Weather, Science, and the Environment in Colonial Malaya

Fiona Clare Williamson

ISBN 10: 0822948427 / ISBN 13: 9780822948421

Published by University of Pittsburgh Press, US, 2025

About this Item

A new addition to the University of Pittsburgh Press Intersections Series.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780822948421

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Weather, Science, and the Environment in Colonial Malaya
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, US
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0822948427
• ISBN 13: 9780822948421
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Tropical weather in colonial Malaya presented an unknown atmosphere that manifested in extremes and uncertainties. From 1840 to 1940, the Indigenous landscapes of Singapore and Penang Islands were altered in ways that will never be reclaimed, the natural ecology of much of the peninsula forever changed by the British colonial government. With this book, Fiona Williamson revisits the fraught relationship between climate, weather science, and empire within the Straits Settlements in the long nineteenth century. Her book examines official and scientific responses to local weathers within the multicultural ports and peripheries of Singapore and George Town, Malaysia. The challenges of creating a livable environment in tropical conditions, she explains, frequently pushed the colonial government beyond its capacities, and solutions often came at the expense of nature, which, ironically, made managing the weather more problematic. Imperial Weather offers a deep exploration of various official attempts to understand and apply structure to the previously unknown or uncontrollable through knowledge gathering, institutionalization, and technological and infrastructural change. Drawing from the history of science―especially the history of meteorology―and environmental history, it explores the multiple interests, capacities, and capabilities at play, including the state of scientific knowledge and the economy, funding, and importantly, socioenvironmental needs and practicalities.

About the Author

Fiona Williamson is professor of environmental history in the College of Integrative Studies at Singapore Management University. She is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and copresident of the International Commission for the History of Meteorology.