Fencing the Forest

The creation of the edifice of imperial forestry in the late nineteenth century had major consequences for the people, trees and wildlife of India's Central Provinces. The new regime of 'command and control' of forested hills and valleys marked an ecological watershed. Fencing the Forest draws on archival and printed sources to shed fresh light on the ecological dimensions of the colonial impact on South Asia. The extensive woodlands of the Central Provinces of India became vital to imperial interests in the late nineteenth century, and this book argues that it was protection of these…