Imperialism and the Natural World

Established in the belief that imperialism as a cultural phenomenon had as significant an effect on the dominant as it did on the subordinate societies, the Studies in Imperialism series seeks to develop the new socio-cultural approach which has emerged through cross-disciplinary work on popular culture, media studies, art history, the study of education and religion, sports history and children's literature. The cultural emphasis embraces studies of migration and race, while the older political, and constitutional, economic and military concerns are never far away. It incorporates comparative work on European and American empire-building, with the chronological focus primarily, though not exclusively, on the 19th and 20th centuries, when these cultural exchanges were most powerfully at work. Imperial studies have recently moved in new and exciting directions, embracing the history of the natural sciences, geography, medicine and conservation. This collection of essays aims to illustrate the work currently being undertaken in these areas.

Western science, medicine, geographical ideas and environmental assumptions were all vital to the creation of the imperial world system, so important in understanding the modern world order. The contributors to this volume illustrate new approaches to the study of conservation, botany, geology, economic geography, state scientific endeavour, and to entomological and medical research in relation to the imperial rule of both Britain and France. In his introduction the editor argues that scientific, medical and environmental issues are central to a full understanding of imperialism, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection will be of interest to those concerned with historical geography, the history of science, medicine and environmental issues as well as imperialism itself.