Fruitless Trees
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.93 (956 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0804733961 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 344 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-03-30 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
An important book for those interested about the Portuguese conservation policies in Brazil during Colonial period I just start to read it, but it provides a good view of the Portuguese policies towards conservation of Brazilian forest resources in the colonial period.
"Miller's fascinating and original comparative study of the colonial Brazilian timber industry is an important contribution to the almost virgin field of Brazilian environmental history in the colonial period."—Luso-Brazilian Review
Fruitless Trees aims to make sense of what at first glance appears to be the senseless destruction of Brazil's incomparable timber.The forests have always been Brazil's most striking natural resource, and the Portuguese colonists anticipated enormous returns from its harvest, since Brazilian timber was more abundant and superior in quality to anything known in Europe, North America, or even Portugal's East Indian possessions. The author attributes this in part to several ecological and geographical factors including the lack of common stands, the preponderance of timbers too dense to be floated inexpensively downstream, and the dearth of safe ports and navigable rivers. The Portuguese king's declaration that Brazil's best timbers belonged to him exclusively resulted in vast tracts of timber being resentfully set afire by Brazilians who had no incentive to harvest them.. This work investigates the relationship between Portugal's colonial forest policies and the successes of the colonial venture, showing how forest law shaped the fortunes of the timber sector and promoted or obstructed colonial development. But the most significant factor in timber's unexpectedly poor showing was the Crown's effort from 1652 to monopolize Brazil's best timbers. Timber was the steel, oil, coal, and plastic of the early modern period, and the effectiveness of its extraction affected nearly eve