ABSTRACT
Whilst the agricultural history, especially in its evolution under the British colonial regime, has attracted major scientific attention, the management of forests has long been neglected by the historical sciences. Only in the last two decades of the twentieth century did this change following the particular impetus from the growing worldwide interest into environmental issues (and changes). Against this backdrop, environmental research into (British) India concentrated on the forest history of the subcontinent since the middle of the nineteenth century as it is here that the first and most serious interventions in the “natural” environment can be observed. Related to these interventions, and often as a direct result, are major changes in the human environment. The indigenous peoples of these forests are among those who were affected most by these changes and have also, to a much greater extent, seen their rights appropriated, transformed and suppressed by the colonial state. It is on this fact that the main historical focus of British India lies,1 whilst the trade of forest goods and products has received somewhat less attention.2 Only recently has the category of wildlife been added to the environmental research agenda.3
