A History of Natural Resources in Asia The Wealth of Nature

by Bankoff, Greg; Boomgaard, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781403977366
• ISBN10: 1403977364
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-08-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Much has been written about the wealth of nations, the history of unequal distribution of wealth, and the creation of zones of affluence and deprivation, both within and between societies. This book sets out to explore why some Asian nations are more prosperous than others through an examination of how their interaction with and utilization of resources has changed over the centuries.

Author Biography

Greg Bankoff is Associate Professor of History, University of Auckland.  Peter Boomgaard is Professor of Environmental and Economic History of Southeast Asia, University of Amsterdam, and Senior Researcher, KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. vii
List of Tables	p. ix
Contributors	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Introduction: Natural Resources and the Shape of Asian History, 1500-2000	p. 1
Natural Resource Management and Mismanagement: Observations from Southeast Asian Agricultural History	p. 19
Resources and State
The Physical Transformation of the Central Thai Region in Premodern Times	p. 41
Poor Little Rich Islands: Metals in Bangka-Belitung and West Kalimantan	p. 61
Making Places and Making States: Agriculture, Metallurgy, and the Wealth of Nature in South India	p. 81
Forests and Development
Almost an Embarrassment of Riches: Changing Attitudes to the Forests in the Spanish Philippines	p. 103
Seeing the Timber for the Forest: The Wood in Japanese Capitalism	p. 123
Burma and the Politics of Teak: Dissecting a Resource Curse	p. 143
Losing Ground: Development, Natural Resources, and the Dispossession of Malaysia's Orang Asli	p. 163
Environments and Livelihoods
From Riches to Rags? Rice Production and Trade in Asia, Particularly Indonesia, 1500-1950	p. 185
Instructive and Nourishing Landscapes: Natural Resources, People, and the State in Late Imperial China	p. 205
Demographic Growth, Agricultural Expansion, and Livestock in the Lower Chindwin in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries	p. 227
"Stealing From the Gods": Fisheries and Local Use of Natural Resources in Vietnam 1800-2000	p. 245
Index	p. 265
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