HISTORY 286 - Plants and Empire

Institution:

Hobart William Smith Colleges

Subject:

Description:

After the 15th century, European empires dramatically transformed the geographical distribution of plants with enormous social, economic, cultural and biological consequences. The plantation system was a new form of economic enterprise dedicated to the production of a single cash crop usually brought from elsewhere such as sugar, tobacco, or cotton grown for distant markets. European administrators and merchants developed international trade in stimulants such as coffee and tea, medicinal plants such as cinchona bark (quinine), dye plants such as indigo, narcotics such as opium, food crops such as wheat and garden plants such as tulips and tree peonies. Students trace the globalization of traffic in plants and its consequences from Columbus to contemporary debates over genetically modified crops and bioprospecting. (Linton)

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

WWW.HWS.EDU

Phone Number:

(315) 781-3000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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