On 26 November 2013, Dr. Sebastian Joseph was invited to deliver a lecture at the UGC-National seminar on Indian Environmental Issues: Lessons from History, organized by the Department of History, St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam. The lecture was entitled, The ‘Bark of Barks’ and the Making of Colonialism. In this lecture, Dr. Joseph argued that in the nineteenth century, plants and plant transfer technologies played a crucial role in the making of colonialism and empire building in Asia and Africa. Botanical gardens and plant collectors were seriously engaged in the collection of medicinal barks and its adaptation in colonial spaces, contributing to the growth and maintenance of colonial empires. It was in this context that the discovery of quinine prophylaxis furthered the European invasion of Asia and Africa, and the dreadful fever, malaria, was defeated. The triumph over the disease was a triumph over colonial spaces, its people and resources. It enabled the white man to open up the ‘hostile’ tropics and develop empires. White settlements became possible – only because of quinine – in areas which hitherto had been defended more ably by disease than by any human agency. It facilitated the transfer of vast numbers of people as cheap labour, probably over 20 million in all. In British India, large number of cinchona plantations were established, especially in the Nilgiris, British Malabar and in the hilly regions of Travancore and Cochin to cater to the needs of British army, officials and civilians. Steps were also taken to distribute cheaper varieties of quinine for the natives, but the emphasis was on the safety and security of the white population and the coolies working in European plantations. The aim was to protect not only white men exposed to the risk of the disease, but also coolies involved in continuous labour in malarial regions. The paper argued that botanical research pertaining to cinchona plant transfer and opening of cinchona plantations were inevitable steps in the expansion of empires and colonial structures in India and elsewhere. The paper widened the scope of environmental history by touching on multiple histories – of environment, medicine, colonial science, labour.
