Work

Imperial Landscapes of Health: Place, Plants and People between India and Australia, 1800s–1900s

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: In the nineteenth century, place bore immediately and urgently on questions of imperialism, race, and health. This article considers European strategies to control local environments and improve healthiness through the exchange of people, plants, ideas and garden designs between India and Australia. Migration removed Europeans from unhealthy environments, either permanently (to Australia and elsewhere) or temporarily (to hill stations in India). Trees like the eucalyptus were introduced into India to enhance European health, based on belief they drained sources of disease. I argue a crucial new understanding of the intersection between health and place in the nineteenth-century British Empire can be provided by tracing the networks through which people, plants, and ideas moved to consider the broader imperial frameworks.

Source: Health and History

DOI: 10.1353/hah.2012.0014

Author: James Beattie

Institution: University of Waikato

Language: English

Topic: History of Medicine and Tropical Health

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green