Table Of ContentGreen imperialism
Green imperialism
STUDIES IN ENVIRONMENT AND HISTORY
Green imperialism
Editors
Donald Worster University ofKansas Colonial expansion, tropical island Edens and the
AlfredW. Crosby University ofTexasatAustin
.. origins of environmentalism,
,
'
Advisory Board 1600-1860
ReidBryson Institutefor EnvironmentalStudies, University ofWisconsin
RaymondDasmann College Eight, University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz
E. Le RoyLadurie CollegedeFrance
WilliamMcNeill Department ofHistory, University ofChicago
CarolynMerchant College ofNatural Resources, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley , RICHARD H. GROVE
Thad Tate Commonmealth Centerfor theStudy ofAmericanCulture, College of
I InstituteofAdvancedStudies,
WilliamandMalJl
AustralianNational University
GlobalEnvironmentalHistory Unit,
Other books in the series DepartmentoftheHistoryandPhilosophy ofScience,
I
f UniversityofCambridge
Donald Worster Nature'sEconomy: A HistoryofEcologicalIdeas
Kenneth F. Kiple TheCaribbean Slave: A BiologicalHistory ClareHall, University ofCambridge
AlfredW. Crosby EcologicalImperialism: TheBiologicalExpansion ofEurope,
900-1900
Arthur F. McEvoy TheFisherman's Problem: Ecology andLaw in theCalifornia
Fisheries, 1850-1980
Robert Harms GamesAgainstNature:An Eco-CulturalHistoryoftheNunu of
EquatorialAfrica
Warren Dean Brazil andtheStrugglefor Rubber: A Study inEnvironmentalHistory
Samuel P. Hays Beauty,Health,andPermanence: EnvironmentalPolitics inthe
UnitedStates,1955-1985
Donald Worster TheEndsoftheEarth:Perspectives onModern Environmental
History
MichaelWilliams Americansand TheirForests: A Historical Geography
Timothy Silver A New Face ontheCountryside: Indians, Colonists, andSlavesinthe
SouthAtlantic Forests, 1500-1800
Theodore Steinberg Nature Incorporated: Industrialization andtheWatersof
New England
J.R. McNeill TheMoun/ainsoftheMediterranean World: An EnvironmentalHistory
Elinor G. K. Melville A PlagueofSheep:EnvironmentalConsequences oftheConquest
ofMexico
:.: CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITYPRESS
STUDIES IN ENVIRONMENT AND HISTORY
Green imperialism
Editors
Donald Worster University ofKansas Colonial expansion, tropical island Edens and the
AlfredW. Crosby University ofTexasatAustin
.. origins of environmentalism,
,
'
Advisory Board 1600-1860
ReidBryson Institutefor EnvironmentalStudies, University ofWisconsin
RaymondDasmann College Eight, University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz
E. Le RoyLadurie CollegedeFrance
WilliamMcNeill Department ofHistory, University ofChicago
CarolynMerchant College ofNatural Resources, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley , RICHARD H. GROVE
Thad Tate Commonmealth Centerfor theStudy ofAmericanCulture, College of
I InstituteofAdvancedStudies,
WilliamandMalJl
AustralianNational University
GlobalEnvironmentalHistory Unit,
Other books in the series DepartmentoftheHistoryandPhilosophy ofScience,
I
f UniversityofCambridge
Donald Worster Nature'sEconomy: A HistoryofEcologicalIdeas
Kenneth F. Kiple TheCaribbean Slave: A BiologicalHistory ClareHall, University ofCambridge
AlfredW. Crosby EcologicalImperialism: TheBiologicalExpansion ofEurope,
900-1900
Arthur F. McEvoy TheFisherman's Problem: Ecology andLaw in theCalifornia
Fisheries, 1850-1980
Robert Harms GamesAgainstNature:An Eco-CulturalHistoryoftheNunu of
EquatorialAfrica
Warren Dean Brazil andtheStrugglefor Rubber: A Study inEnvironmentalHistory
Samuel P. Hays Beauty,Health,andPermanence: EnvironmentalPolitics inthe
UnitedStates,1955-1985
Donald Worster TheEndsoftheEarth:Perspectives onModern Environmental
History
MichaelWilliams Americansand TheirForests: A Historical Geography
Timothy Silver A New Face ontheCountryside: Indians, Colonists, andSlavesinthe
SouthAtlantic Forests, 1500-1800
Theodore Steinberg Nature Incorporated: Industrialization andtheWatersof
New England
J.R. McNeill TheMoun/ainsoftheMediterranean World: An EnvironmentalHistory
Elinor G. K. Melville A PlagueofSheep:EnvironmentalConsequences oftheConquest
ofMexico
:.: CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITYPRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University ofCambridge
The PittBuilding, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 lRP
4 West zoth Street, New York, NY 100II-42II, USA
0
10Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166,Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1995
For Jean and Dick
First published 1995
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Grove, Richard (Richard H.)
Green imperialism: colonialexpansion, tropical island Edens and
the originsof environmentalism, 1600-1860 / Richard H. Grove.
p. em. - (Studies in environmentand history)
ISBN 0-521-4°385-5
1. Environmentalism~ History. 2. East India Company - History.
I. Title. II. Series.
GE195·G76 1994
333.7'2'0903-dc20 93-28654
CIP
Acatalogrecord for this bookisavailablefrom the British Library.
ISBN 0-521-4°385-5 hardback
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University ofCambridge
The PittBuilding, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 lRP
4 West zoth Street, New York, NY 100II-42II, USA
0
10Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166,Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1995
For Jean and Dick
First published 1995
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Grove, Richard (Richard H.)
Green imperialism: colonialexpansion, tropical island Edens and
the originsof environmentalism, 1600-1860 / Richard H. Grove.
p. em. - (Studies in environmentand history)
ISBN 0-521-4°385-5
1. Environmentalism~ History. 2. East India Company - History.
I. Title. II. Series.
GE195·G76 1994
333.7'2'0903-dc20 93-28654
CIP
Acatalogrecord for this bookisavailablefrom the British Library.
ISBN 0-521-4°385-5 hardback
Contents
List ofillustrations pageviii
Acknowledgements Xl
B
Introduction
Edens, islands andearly empires
2 Indigenous knowledgeand the significanceof South-West t
India for Portuguese and Dutch constructions of tropical
nature 73
3 The English and Dutch East India companies and the
t. seventeenth-century environmental crisis in the colonies C9; )
4 Stephen Hales and some Newtonian antecedents of climatic i
~
environmentalism, 1700-1763 153'J/
5 Protecting the climate of paradise: Pierre Poivre and the
conservation of Mauritius under the ancien regime 168
4
6 Climate, conservation and Carib resistance: The British and
the forests of the Eastern Caribbean, 1760-1800
7 The beginnings of globalenvironmentalism: Professional
science,oceanic islands and the East India Company,
1768-1838 309
8 Diagnosing 'Crisis: The East India Company medical services
and the emergence of state conservationism in India,
1760-1857
Conclusion: The colonialstate and the origins of western
environmentalism
Selectbibliography
Index
vii
Contents
List ofillustrations pageviii
Acknowledgements Xl
B
Introduction
Edens, islands andearly empires
2 Indigenous knowledgeand the significanceof South-West t
India for Portuguese and Dutch constructions of tropical
nature 73
3 The English and Dutch East India companies and the
t. seventeenth-century environmental crisis in the colonies C9; )
4 Stephen Hales and some Newtonian antecedents of climatic i
~
environmentalism, 1700-1763 153'J/
5 Protecting the climate of paradise: Pierre Poivre and the
conservation of Mauritius under the ancien regime 168
4
6 Climate, conservation and Carib resistance: The British and
the forests of the Eastern Caribbean, 1760-1800
7 The beginnings of globalenvironmentalism: Professional
science,oceanic islands and the East India Company,
1768-1838 309
8 Diagnosing 'Crisis: The East India Company medical services
and the emergence of state conservationism in India,
1760-1857
Conclusion: The colonialstate and the origins of western
environmentalism
Selectbibliography
Index
vii
\'"
1.
..,
t
:};: Illustrations
~ IX
-"!
21 William Roxburgh, superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic
.~.,,- Garden, 1793-1813 356
...I
Illustrations j' 22 Hugh Francis Cleghorn (182CHJ5) 452
J 23 The Committee of the Madras Literary and Scientific
t
•. Society in about 1860
t
=:'1
i'
page48 j
I Early Dutch colonists on Mauritius in 1599 I
2 The Huguenot imageof the island of Rodriguez 49
3 Acleared landscape on Barbados at Hackelton's Cliff, mid
66
eighteenth century
4 An engraving of Cape Town made shortly after the first
92
Dutch settlement
97
5 A locationmap of St Helena
6 St Helena in about 1570: Portuguese ships at anchor in the
Jamestown roads at the time ofLinschoten's visit 99
7 A map of Mauritius in about 1670, from the 'secret atlas'
131
of the Dutch East India Company
8 Ebony cutting on the coastof Mauritius, 1677 139
147
9 Late-seventeenth-century engraving of the dodo
10 The physiocrat Pierre Poivre (1711)-86) 170
180
II Mauritius in 1801, showing limited forest clearance
207
12 Mauritius in 1835
13 The Pacificislands ofTinian and Juan Fernandez in the
234
1740S
14 Kingstown, St Vincent, about 1815 270
IS Map ofTobago showingthe forest reservesestablished
according to the proclamation of 1764 272
275
16 SoameJenyns
289
17 Chief Chatoyer and his wives
18 Anderson's drawing of the Morne Garou volcanoon St
307
Vincent
19 Robert Kyd, superintendent of the East India Company's
botanical garden at Sibpur, Calcutta, 1786-93 333
20 WilliamJohn Burchell (1782-1864) 351
viii
\'"
1.
..,
t
:};: Illustrations
~ IX
-"!
21 William Roxburgh, superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic
.~.,,- Garden, 1793-1813 356
...I
Illustrations j' 22 Hugh Francis Cleghorn (182CHJ5) 452
J 23 The Committee of the Madras Literary and Scientific
t
•. Society in about 1860
t
=:'1
i'
page48 j
I Early Dutch colonists on Mauritius in 1599 I
2 The Huguenot imageof the island of Rodriguez 49
3 Acleared landscape on Barbados at Hackelton's Cliff, mid
66
eighteenth century
4 An engraving of Cape Town made shortly after the first
92
Dutch settlement
97
5 A locationmap of St Helena
6 St Helena in about 1570: Portuguese ships at anchor in the
Jamestown roads at the time ofLinschoten's visit 99
7 A map of Mauritius in about 1670, from the 'secret atlas'
131
of the Dutch East India Company
8 Ebony cutting on the coastof Mauritius, 1677 139
147
9 Late-seventeenth-century engraving of the dodo
10 The physiocrat Pierre Poivre (1711)-86) 170
180
II Mauritius in 1801, showing limited forest clearance
207
12 Mauritius in 1835
13 The Pacificislands ofTinian and Juan Fernandez in the
234
1740S
14 Kingstown, St Vincent, about 1815 270
IS Map ofTobago showingthe forest reservesestablished
according to the proclamation of 1764 272
275
16 SoameJenyns
289
17 Chief Chatoyer and his wives
18 Anderson's drawing of the Morne Garou volcanoon St
307
Vincent
19 Robert Kyd, superintendent of the East India Company's
botanical garden at Sibpur, Calcutta, 1786-93 333
20 WilliamJohn Burchell (1782-1864) 351
viii
