Governing the environment in the early modern world : theory and practice / edited by Sara Miglietti and John Morgan.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Miglietti, Sara, editor.

Morgan, John (John Emrys), editor.

Series:

Routledge environmental humanities

Routledge environmental humanities series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--History.

Human ecology.

History.

Nature--Effect of human beings on--History.

Nature.

Nature--Effect of human beings on.

Global environmental change--History.

Global environmental change.

Environmental policy--History.

Environmental policy.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 195 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

Summary:

Throughout the early modern period, scientific debate and governmental action became increasingly preoccupied with the environment, generating discussion across Europe and the wider world as to how to improve land and climate for human benefit. This discourse eventually promoted the reconsideration of long-held beliefs about the role of climate in upholding the social order, driving economies and affecting public health. This book explores the relationship between cultural perceptions of the environment and practical attempts at environmental regulation and change between 1500 and 1800. Taking a cultural and intellectual approach to early modern environmental governance, this edited collection combines an interpretative perspective with new insights into a period largely unfamiliar to environmental historians. Using a rich and multifaceted narrative, this book offers an understanding as to how efforts to enhance productive aspects of the environment were both led by and contributed to new conceptualisations of the role of 'nature' in human society. It offers a cultural and intellectual approach to early modern environmental history and will be of special interest to environmental, cultural and intellectual historians, as well as anyone with an interest in the culture and politics of environmental governance.

Contents:

Introduction : ruling climates in the early modern world

Climate, travel and colonialism in the early modern world

Jean Bodin and the idea of anachorism

Marshes as a microclimate : governing with the environment in early modern France

Mastering north east England's "river of Tine"

Winter and discontent in early modern England

"Take plow and spade, build and plant and make the wasteland fruitful" : Gerrard Winstanley and the importance of labour in governing the earth

"A considerable change of climate" : glacial retreat and British policy in the early-nineteenth-century Arctic

Vast factories of febrile poison : wetlands, drainage, and the fate of American climates, 1750-1850.

Notes:

"Earthscan from Routledge"--Front cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138674776

113867477X

OCLC:

970395852

Publisher Number:

99972037535