century and Sisal
In the first half of the 20th Century, Sisal was rapidly expanded in arid countries. In the 1920s, the sisal crop became more important for the economies of East Africa. Tanzania was the largest commercial producer of Sisal in the world at the time of independence in 1961.
East Africa wasn’t the only place that reaped the benefits of Sisal in the 20th Century. Although Sisal was introduced decades before, Brazil did not begin producing Sisal in significant quantities until the 1930s. Brazil became the second-largest producer of Sisal in the world by the mid-20th Century.
In Tanzania, Brazil, and other countries, the economic boom in Sisal lasted until 1980, when the introduction of nylon, a cheap synthetic material, brought an end to it. The competition from synthetic materials caused the production of Sisal to decrease, prices to plummet, and many plantations to go out of business in the 1980s.
Modern Resurgence
In 1997, the Tanzanian parliament created the Tanzania Sisal Board in order to supervise and expand the production of Sisal. Gulamabbas Dewji, the Tanzanian industrial conglomerate MeTL Group, led this initiative. They were able to buy many shuttered sisal plantations and revive the industry.
Sisal has gained popularity as both a crop and a material used to make many different products. In places such as Brazil, China, and other locations that have hot, arid climatic conditions, production continues to increase or remain steady. Sisal products such as sisal rugs can continue to be an affordable and sustainable option for consumers all over the world.