Page 151 - Encyclopedia Of World History

deforestation 501

larger process that made sovereign independence possi- Mamdani, M. (1996). Citizen and subject: Contemporary Africa and the
ble for many small weak states, and made it much more legacy of late colonialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Manning, P. (1988). Francophone sub-Saharan Africa 1880–1985. Cam-
real than the nominal sovereignty enjoyed by China or bridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Egypt in the interwar years. Decolonization was a trans- Moore, R. J. (1983). Escape from empire: The Attlee government and the
Indian problem. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
formation of the international system that occurred
Robinson, R. E. (1972). The non-European foundations of European
under conditions of a gradually intensifying bipolar imperialism. In R. Owen & R. Sutcliffe (Eds.), Studies in the theory of
rivalry. It was slow, untidy, and incomplete—leaving a imperialism. London: Longman.
Portuguese empire until the mid-1970s, two white
minority “settler” states in southern Africa until 1980
and 1994, and a Soviet empire until after 1990. As a
phase in world history, decolonization may be consid- Deforestation
ered at an end. Empires will survive (there is a Chinese
empire in inner Asia, and a Russian empire in the Cau- eforestation is a wide-ranging term to cover the cut-
casus). New empires may appear, not necessarily in the Dting, using, and elimination of trees. Subsumed
form of territorial dominion. But the Europe-centered under it are other activities like fire, domestic heating and
world order that decolonization dismantled has gone for cooking, smelting metals, making ceramics, construction
good. of shelter and implements, and the creation of new land
for cultivation and grazing. Deforestation is so basic that
John G. Darwin
it is woven into the very fabric of human existence, and
See also Colonialism; Postcolonial Analysis hence of world history. Ever since the emergence of
Homo erectus some 500,000 years ago the quest to pro-
vide shelter, food, and warmth has resulted in the use and
Further Reading
abuse of the earth’s mantle of forests.
Betts, R. (1991). France and decolonization 1900–1960. Basingstoke,
UK: Palgrave-Macmillan. There is much uncertainty about the pace and locale of
Cain, P. J., & Hopkins, A. G. (2002). British imperialism (2nd ed.). Lon- deforestation during past (and even present) ages. This
don: Longman.
Darwin, J. (1988). Britain and decolonisation:The retreat from empire in revolves around the multiple meanings given to three
the post-war world. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan. basic questions. What exactly is a forest? What was the
Darwin, J. (1999). Decolonization and the end of empire. In R.Winks extent and density of trees at any past given time? And
(Ed.), Oxford history of the British empire: Vol 5. Historiography.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. what constitutes “deforestation”? Pragmatically one may
Fieldhouse, D. K. (1999). The West and the Third World. Oxford, UK: say that a forest can range from a closed-canopy tree
Basil Blackwell.
Gallagher, J. A. (1982). The decline, revival, and fall of the British cover to a more open woodland, which affects density.
empire. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. “Deforestation” is used loosely to mean any process
Hargreaves, J. D. (1996). Decolonization in Africa (2nd ed.). Harlow, UK: which modifies the original tree cover, from clear-felling,
Addison Wesley Longman.
Holland, R. F. (1985). European decolonization 1918–1981: An intro- to thinning, to occasional fire. However, it should not be
ductory survey. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan. forgotten that forests regrow, often with surprising speed
Howe, S. (1993). Anti-colonialism in British politics:The left and the end
of empire. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. and vigor, and forest regrowth has occurred whenever
Kahler, M. (1984). Decolonization in Britain and France: The domestic pressures on it have been relaxed.This was observed after
consequences of international relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni- the Mayan population collapse around 800 CE, after the
versity Press.
Louis,W. R. (1977). Imperialism at bay:The United States and the decol- Great Plague in Europe after 1348, after the initial Euro-
onization of the British empire 1941–1945. Oxford, UK: Oxford Uni- pean encounter with the Americas in 1492, and with
versity Press.
Louis,W. R., & Robinson, R. E. (1994).The imperialism of decoloniza- agricultural land abandonment in post-1910 eastern
tion. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 22, 462–511. United States and post-1980 Europe.