“Scholars of environmental history would benefit from reading this lucidly written book, especially because it discusses diverse cases and has useful references to vernacular sources.”

Technology and Culture

“A coherent and excellent volume on the environmental history of the arable and non-arable colonial world…this book is a valuable and important addition to global and comparative world environmental history.”

European History Quarterly

“Cultivating the Colonies embarks on an ambitious task, investigating the nuts and bolts of colonial environmental governance and understanding how that study can illuminate the modern complexities in post-independence states. The editors and authors have done well not to shy away from the complexity of their task. Rather than attempting to address every nuance of colonial history, Cultivating the Colonies provides well defined case studies that will serve as examples for future study and investigation of colonial management of nature and people.”

Middle Ground Journal