The New Worlds of Thomas Robert Malthus is a sweeping global and intellectual history that radically recasts our understanding of Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population, the most famous book on population ever written or ever likely to be. Malthus's Essay is also persistently misunderstood. First published anonymously in 1798, the Essay sys

Illustrations vii Tables vii Introduction 1 Part I: Population and the New World 1 Population, Empire, and America 17 2 Writing the Essay 54 Part II: New Worlds in the Essay, c. 1803 3 New Holland 91 4 The Americas 116 5 The South Sea 146 Part III: Malthus and the New World, 1803- 1834 6 Slavery and Abolition 171 7 Colonization and Emigration 201 8 The Essay in New Worlds 237 Coda 276 Acknowledgments 285 Abbreviations 287 Notes 289 Bibliography 317 Index 345

"In their important and persuasive new book, Bashford and Chaplin argue that, far from being an uncaring figure with tunnel vision, Malthus, properly understood, anticipates some of the most pressing international circumstances of our time... [A] provocative and profound work."--Mark S. Micale, Times Literary Supplement "Penetrating reappraisal of the philosopher's Essay on the Principle of Population."--Barb Kiser, Nature "A towering publication of prime intellect if ever there was one."--David Marx Book Reviews "Overall, an interesting, articulate work that effectively argues for placing Malthus in the context of world history."--Choice

"A richly contextualized and deeply researched portrait of Thomas Robert Malthus and his famously bleak analysis of the limits to population growth. This Malthus is steeped in the travel literature on the new worlds of the Americas and the Pacific, entangled in the West Indies sugar and slave trades, and in the thrall of theories of human development highly prejudicial to indigenous peoples under threat by European settlers. His Essay must now be read with new eyes."—Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science"This remarkable new book puts Malthus's original arguments about population growth and scarce resources back in their historical contexts of global ecologies and worldwide experiences of colonial and economic change. An indispensable guide to the structure of the environmental crisis and its long-term genealogy."—Simon Schaffer, coeditor of The Brokered World: Go-Betweens and Global Intelligence, 1770-1820"An entirely new way of reading the most famous book on population ever written. With remarkable force and erudition, Bashford and Chaplin show that no aspect of European history can be considered in isolation from the irrepressible European quest to understand—and master—the entire inhabited world. In their hands, Malthus emerges anew as a major intellectual presence."—Anthony Pagden, author of The Enlightenment: And Why It Still Matters"With this ambitious book, Bashford and Chaplin have succeeded in placing Malthus in the context of global history. A significant and original addition to the scholarly literature."—Donald Winch, author of Malthus: A Very Short Introduction"This is the most important new reading of the life and work of Malthus in a generation. The book is beautifully written and powerfully conceived, and the scholarship is impeccable. Bashford and Chaplin offer a paradigm-changing interpretation of Malthus."—Robert J. Mayhew, author of Malthus: The Life and Legacies of an Untimely Prophet