In 1800, the highlands of Sri Lanka had some of the most biologically diverse primary tropical rainforest ecosystems in the world. By 1900, only a few craggy corners and mountain caps had been spared the firestick. Highland villagers, through the extension of slash-and-burn agriculture, and British managers, through the creation of plantations - first of coffee, then cinchona, and finally tea - had removed virtually the entire primary forest cover. Tropical Pioneers documents the conversion of a tropical rainforest biome and the collision between what previously had been more discrete...

In 1800, the highlands of Sri Lanka had some of the most biologically diverse primary tropical rainforest ecosystems in the world. By 1900, only a few craggy corners and mountain caps had been spared the fire stick. Highland villagers, through the extension of slash-and-burn agriculture, and British managers, through the creation of plantations-first of coffee, then cinchona, and finally tea-had removed virtually the entire primary forest cover. Tropical Pioneers documents the conversion of a tropical rainforest biome and the collision between what previously had been more discrete ecological...