Nature's government
Subtitle: science, imperial Britain, and the 'Improvement' of the World
By: Richard Drayton.
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 346
Subjects: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew -- History; Imperialism -- History; Botany, Economic -- Political aspects -- Great Britain; Botany -- Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History -- 18th century; Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Description: "Nature's Government is an attempt to juxtapose the histories of Britain, western science, and imperialism. It shows how colonial expansion, from the age of Alexander the Great to the twentieth century, led to complex kinds of knowledge. Science, and botany in particular, was fed by information culled from the exploration of the globe.

At the same time science was useful to imperialism: it guided the exploitation of exotic environments and made conquest seem necessary, legitimate, and beneficial."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-326) and index.