Burning Table Mountain [electronic resource] : An Environmental History of Fire on the Cape Peninsula /
Pooley, S.author.
Cape Town's iconic Table Mountain and the surrounding peninsula has been a crucible for attempts to integrate the social and ecological dimensions of wild fire. This environmental history of humans and wildfire outlines these interactions from the practices of Khoikhoi herders to the conflagrations of January 2000. The region's unique, famously diverse fynbos vegetation has been transformed since European colonial settlement, through urbanisation and biological modifications, both intentional (forestry) and unintentional (biological invasions). In all the diverse visions people have formed for Table Mountain, aesthetic and utilitarian, fire has been regarded as a central problem. This book shows how scientific understandings of fire in fynbos developed slowly in the face of strong prejudices. Human impacts were intensified in the twentieth century, which provides the temporal focus for the book. The disjunctures between popular perception, expert knowledge, policy and management are explored, and the book supplements existing short-term scientific data with proxies on fire incidence trends recovered from historical records.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; List of Illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I: Fire at the Cape from Prehistory to 1900; 1 Fire at the Cape: From Prehistory to 1795; 2 Fire at the Cape: British Colonial Rule, 1795-1900; Part II: Fynbos, Fire Research and Management, c.1900-99; 3 Science, Management and Fire in Fynbos: 1900-45; 4 Science, Management and Fire in Fynbos: 1945-99; Part III: Fire on the Cape Peninsula, 1900-2000; 5 Fire Geography and Urbanisation on the Cape Peninsula; 6 Conserving Table Mountain; 7 Afforestation, Plant Invasions and Fire
8 Socio-Economic Causes of Fire: Population, Utilisation and Recreation9 Fire on the Cape Peninsula, 1900-2000; Conclusion; Appendix 1: Cape Peninsula Vegetation, Climate, Weather and Fire; Appendix 2: Fire Causes; Notes; Selected References; Index of People; Index of Places; Index of Plants and Animals Species, Genera; General Index
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Cape Town's iconic Table Mountain and the surrounding peninsula has been a crucible for attempts to integrate the social and ecological dimensions of wild fire. This environmental history of humans and wildfire outlines these interactions from the practices of Khoikhoi herders to the conflagrations of January 2000. The region's unique, famously diverse fynbos vegetation has been transformed since European colonial settlement, through urbanisation and biological modifications, both intentional (forestry) and unintentional (biological invasions). In all the diverse visions people have formed for Table Mountain, aesthetic and utilitarian, fire has been regarded as a central problem. This book shows how scientific understandings of fire in fynbos developed slowly in the face of strong prejudices. Human impacts were intensified in the twentieth century, which provides the temporal focus for the book. The disjunctures between popular perception, expert knowledge, policy and management are explored, and the book supplements existing short-term scientific data with proxies on fire incidence trends recovered from historical records.
Imperialism.
Human geography.
Public health.
Social history.
International relations.
Nature conservation.
Imperialism and Colonialism.
Human Geography.
Public Health.
Social History.
International Relations.
Nature Conservation.