This book explores the relationships between empire, natural history and gender in the production of geographical knowledge and its translation between colonial Burma and Britain. Focusing on the work of the plant collector, botanical illustrator and naturalist, Charlotte Wheeler-Cuffe, this book illustrates how natural history was practiced

Nuala C Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Geography in the School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast. She is a cultural-historical geographer who specialises in the geographies of nationalism, war and public memory, and the historical geography of botanical gardens. Her previous publications include Ireland, the Great War and Public Memory (2003); Nature Displaced, Nature Displayed: Order and Beauty in Botanical Gardens (2011); and The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography, edited with R. H. Schein and J. Winders (2013).

1 Setting the Scene

PART I

Colonial encounters: the early years in the tropics

2. Family matters: Charlotte Wheeler-Cuffe, 1867-1897

3 Encountering the tropics, 1898-1899

PART II

Mobility, knowledge networks, and exploration

4 Mobility and cultures of expedition, 1900-1903

5 Networks of knowledge and exploring Upper Burma, 1904-1910

6 Deepening connections: Rangoon, Mount Victoria, and the Andaman Islands, 1911-1912

PART III

In the frontier regions

7 Hill Stations, plant hunting, and the Irrawaddy-Salween Divide, 1913-14

8 Maymyo botanic garden and the final Burmese days, 1915-1921

9. Conclusion

Bibliography