Empires of Nature and the Nature of Empires: Imperialism, Scotland and the Environment

Originally delivered as the Callander Lectures at the University of Aberdeen in 1995, this is a survey of the historiography of the environmental history of the British Empire, suggesting new modes of analysis and connections with the Scottish experience. Environmental history has grown considerably as an area of historical study. This historiography offers opportunities for the globalizing of human history in relation to its natural context. Within this field, some of the major studies have emerged in relation to the British Empire, examining the environmental effects of the social and economic impact of imperialism in the various continents of the world. The book undertakes a survey of this literature. It examines a wide range of research and publications, and divides them into the apocalyptic, the neo-whiggish and the longer-perspective schools. The author takes some of the contributors to task for their analytical excesses, and makes suggestions for the future direction of the field. In doing so, it draws parallels with current environmental issues.It also connects studies of the environment to the Scottish experience, and the dominance of the Scots in the relevant agencies of the British Empire.