This book considers the history of the alteration of environment by human action, and the reciprocal influence of the environment upon human history. It traces the long history of geographical shifts in human occupation, the difficult path to industrialization, the forced displacements and destruction of forests and marshes, the state-led industrialization in response to poverty and the destruction of forests due to European colonialism.
1. Global Studies; ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY IN GENERAL AND IN ASIA; OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FIRE; INDUSTRIALIZATION AS A SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION PROCESS; URBAN SANITATION THROUGH THE LENS OF THOMAS KUHN; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: READING KARL WILLIAM KAPP (1910-1976);; 2. Macro-Regional Studies; ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND CHINESE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT; OF NATURE AND NATIONALISM: RETHINKING INDIA'S NEHRU; EUROPEAN COLONIALISM AND TROPICAL FOREST DESTRUCTION IN BRAZIL: THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION BEYOND ECONOMIC HISTORY;; 3. Micro-regional Studies; GLOBALIZATION AND TRIBAL HISTORIES IN EASTERN INDIA; FROM THE GREEN REVOLUTION TO THE GENE REVOLUTION IN INDIA: 1965-2007; MIGRATION AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES: THE CASE OF KERALA, INDIA; POLICY ROOT IN ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION: THE CASE OF CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS OF BANGLADESH