Objects, Histories and Encounters
British Guiana Seen Through Balata
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21664/2238-8869.2018v7i1.p124-141Palavras-chave:
Balata, Guiana Britânica, Everard im Thurn (1852-1932), George Samuel Jenman (1845-1902)Resumo
A árvore da balata foi conhecida como sendo uma das melhores árvores florestais da Guiana Britânica. Este artigo baseia-se em relatos dos séculos XIX e XX, publicações, jornais e correspondência sobre a balata da Guiana Britânica, um material semelhante à borracha. Estas referências foram cruzadas com objectos relacionados com a balata que se encontram na colecção de Botânica Económica, nos Jardins de Kew, e relatórios contemporâneos de ameríndios guianenses. Ao se cruzar estas informações, surgiu uma imagem mais clara da balata, bem como das histórias por detrás desta matéria-prima, nomeadamente: os encontros interculturais, o significado dos objectos e seu contexto, e como a colónia estava a ser gerida na época. Também se chegou à conclusão de que, apesar de a balata ter sido vista, durante os últimos anos do século XIX, como uma comodidade alternativa e uma possível resposta à crise do açúcar, não houve grande investimento para melhorar o seu comércio.
Referências
Albuquerque S 2013. Exploring Tropical Nature in British Guiana: RBG, Kew’s Collections Revisited, PhD Thesis, Birkbeck College, University of London.
Albuquerque S 2016. Glimpses of British Guiana at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. Culture & History Digital Journal, 5(June), p.e010.
Anonymous 1885. Balata. Scientific American, 53(9):133.
Anonymous, 1886. The Colonial and Indian Exhibition: British Guiana. The Times, p.13.
Bleekrode S 1857. Gutta Percha of Surinam. Journal of the Society for Arts, 5(255):625–627.
Brannt WT 1900. India rubber, gutta-percha, and balata: occurrence, geographical distribution, and cultivation of rubber plants; manner of obtaining and preparing the raw material, modes of working and utilizing them, and statistics of commerce, Lancaster: Wickersham Printing Company.
Chambers DW, Gillespie R 2001. Locality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge. Osiris, 15:221–240.
Cornish C 2013. Curating Science in an Age of Empire: Kew’s Museum of Economic Botany, PhD Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Dean JN 1939. Gutta-Percha and Balata in Submarine Cable Insulation. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, 31(6):699–704.
Endersby J 2008. Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the Practices of Victorian Science, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Fanshawe DB 1948. Forest products of British Guiana, part II. Minor Forest Products. In Forestry Bulletin No.2. British Guiana: Forestry Department.
Govaerts R, Barker C et al. 2014a. Euphorbiaceae. World Checklist of Selected Families, p.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available at: http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do.
Govaerts R, Harvey Y et al. 2014b. Sapotaceae. World Checklist of Selected Families, p.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available at: http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do.
Holmes W 1864. Substitutes For Gutta-Percha. Journal of the Society for Arts, 12(589):245.
im Thurn EF 1883. Between the Pomeroon and the Orinoco. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 2:211–239.
Jenman GS 1882. India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 1:44–82.
Jenman GS 1883. India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Trees of British Guiana. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 2:12–32.
Jenman GS 1885. Balata and the Balata Industry. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 4:153–233.
Kaur A 1998. A History of Forestry in Sarawak. Modern Asian Studies, 32(1):124.
Kemp AR 1931. Paragutta, A New Insulating Material for Submarine Cables. Bell System Technical Journal, 10(1):132–148.
Mangar TC 2009. Guiana: história e desenvolvimento econômico. Diplomacia, Estratégia & Política, (10):149–161.
Nesbitt M, Cornish C 2016. Seeds of Industry and Empire: Economic Botany Collections Between Nature and Culture. Journal of Museum Ethnography, (29):53–70.
Rodney W 1981. Plantation Society in Guyana. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 4(4):643–666.
Ross C 2017. Colonialism, Rubber, and the Rainforest. In Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 99–130.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew [homepage on the Internet]. ‘Collections’. [cited 2012 Sep 13]. Available form: http://www.kew.org/collections/index.htm.
Terry HL 1907. India-Rubber and its Manufacture. With Chapters on Gutta-Percha and Balata, London: Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd.
The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Guyana, 2009. Amerindian Act 2005. Legislation. Available at: http://amerindian.gov.gy.
The Plant List, 2013a. Ficus elastica Roxb. ex Hornem. The Plant List, p.Version 1.1. Available at: http://www.theplantlist.org/.
The Plant List, 2013b. Mimusops globosa C.F.Gaertn. The Plant List, p.Version 1.1. Available at: http://www.theplantlist.org/.
Tully J 2009. A Victorian Ecological Disaster: Imperialism, the Telegraph, and Gutta-Percha. Journal of World History, 20(4):559–579.
Tully J 2011. The Devil’s Milk: A Social History of Rubber, New York: Monthly Review Press.
van Andel T 2000. Non-timber Forest products of the North-West District of Guyana Part II: A field guide, Georgetown, Guyana: Tropenbos-Guyana series 8B.
MANUSCRIPTS
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11683, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to [Sir William Thiselton-Dyer], from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 4 June 1884, folios 446-447.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11684, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 5 June 1884, folio 448.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11685, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 25 June 1884, folio 449.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11687, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to [Sir William Thiselton-Dyer], from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 25 August, folios 451-452.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11693, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from 12 Panton Street, Cambridge [England], 2 May 1885, folio 458.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11703, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from Government Botanist's Office, Georgetown, Demerara [Guyana], 19 February 1886, folio 469.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, UK [RBG, Kew], Directors Correspondence, KLDC11582, Letter from Everard F. [Ferdinand] im Thurn to [Sir William Thiselton-Dyer], from Georgetown [Guyana], 25 May 1882, folio 301.
Albuquerque S 2016. Glimpses of British Guiana at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. Culture & History Digital Journal, 5(June), p.e010.
Anonymous 1885. Balata. Scientific American, 53(9):133.
Anonymous, 1886. The Colonial and Indian Exhibition: British Guiana. The Times, p.13.
Bleekrode S 1857. Gutta Percha of Surinam. Journal of the Society for Arts, 5(255):625–627.
Brannt WT 1900. India rubber, gutta-percha, and balata: occurrence, geographical distribution, and cultivation of rubber plants; manner of obtaining and preparing the raw material, modes of working and utilizing them, and statistics of commerce, Lancaster: Wickersham Printing Company.
Chambers DW, Gillespie R 2001. Locality in the History of Science: Colonial Science, Technoscience, and Indigenous Knowledge. Osiris, 15:221–240.
Cornish C 2013. Curating Science in an Age of Empire: Kew’s Museum of Economic Botany, PhD Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Dean JN 1939. Gutta-Percha and Balata in Submarine Cable Insulation. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, 31(6):699–704.
Endersby J 2008. Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the Practices of Victorian Science, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Fanshawe DB 1948. Forest products of British Guiana, part II. Minor Forest Products. In Forestry Bulletin No.2. British Guiana: Forestry Department.
Govaerts R, Barker C et al. 2014a. Euphorbiaceae. World Checklist of Selected Families, p.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available at: http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do.
Govaerts R, Harvey Y et al. 2014b. Sapotaceae. World Checklist of Selected Families, p.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available at: http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do.
Holmes W 1864. Substitutes For Gutta-Percha. Journal of the Society for Arts, 12(589):245.
im Thurn EF 1883. Between the Pomeroon and the Orinoco. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 2:211–239.
Jenman GS 1882. India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 1:44–82.
Jenman GS 1883. India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Trees of British Guiana. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 2:12–32.
Jenman GS 1885. Balata and the Balata Industry. Timehri, The Journal of the Royal Agricultural & Commercial Society of British Guiana, 4:153–233.
Kaur A 1998. A History of Forestry in Sarawak. Modern Asian Studies, 32(1):124.
Kemp AR 1931. Paragutta, A New Insulating Material for Submarine Cables. Bell System Technical Journal, 10(1):132–148.
Mangar TC 2009. Guiana: história e desenvolvimento econômico. Diplomacia, Estratégia & Política, (10):149–161.
Nesbitt M, Cornish C 2016. Seeds of Industry and Empire: Economic Botany Collections Between Nature and Culture. Journal of Museum Ethnography, (29):53–70.
Rodney W 1981. Plantation Society in Guyana. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 4(4):643–666.
Ross C 2017. Colonialism, Rubber, and the Rainforest. In Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 99–130.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew [homepage on the Internet]. ‘Collections’. [cited 2012 Sep 13]. Available form: http://www.kew.org/collections/index.htm.
Terry HL 1907. India-Rubber and its Manufacture. With Chapters on Gutta-Percha and Balata, London: Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd.
The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Guyana, 2009. Amerindian Act 2005. Legislation. Available at: http://amerindian.gov.gy.
The Plant List, 2013a. Ficus elastica Roxb. ex Hornem. The Plant List, p.Version 1.1. Available at: http://www.theplantlist.org/.
The Plant List, 2013b. Mimusops globosa C.F.Gaertn. The Plant List, p.Version 1.1. Available at: http://www.theplantlist.org/.
Tully J 2009. A Victorian Ecological Disaster: Imperialism, the Telegraph, and Gutta-Percha. Journal of World History, 20(4):559–579.
Tully J 2011. The Devil’s Milk: A Social History of Rubber, New York: Monthly Review Press.
van Andel T 2000. Non-timber Forest products of the North-West District of Guyana Part II: A field guide, Georgetown, Guyana: Tropenbos-Guyana series 8B.
MANUSCRIPTS
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11683, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to [Sir William Thiselton-Dyer], from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 4 June 1884, folios 446-447.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11684, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 5 June 1884, folio 448.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11685, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 25 June 1884, folio 449.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11687, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to [Sir William Thiselton-Dyer], from Government Botanist’s Office, Georgetown, British Guiana [Guyana], 25 August, folios 451-452.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11693, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from 12 Panton Street, Cambridge [England], 2 May 1885, folio 458.
RBG, Kew, Directors Correspondence, KLDC11703, Letter from G.S. [George Samuel] Jenman to The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from Government Botanist's Office, Georgetown, Demerara [Guyana], 19 February 1886, folio 469.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, UK [RBG, Kew], Directors Correspondence, KLDC11582, Letter from Everard F. [Ferdinand] im Thurn to [Sir William Thiselton-Dyer], from Georgetown [Guyana], 25 May 1882, folio 301.
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2018-05-11
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ALBUQUERQUE, Sara. Objects, Histories and Encounters: British Guiana Seen Through Balata. Fronteira: Journal of Social, Technological and Environmental Science, [S. l.], v. 7, n. 1, p. 124–141, 2018. DOI: 10.21664/2238-8869.2018v7i1.p124-141. Disponível em: https://periodicos.unievangelica.edu.br/index.php/fronteiras/article/view/2753. Acesso em: 22 dez. 2024.
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Dossiê - História, Ciência e Natureza
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