Durham E-Theses Territorialising Colonial Environments: A Comparison of Colonial Sciences on Land Demarcation in Japanese Taiwan and British Malaya YEH, ER-JIAN How to cite: YEH, ER-JIAN (2011) Territorialising Colonial Environments: A Comparison of Colonial Sciences on Land Demarcation in Japanese Taiwan and British Malaya, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3199/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Territorialising Colonial Environments: A Comparison of Colonial Sciences on Land Demarcation in Japanese Taiwan and British Malaya ER-JIAN YEH Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography Durham University United Kingdom September 2011 Supervised by Doctor Michael A. Crang, Divya Tolia-Kelly, and Cheryl McEwan i ABSTRACT The thesis seeks to establish how far, and in what ways, colonial science articulates a distinctive mode of environmental conceptions and governance. It concerns the entanglement between the government, science, and knowledge. To examine how these combinations may vary it compares how land demarcation progressed in two different imperial territories: Japanese Taiwan (Formosa) and British Malaya. The discussion is based on this pair of case studies of environmental territorialisation, driven by imperial forces, whose legacy is still apparent today. The abrupt nineteenth-century colonial intrusion into these two sparsely populated areas, though occurring in different ways and scales, evoked a similarly dramatic landscape change from the centuries-old indigenous practice of subsistence activities. There are both similarities and considerable divergences referring to land classification in these two dependencies. In both cases most of the land was delineated as state-controlled forest reserve, which not only enhanced the revenue of government but also supplied the required timber or fuel resources. Another space delimited was aboriginal reservation that sustained the native subsistence or usufructory rights at least in part. By examining the genealogy and material discursive practices of territorialisation as they interacted with local environments and peoples the thesis offers a comparative account of the logics of different empires and the construction of territorial administration. It examines the political ecology of how colonial nature was produced as a resource, with the commodification of forest areas. It unpacks the two cases by studying the role of colonial science, especially cartographic practices, in demarcating and defining territories and peoples. It contrasts the state run surveys in Colonised Formosa with the networks of knowledge production in British Malaya. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Research Question 1 Selection of Cases 2 Geographical Context, Historical Background and Social Framework 5 Aims and Objectives 12 Concept 13 Framework, Method, and Sources 19 Chapter 2 Theoretical Development and Assessment 24 -Government, Science and Knowledge Introduction 24 Combining Political Ecology Frameworks and Networks of Knowledge 25 Formation Territorialisation within the Colonial Science 36 Conclusion 51 Chapter 3 Knowledge Exploration in (Pre) Colonial Taiwan 53 Introduction 53 Treaty Ports and the Influx of Westerners 55 Travelling Topology Modelled by Native Networks 59 Restricted Spatial Extent and Lateral Geographical Images 66 Inherited Japanese Knowledge from the Westerners 72 Sporadic Traverse Expeditions by the Japanese 79 Civilian Surveys by the Board of Production 85 Conclusion 90 Chapter 4 Environmental Demarcation in Japanese Taiwan 94 Introduction 94 Foundation of Legal Status 94 Establishment of Governing Departments 97 Enclosure of Ruling Space 99 Framing of Developing Strategy 107 Construction of Forestry Environment 114 Conclusion 129 Chapter 5 British Surveying in Malaya 131 Introduction 131 Early Contacts and Developments 132 Deficiency of Knowledge 136 Commencement of Knowledge 142 Growth of Knowledge 154 Conclusion 161 iii Chapter 6 Land Categories in British Malaya 164 Introduction 164 From Diverse Practices to Uniform Classification 169 Systematisation of Tin Mines Administration 171 Codification of Agricultural Plantations Management 174 Design of Forest Reserve and Malay Reservation 176 Conclusion 180 Chapter 7 Conclusion 183 Introduction 183 Geographical and Historical Context 186 Environmental Discourse: From Aboriginal Land to Colonial Territory 189 Cartographic Governance 198 Bibliography 204 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES Page 1-1 Forest Management Districts in Japanese Taiwan 8 3-1 Field sites and routes of Western exploration up to 1895 63 3-2 British Knowledge on the island of Formosa in the 1860s. 70 3-3 British Knowledge on the island of Formosa in the 1890s. 70 3-4 Taiwan Isles Map, 1895 74 3-5 Comparison of Western explorations and geological and forest surveys by the 92 Japanese 4-1 The Forest Survey Areas 116 4-2 Distribution of RF, NF, QF in Highland Taiwan 122 4-3 Partition in Nai-ko-hei 126 5-1 Outline Map of the Malay Peninsula, c.a.1875 135 5-2 The Malayan Peninsula 1862 (Surveyor-General of India) 140 5-3 Malay Peninsula of 1875 (Surveyor General’s Office, Singapore) 140 5-4 Sketch Map of a Journey across the Malay Peninsula 148 5-5 Portions of Daly’s ‘Map of the Malay Peninsula’, 1882 153 5-6 Revenue Survey Map of Perak 1901 160 6-1 Land categories in Malaya,1910 165 TABLES Page 1-1 Archives, Reports, and Series Held in Different Locations 23 3-1 Extract of Western Explorations, 1860-1895 60 3-2 Contents of ‘The Taiwan Isles’ 78 3-3 Forest Surveys immediately after the Japanese annexation of Taiwan 89 4-1 Comparison of Staff Numbers in the Forest Section and Mining Section 111 5-1 Malay words and its English meaning 153 6-1 Comparative table of land revenue 166 PLATES Page 1-1 Forest and railroad in Mt. Ari, Taiwan 1910s 4 1-2 Coconut estate, Singapore 1900s 4 1-3 Big men in early colonial Malaya 12 3-1 Robert Swinhoe, the first western officer stationed in the late Qing dynasty Taiwan 58 3-2 Honda’s Japanese Forest Belts, with special reference to Taiwan island 85 4-1 Mt. Nanko showing it was then covered by dense coniferous forest 104 4-2 Savage Territory survey in Mabayan Heights, Mokkui Valley 1915 106 4-3 Irrigation Canal in an Aboriginal Colony, Da-nan-o 123 v STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completing this Ph.D. thesis I have incurred boundless debts. I am deeply grateful to the Ministry of Education, Taiwan for its generous support. The Ministry of Education made the third and fourth year of my study career more financially possible by granting the Study Overseas Award. Also appreciating a small grant from the Dudley Stamp Memorial Trust. To many individuals inhabiting in temperate, sub-tropical and tropical zones I owe an enormous amount. In North East England, the primary supervisor Mike Crang displayed inexhaustible patience with my work and requests. Divya Tolia-Kelly and Cheryl McEwan also helps a lot. Miaulin Chou with her husband, Michael, based in London kindly offered warming space, whilst commuting the National Archives back and forth. Although studying abroad, I’ve never forgotten the encouragement given by the teachers, colleagues and friends from Taiwan. In Malaysia I benefited from the help of librarians, Arkib Negara (National Archives of Malaysia). Both of the Lau Family in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and the Pek Family in Johor Bahru, Johor provided generous accommodation. Their warmth and friendliness made a field trip to middle and southern Malaysia in 2007 an experience I shall always treasure. Words will never express clearly enough the immeasurable thanks and the debts that I owe to my wife, Huei-Jiuan Chiou, for all she has done for me, but I will nevertheless try. Huei-Jiuan has lived with this research everyday for a half decade, while Shao-Ning, my little daughter, has joined in since 2009. vi Chapter 1 Introduction The thesis seeks to establish how far, and in what ways, colonial science articulated a distinctive mode of environmental understanding and governance. The thesis concerns the entanglement between the government, science, and knowledge, in which I compare how land demarcation progressed in two imperial territories: Japanese Taiwan and British Malaya. This pair of case studies reveal practices of environmental territorialisation, driven by imperial forces, whose legacy is still apparent today. The abrupt nineteenth-century colonial intrusion into these two sparsely populated areas, though in different ways and scales, in each case entailed a landscape change that contrasted new imperial production with the centuries-old