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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores “Environmental Infrastructures” for entry and access on the early 1900s Malay Peninsula. Focusing on the spread of malaria on the Eastern coast of the Malacca Strait, it showcases how both humans and non-humans shaped commodity frontiers along a vital global transit corridor.

Paper long abstract:

Located along the most direct route connecting the South China Sea with the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, alongside its thriving hinterland, notably the Malay Peninsula, were key to controlling global markets. As the late 19th century witnessed an increasing demand for natural resources such as tin, gutta-percha, and timber, the British embarked on a mission to enter the peninsula (via coastal ports) and shift commodity frontiers in the region (via rail and road). However, this imperial endeavor faced a number of environmental obstacles, most of all malaria-carrying mosquitoes, that inhabited the deep mangrove swamp along the Strait’s Eastern coastline.

The proposed paper employs the concept of Environmental Infrastructure (Emmanuel Kreike) to illuminate the intricate process underlying entry and gaining access to the Malay Peninsula. This approach acknowledges that certain structures are neither fully nature nor entirely an artifact of culture, but rather a co-production of both realms. Referring to recent literature on diseases and multispecies scholarship, the proposed paper offers novel insights within the realm of commodity frontiers, focusing on two interrelated aspects: Firstly, it underscores the profound entwinement between infrastructural development and the living environment, consistently influencing the shift of commodity frontiers in the global tropics. Furthermore, it attributes a certain level of agency to the animals themselves in shifting and defining imperial endeavors. Drawing on colonial archival records and publications by physicians and engineers, this paper challenges conventional human-centered storylines by highlighting underestimated (and indeed very small) environmental protagonists in the construction of the British Empire.