An Incoherent Empire: Environment, imperial networks, and administrative disorder in British Malaya, 1786-1930s

Many environmental histories of British Malaya have focused on the economic activities of rubber planting and tin mining, as well as their effects. In this thesis, however, I move away from these concerns to instead study how British colonial officials interacted with and perceived British Malaya's environment, c.1786-1930s. Doing so, I demonstrate how the colonial administration of British Malaya was more haphazard and disorderly than previously implied. In particular, I argue that this prevailing sense of administrative incoherence was facilitated by dysfunctional imperial networks and the presence of multiple, contradictory colonial projects.