The Burma Delta

by Adas, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780299283544
• ISBN10: 0299283542
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-20
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

In the decades following its annexation to the Indian Empire in 1852, Lower Burma (the Irrawaddy-Sittang delta region) was transformed from an underdeveloped and sparsely populated backwater of the Konbaung Empire into the worldrs"s largest exporter of rice. This seminal and far-reaching work focuses on two major aspects of that transformation: the growth of the agrarian sector of the rice industry of Lower Burma and the history of the plural society that evolved largely in response to rapid economic expansion.

Author Biography

Michael Adas is the Abraham E. Voorhees Professor of History at Rutgers University. He is author of Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance and Dominance by Design: Technological Imperatives and America's Civilizing Mission.

Table of Contents

List of Maps	p. ix
List of Tables	p. xi
Preface to the 2011 Edition	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
Citation of Selected Government Reports	p. xxiii
Introduction	p. 3
The Foundations of Social and Economic Development
The Delta Rice Frontier under Konbaung and Early British Rule	p. 15
The Early Phase of Growth, 1852-1907
Internal Migration in the Last Half of the Nineteenth Century	p. 41
Agrarian Development on the Advancing Rice Frontier	p. 58
Indian Immigration to Lower Burma in the First Phase of Development	p. 83
The Genesis of the Plural Society in Lower Burma: The Era of Symbiosis	p. 103
The Decades of Transition, 1908-30
The Closing Rice Frontier and New Patterns of Agrarian Development	p. 127
Changing Migration Patterns and the Rise of Competition in the Mature Plural Society	p. 154
The Years of Social and Economic Crises, 1931-41
The Depression and Burma's Time of Troubles: Communal Violence and Agrarian Rebellion	p. 185
Conclusion	p. 209
Glossary	p. 227
Appendix	p. 231
Bibliography	p. 235
Index	p. 253
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.