Article ID: CBB848529337

Science on the Edge of Empire: E. a. Forsten (1811–1843) and the Natural History Committee (1820–1850) in the Netherlands Indies (2020)

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Between 1820 and 1850, the Dutch government sent several scientists to the Netherlands Indies as part of the Natuurkundige Commissie (Natural History Committee). One of these was naturalist Eltio Alegondus Forsten (1811–1843), who was sent on a collecting mission to Celebes (Sulawesi). This paper explores the ways in which Forsten was in a relationship of mutual interdependence with four spheres of influence, two in the Netherlands (those of the Dutch government and the natural history museum in Leiden) and two in the Dutch East Indies (those of the governor-general and the local population of Forsten's collecting grounds). These four entities served as focal points for Forsten's practice, and tried to use his mission for their own purposes. At the same time, Forsten negotiated their demands deftly and turned them to his own advantage in order to serve his own future career. Throughout, I draw parallels with the experiences of various other members of the Natural History Committee. I ultimately propose that this case study of Forsten provides a glimpse of a possible pattern for the relationship between government-sponsored science and empire in the Dutch East Indies in the first half of the 19th century.

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Article Wilko Graf von Hardenberg; Martin Mahony (2020) Introduction—up, down, Round and Round: Verticalities in the History of Science. Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (pp. 595-611). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Goss, Andrew M.
Adam, Luthfi
Cherry, Haydon
Eckert, Carsten
Zischler, Hanns
Weber, Andreas
Concepts
Natural history
Netherlands, colonies
Travel; exploration
Scientific expeditions
Imperialism
Botany
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
20th century
17th century
Places
East Indies
Netherlands
Indonesia
Spain
Java (Indonesia)
Brazil
Institutions
Auckland Institute and Musem
Dutch East India Company
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