Spatio-temporal patterns in the history of colonial botanical exploration in India

• Published in: Endeavour (New series) Vol. 47; no. 1-2; p. 100859
• Main Authors: Ray, Rajasri, Muralidhar, Madhupreeta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Colonial India; Geography; Historical botany; India; Plant exploration; Politics; Sociology; Spatio-temporal analysis; India; Historical botany; Spatio-temporal analysis; Colonial India; Plant exploration
• ISSN: 0160-9327; 1873-1929; 1873-1929
• DOI: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2023.100859

•History of the plant exploration in India is a suitable subject for historical GIS.•Spatio-temporal analysis of the archival data links botany with humanities.•Plant exploration works corroborate greatly with colonial expansion in India. A study of Indian botany during the colonial period provides us with an interdisciplinary sphere covering science, politics, sociology, economics, and other associated domains. The presentation of this rich legacy to general readers often restricts itself to the descriptive accounts of explorers with little analysis of the intermingling of socio-political dynamics, landscape, and geography. We attempt to revisit the colonial plant exploration history through spatio-temporal analyses to understand how explorers with divergent interests traversed the country in different periods and directions. Our findings show that the Himalayas drove most of the explorations followed by the Deccan peninsula, the Western Ghats, and the Gangetic plain. In general, company/crown administered areas were better surveyed and documented than native states. Furthermore, through a prioritization exercise, we identify the centers of prominence, highlighting their political, economic, and social importance in contemporary India. In sum, this article shows the potential of applying Historical Geographic Information System (HGIS) mapping for spearheading future research and creating space for possible dialogs among historians, political scientists, and ecologists.