Environment and Empire

Environment and Empire uncovers the fascinating interaction between people and the elements in very different British colonies throughout the world. Providing a rich overview of socio-environmental change, driven by imperial forces, this fascinating new study examines a key global historical process of the last 500 years. British imperial authorities were concerned about overexploitation and the potential risks to nature and material production, and this book examines the rise of conservation as a result. It also looks at political reassertions by colonised peoples over natural resources, who in a post-imperial age have found a new voice, expressing ideas about landscape and heritage, and challenging views of who 'owns', and may regulate, nature.