University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > Cabinet of Natural History > The natural history of the Napoleonic Wars: collecting at the East India Company c. 1798–1820

  Browse A-Z

Log in

Googledetails Microsoftdetails

🔐 Log In

Information on

Subscribing to talksdetails Finding a talkdetails Adding a talkdetails Disseminating talksdetails Help and Documentationdetails

ℹī¸ Information

The natural history of the Napoleonic Wars: collecting at the East India Company c. 1798–1820

Download to your calendar using vCal

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Edwin Rose .

At the turn of the nineteenth century, at its headquarters in the City of London, the East India Company established a new museum. By mid-century, the museum at India House had grown to contain one of Europe’s most extensive collections of the natural history, arts and sciences of Asia. This talk uses the museum’s early natural history collections to explore the material relationship between scientific practice and imperial conflict. I will first describe some of the ways in which the Asian theatres of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars would shape the scope and scale of the East India Company’s collections. I will then consider one particular case: the British invasion of Dutch Java (1811) the collecting activities of Thomas Horsfield and Stamford Raffles, and the uses to which those Javanese collections were put. Such cases raise the question of how and why the practices of war came to encompass natural history surveys during this period. I will conclude by offering a few tentative answers to that question.

This talk is part of the Cabinet of Natural History series.

This talk is included in these lists:

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.

Other lists

Zoom seminar: https://zoom.us/j/96218879660 Webinar & FW11, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building. Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building, at CRASSH (7 West Road, CB3 9DT)

Other talks

title abstract tbc Shape modes of CP^1 vortices Teams Announced Title to be confirmed Proteomics: Expression Analysis and Subcellular Localisation C2D3 Computational Biology Annual Symposium 2026
 

Š 2006-2025 Talks.cam, University of Cambridge. Contact Us | Help and Documentation | Privacy and Publicity