ABSTRACT
The East Indies reveal more clearly than any other area the interconnection between eighteenth-century science and empire which Sir Joseph Banks promoted and exemplified. The philosophy behind the transfer and propagation of tropical plants in the East Indies also had its origin with Banks, and various strands of his thought may be identified. The marriage of these two interests was a natural and productive one to Banks, who in the late eighteenth century sponsored attempts to increase the wealth of Britain's Indian Empire by the utilisation of scientific information and techniques. At the English end of these operations the East India Company generally made much use of the freely available services of Sir Joseph Banks in the evaluation of Indian products. Although most of the Indian raw materials would go to England, Banks was also optimistic about the Chinese market.
