Tropical Pioneers: Human Agency and Ecological Change in the Highlands of Sri Lanka, 1800-1900

by James L.A. Webb Jr.

Book Overview

In 1800, the highlands of Sri Lanka had some of the most biologically diverse primary tropical rainforest ecosystems in the world. By 1900, only a few craggy corners and mountain caps had been spared the fire stick. Highland villagers, through the extension of slash-and-burn agriculture, and British managers, through the creation of plantations-first of coffee, then cinchona, and finally tea-had removed virtually the entire primary forest cover. Tropical...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821414283
• ISBN13: 9780821414286
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 9.2"