ENVIRONMENTAL WORLD HISTORY

The Tropics and Extraction

Agenda

• Lecture
• Work with groups onpresentation

1. read BannerIntroduction&Australia, TerraNullisby DesignonBlackboard
2. Reading ComprehensionQuiz #7all short answerresponse
3. prep presentation (1.5weeks)

European Colonization, 1945

Northerncontinent

Torrid zone

Theoretical southerncontinent(“Antichthones”orterraaustralis)

World view

Traditional Agriculture

• After thousands of years, improvedsustainability
• Self-sufficient
• Small scale
• Large variety
• Low technological stress
• Europeans stressed this system

Indonesia

• Low-lyingland(coasts)= riceagriculture
• Highlands(central) =shiftingagricultureand hunting/gathering

Dutch in Indonesia

• Imposed export quotas
• Controlled price, wages, and trade ofcommodities
• Peasantsreducedown food crops
• Cleared land to produce crops
• Fluctuating prices = peasantsecologicallydamaging subsistence agriculture

benzoinabaca

camphorpulses

cutchpetroleum

eaglewoodtortoiseshell

rattanzinc

sagorayskins

sappanwoodsaltpeter

Plantations

• Arise in rest of world19thcentury
• First in Americas (land, slave labor, climate)
• Necessary for crops

• Long harvest times = risky market = onlylarge businesses could manage

• Crop demand fluctuated

• Sugar/tobaccoconsumable goods
• Textile crops (cotton)start of IndustrialRev
• Vegetable oilsindustrial machines need

British India

• Economic needmeets political andcultural ideologies
• Robert Clivetakes over Bengal
• Legitimate rule

• Impose laws
• Take care of‘children’ Indians
• Rationalize use ofland

Consequences of Tropical Exploitation

• Integrated tropical regions into globalmarkets
• Economic ‘necessity’racial justification
• Long-term dependence on unstable globalforces that they don’t control

Homework

1. read BannerIntroduction&Australia, TerraNullisby DesignonBlackboard
2. Reading Comprehension Quiz #7all short answerresponse
3. in-class presentations in 1.5 weeks (next Thurs)

In-class presentation: Thurs Oct 17th

• Each group will read theIntroductionANDone chapterfromRossEcology and Power in the Age of Empire[postedunder: Course UnitsRossPresentations]
• Each group presents chapter for 15 minutes & discusses
• 1.Structure(how is the chapter organized–why is this the organization?Chronological? Thematic? How does this support his argument?)10 pts
• 2.Arguments:What is this chapter about? Why did empires do what theydid? What does he say about the environmental impact of this process?How does it relate to ‘ecology and power?’ Do we see any changes inthis process during its history? Why or why not?15 pts
• 3.Evidence:what primary and secondary sources does he cite? Give afew examples of each and analyze how those sources support or limit hisargument? Are they from the perspective of the ‘colonizers’ or‘colonized’? Are the secondary sources mostly older (before the 1970s)or newer (after the 1970s)?10 pts
• 4.Class connection:how does this chapter relate to the class generally?Connect to a few lectures and a few readings15 pts