Full Moon Flood Tide

A wonderful addition to the library of coastal sailors, or armchair travellers and historians... -Royal City Record

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British sought to master the physical properties of the oceans; in the second half, they lorded over large portions of the oceans’ outer rim. The dominance of Her Majesty’s navy was due in no small part to collaboration between the British Admiralty, the maritime community, and the scientific elite. Together, they transformed the vast emptiness of the ocean into an ordered and bounded grid. In the process, the modern scientist emerged. Science itself expanded from a limited and local undertaking receiving parsimonious state support to worldwide and relatively well financed research involving a hierarchy of practitioners. Analyzing the economic, political, social, and scientific changes on which the British sailed to power, Tides of History shows how the British Admiralty collaborated closely not only with scholars, such as William Whewell, but also with the maritime community —sailors, local tide table makers, dockyard officials, and harbormasters—in order to systematize knowledge of the world’s oceans, coasts, ports, and estuaries. As Michael S. Reidy points out, Britain’s security and prosperity as a maritime nation depended on its ability to maneuver through the oceans and dominate coasts and channels. The practice of science and the rise of the scientist became inextricably linked to the process of European expansion.

This book offers an extensive study of indigenous communities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, and their methods of forest conservation, along with an exploration of the impact of forestry operations in the islands and the wide scale damage they have incurred on both the land and the people. Through an in-depth analysis of the contrasting indigenous practices and governmental forestry schemes, the author has compared the modern ‘Joint Forest Management’ resolution with the ethos and practices of the indigenous people of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Throughout the book, readers will learn about the different indigenous communities inhabiting these islands and the treasure of knowledge each of them provide on forest conservation. The book establishes that the notion of knowledge is politicized by the dominant culture in the context of Andaman’s forest tribes, and traces how this denial of the existence of indigenous knowledge by government officials has led to reduced forest area in the region. The book also explores and analyses strategies to utilize and conserve the tribes' profound knowledge of the biodiversity of the islands and study their efforts towards forest conservation, protection and rejuvenation.