Green Archipelago - Forestry in Pre-Industrial Japan

"This is a superb book on an important subject: the pulling back of Japan beginning in the late 17th century from the utter destruction of her forests—a course on which the country seemed bent in 1600—and from the ecological, economic, and social catastrophe that would have followed. The immense importance of the subject for Japanese history is obvious."—Thomas R. Smith, University of California, Berkeley

About the author

Conrad Totman is Professor of History at Yale University and author of Japan Before Perry: A Short History (California, 1981) and Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600-1843 (California, 1988).

Summary

The Japanese are conscious of the lush green of their homeland, which they refer to as 'the green archipelago'. This work states that this lush verdue is not a monument to nature's benevolence and Japanese aesthetic sensibilities, but the hard-earned result of generations of human toil that converted the archipelago into one great forest preserve.

Product details

• Authors: Conrad Totman, Totman Conrad
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.01.1989
• EAN: 9780520063129
• ISBN: 978-0-520-06312-9
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; SCIENCE / Earth Sciences / Geography, NATURE / Ecosystems & Habitats / Forests & Rainforests, Deforestation, Forests, rainforests, Forests and woodland