Resurrecting the Granary of Rome: Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa PDF
Preview Resurrecting the Granary of Rome: Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa
Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page i Resurrecting the Granary of Rome Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page ii Ohio University Press Series in Ecology and History James L. A.Webb, Jr., Series Editor Conrad Totman The Green Archipelago:Forestry in Preindustrial Japan Timo Myllyntaus and Mikko Saiku,eds. Encountering the Past in Nature:Essays in Environmental History James L.A.Webb,Jr. Tropical Pioneers:Human Agency and Ecological Change in the Highlands ofSri Lanka,1800–1900 Stephen Dovers,Ruth Edgecombe,and Bill Guest,eds. South Africa’s Environmental History:Cases and Comparisons David M.Anderson Eroding the Commons:The Politics ofEcology in Baringo,Kenya,1890s–1963 William Beinart and JoAnn McGregor,eds. Social History and African Environments Michael L.Lewis Inventing Global Ecology:Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India,1947–1997 Christopher A.Conte Highland Sanctuary:Environmental History in Tanzania’s Usambara Mountains Kate B.Showers Imperial Gullies:Soil Erosion and Conservation in Lesotho Franz-JosefBrüggemeier,Mark Cioc,and Thomas Zeller,eds. How Green Were the Nazis? Nature,Environment,and Nation in the Third Reich Peter Thorsheim Inventing Pollution:Coal,Smoke,and Culture in Britain since 1800 Joseph Morgan Hodge Triumph ofthe Expert:Agrarian Doctrines ofDevelopment and the Legacies ofBritish Colonialism Diana K.Davis Resurrecting the Granary ofRome:Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page iii Resurrecting the Granary of Rome Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa Diana K. Davis OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS ATHENS Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page iv Ohio University Press,Athens,Ohio 45701 www.ohio.edu/oupress © 2007by Ohio University Press Printed in the United States ofAmerica All rights reserved Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ƒ™ 1413121110090807 54321 Publication ofthis book was made possible in part by a University Cooperative Society Subvention Grant awarded by the University ofTexas at Austin. Part ofchapter 5appeared in slightly different form as “Potential Forests:Degradation Narra- tives,Science,and Environmental Policy in Protectorate Morocco,1912–1956,”Environmental History10,no.2(2005):211–38.Reprinted by courtesy ofthe Forest History Society. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Davis,Diana K. Resurrecting the granary ofRome :environmental history and French colonial expansion in North Africa / Diana K.Davis. p.cm.— (Ohio University Press series in ecology and history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8214-1751-5(cloth :alk.paper) ISBN-10: 0-8214-1751-7(cloth :alk.paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8214-1752-2(pbk.:alk.paper) ISBN-10: 0-8214-1752-5 (pbk.:alk.paper) 1. Human ecology—Africa,North—History.2. Desertification—Africa,North.3. Deforesta- tion—Africa,North.4. Africa,North—Environmental conditions.5. Africa,North—His- tory—1517‒1882. 6. Africa,North—History—1882– 7. France—Colonies—Africa—History. 8. France—Colonies—Africa—Economic policy. I.Title. GF702.D38 2007 304.20961—dc22 2007007032 Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page v For J. E. H. Always and Forever Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page vi This land, once the object of intensive cultivation, was neither deforested nor depopulated as today . . . . [I]t was the abundant granary of Rome. J.-A.-N.Périer,De l’hygiène en Algérie,1847 When the Arabs, the Muslim hordes, invaded North Africa . . . this land was laid to waste. Henri Verne,La France en Algérie,1869 If . . . we decide to fight until our climate is transformed [by reforesta- tion], it will be wealth, it will be life, it will be Algeria returned to its original fertility: it will be Algeria becoming the granary of France! Bulletin de la Ligue du Reboisement de l’Algérie,1882 Desertification . . . is uniquely the act of humans . . . . [T]he nomad has created what we call the pseudo-desert zone. Louis Lavauden,“Les Forêts du Sahara,”1927 The Roman Empire’s bread-basket in North Africa, which once contained 600 cities, is now a desert. UN Chronicle,1997 Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page vii Contents List ofIllustrations ix Preface and Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1. Imperial Stories and Empirical Evidence 1 Chapter 2. Nature,Empire,and Narrative Origins,1830–48 16 Chapter 3. Idealism,Capitalism,and the Development ofthe Narrative,1848–70 45 Chapter 4. The Triumph ofthe Narrative,1871–1918 89 Chapter 5. Narrative,Science,Policy,and Practice, 1919to Independence 131 Chapter 6. Decolonization,the Colonial Narrative, and Environmental Policy Today 165 Appendix A Note on the Geography and Ecology ofthe Maghreb 177 Notes 187 Bibliography 263 Index 289 Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page viii Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page ix Illustrations Figures 1.1. Roman ruins ofCuicul at Djemila,Algeria 6 1.2. The High Plateaus near Constantine,Algeria 7 1.3. Diagram ofpollen core data,Morocco 11 2.1. Map ofRoman Algeria 18 2.2. The Grottoes ofDahara,by Johannot 35 3.1. Plan for a nomad village,Algeria 53 3.2. The “Arab invasion” 55 3.3. The garden ofthe National Forestry School at Nancy 74 4.1. Eucalyptus trees lining a street in Algiers 103 4.2. Louis Trabut,Jules Battandier,René Maire,and Émile Jahandiez 125 5.1. Sea ofolive trees,Sfax,Tunisia 137 5.2. Paul Boudy 141 5.3. Charles Flahault 145 5.4. Sacred grove at the tomb ofthe sultan,Tlemcen,Algeria 148 5.5. Louis Emberger 152 5.6. The stages ofvegetation in Morocco,after Emberger 153 5.7. Imilchil,Morocco 154 5.8. Migration permits for nomads,Tunisia 158 5.9. The High Plateaus,Algeria 162 Davis.i-xviii 5/25/07 8:59 AM Page x x| Illustrations App.1. Quintaux ofwheat per hectare,Algeria,1872–90 181 App.2. Rainfall at Algiers,1838–1938 182 Maps 1. The Maghreb 14 2. Stages ofoccupation ofAlgeria 31 3. Physical features ofthe Maghreb 179 Color Plates Following page 88 1. The Remains ofa Roman Aqueduct in the Region ofCherchell,by Huguet 2. Illustrated map of“Algeria,French Colony,”1847 3. Kabyle Herders,by Fromentin 4. Threshing Wheat in Algeria,by Leleux 5. Pilgrims Going to Mecca,by Belly 6. Le Sahara,by Guillaumet 7. The Land ofThirst,by Fromentin 8. Entrance to the Algerian Palace,1889Universal Exposition, Paris
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