KING THEBAW AND THE ECOLOGICAL RAPE OF BURMA

"This pioneering work should be required reading for anyone who is concerned about the destruction of our environment and who is interested in understanding how past human societies, in this case Upper Burma in the late-1800s, have struggled with the problem. This is also the best biographical study ever made of Burma's colourful King Thebaw (1878-85), and in particular of his domineering and beautiful wife, Queen Supayalat. The book places their lives against the back­ground of the ecological and diplomatic occurrences that convulsed the Burmese kingdom of Mandalay during its last years of independence. The effects of the race between French and British commercial inter-ests, with the eager cooperation of the Burmese Government to deforest Upper Burma are related in fascinating detail. This process of deforestation set off a number of ecological disturbances which culminated in the partially man-made ‘drought’ of 1883-5.