Article ID: CBB767267231

Spatio-temporal patterns in the history of colonial botanical exploration in India (2023)

unapi

A study of Indian botany during the colonial period provides us with an interdisciplinary sphere covering science, politics, sociology, economics, and other associated domains. The presentation of this rich legacy to general readers often restricts itself to the descriptive accounts of explorers with little analysis of the intermingling of socio-political dynamics, landscape, and geography. We attempt to revisit the colonial plant exploration history through spatio-temporal analyses to understand how explorers with divergent interests traversed the country in different periods and directions. Our findings show that the Himalayas drove most of the explorations followed by the Deccan peninsula, the Western Ghats, and the Gangetic plain. In general, company/crown administered areas were better surveyed and documented than native states. Furthermore, through a prioritization exercise, we identify the centers of prominence, highlighting their political, economic, and social importance in contemporary India. In sum, this article shows the potential of applying Historical Geographic Information System (HGIS) mapping for spearheading future research and creating space for possible dialogs among historians, political scientists, and ecologists.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB767267231/

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Authors & Contributors
Axelby, Richard
Carey, Daniel
Damodaran, Vinita
Harrison, Mark
Hassan, Narin F.
Khan, Gulfishan
Journals
Archives of Natural History
Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences
History of Science
Indian Journal of History of Science
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Publishers
New York University
Anthem Press
Ashgate
Ashgate Publishing
Bloomsbury Academic
Franz Steiner Verlag
Concepts
Colonialism
Botany
Agriculture
Travel; exploration
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Great Britain, colonies
People
Ammal, Edavaleth Kakkat Janaki
Burton, Isabel
Darlington, Cyril Dean
Duff Gordon, Lucie, Lady
Hakluyt, Richard
Howard, Albert, Sir
Time Periods
Modern
19th century
Early modern
18th century
20th century
20th century, early
Places
India
Great Britain
Africa
Bengal (India)
China
Europe
Institutions
Rockefeller Foundation
Botanic Garden (Calcutta, India)
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