 The Japanese chestnut ("kuri") was in cultivation before rice and the Chinese chestnut ("C. mollissima") possibly for 2,000 to 6,000 years.During British colonial rule in the mid-1700s to 1947, the sweet chestnut "(C. sativa)" was widely introduced in the temperate parts of the Indian subcontinent, mainly in the lower- to middle Himalayas.They are widely found in British-founded hill stations in northern India, and to a lesser extent in Bhutan and Nepal.