Peter Boomgaard

Throughout all ages, the activities of mankind have weighed heavily upon the environment. In turn, changes in that environment have favoured the rise of certain social groups and limited the actions of others. Despite this, environmental history has remained a 'blind spot' for most social and economic historians. This is to be regretted, as the various and unequal effects of environmental change often explain the strengths and weaknesses of certain social groups, irrespective of their being defined along the lines of class, gender and ethnicity. This volume brings together the expertise of social and environmental historians in an effort to assess the extent to which transnational agents changed socioecological space as a consequence of globalization since the Late Middle Ages.

"By the dawn of the 19th century, the Netherlands had established colonies and trading posts across Asia and the rest of the world, linking them directly to international networks of intellectual exch

Water, in its many guises, has always played a powerful role in shaping Southeast Asian histories, cultures, societies and economies. This volume, the rewritten results of an international workshop, w

Much has been written about the wealth of nations, the history of unequal distribution of wealth, and the creation of zones of affluence and deprivation, both within and between societies. T

Historians of Southeast Asia have traditionally preferred to write about politics and culture rather than economics and ecology, and where they have looked at the history of agriculture they have most

Trade flows, cities and kinship relations can all be seen as elements of complex networks. In this collection of essays, all of which deal with Asia, we argue that there are good reasons to envisage t