Kew Garden and the British Plant Colonisation in the 19th Century

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the role of the Kew Garden in British plant colonization in the Asian and African countries which ultimately led to the expansion of the British Empire. Kew Garden played a major part in the development of several highly profitable and strategically important plant based industries in the tropical colonies. It also contributed to the growth of economic botany in England. These new plantation crops complemented Britain's home industries to form a comprehensive system of energy extraction and commodity exchange which for a time, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, made Britain the world's superpower. This article intends to examine the role of the Kew Garden in encouraging and facilitating plant transfers which had extraordinary impact in parts of the world subject to western imperial hegemony in the 19th and 20th centuries. Kew Garden was a great scientific research centre staffed by trained Botanists. The new technical knowledge of the Botanists of improved species and imperial method of cultivation and harvesting was transmitted to the colonial planters and was a crucial factor in the success of the new plantation crops and plant based industries.