The document summarizes the impact of colonial forest policies on indigenous communities in various parts of Asia and Africa. It discusses how the British and Dutch enacted strict forest laws that restricted local people's access to forests for activities like shifting cultivation, grazing, hunting, and wood collection. This caused hardships and led to rebellions in places like India's Bastar region and Java. The document also notes some positive impacts like new economic opportunities, but emphasizes that colonial control over forests largely disrupted traditional forest management systems and affected local livelihoods.

1. Social Science Assignment

2.  We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our
social science teacher Manisha Ma’am and our
principal sir for providing me with the golden
opportunity to complete this wonderful project on the
topic “Forest society and colonialism”, which also
assisted us in conducting extensive research and
learning about many new things.

3.  Introduction
 What is deforestation? Why deforestation ?
 The Rise Of Commercial Forestry
 What was the forest act all about?
 Affected lives of the people
 How did the forest rule affect the cultivation?
European foresters regarded shifting cultivation as a harmful practice
 Who could hunt ?
 New Trade, New Employment and New Services
 Rebellion in the Forest
 The People of Bastar
 The Fears of People
 Forest Transformation in Java
 Forest Laws in Java
 Samin’s Challenge
 War and Deforestation
 New developments in Java

4.  Forest is a very important part of our life. Many things
around us are made up of resource from the forest like
furniture, gum, rubber, oil, medicines, etc. it is
possible to find more than hundred species of trees in
a patch of forest.
 A lot of diversity is fast disappearing. Between 1700 to
1995, during the period of Industrialization, 13.9
million sq. km of forest or 9.3 percent of the world’s
forest was cleared for industrial use, cultivation,
pastures etc.

5.  Cutting down of the Trees of a forest purposefully is Known as
deforeststion. This is not a recent problem, the problem started
many years ago but under colonial rule it became more
systematic an extensive.
 Main reasons for the widespread of deforestation –
 Population increased, the demand for food went up.
 British encouraged the production of commercial crops.
 The spread of railways in 1850s demanded for wooden sleepers.
 By the early 19th century, oak forests in England were
disappearing. This created a problem of timber supply for the
Royal Navy.
 Emergence of Plantations.

6.  The Britishers needed wood on a large scale for
building their battleships and other work so they were
worried by the reckless use of forest by the local
people. So they invited German expert, Dietrich
Brandis, for advice and made him the first Inspector
General of forest in India. Brandis set up the Indian
Forest Service in 1864.

7.  In 1865, the British government passed the Indian
forest act, which gave them the right to declare any
forest land to be government land. There were no
provision for regional rights for tribal people.
 It was amended in 1878 which divided forest into three
categories : (1) Reserved Forests, (2) protected forests,
(3)Village forests. Villagers were not allowed to take
anything from the forest even for their own use. They
could only take some woods from the village forests.

8.  The forest act meant sever hardships for the villagers
across the country. Their lives were affected in the
following ways –
 Cutting wood for their house was banned.
 Grazing cattle was not allowed.
 Hunting and fishing became illegal.
 People were forced to steal wood from the forest.
 Villagers were harassed by the guards and would take
bribe from them.

9.  SHIFTING CULTIVATION- It a traditional agricultural
practice in many parts of Asia, Africa and South
America. In this process a plot of land is cleared in the
forest by burning the trees for cultivation and then
after, it was left fallow to regain its fertility.

10.  They felt that the land which was used for shifting
cultivation every few years could not grow trees for
railway timber.
 When a forest was burnt, there was a danger of flames
spreading and burning valuable timber. It also caused
air pollution.
 Shifting cultivation also made it harder for the
government to collect taxes. Therefore, the
government decided to ban shifting cultivation.

11.  Many people who lived in or near the forests had
survived by hunting deer, partridges and a variety of
small animals. But after the implementation of new
forest laws hunting became a crime. If a person was
caught hunting they were punished for doing so.
• while the British officials, zamindars and kings were
allowed to hunt in the forests. Even they saw hunting
of big wild animals as a sport and enjoyed doing it.
Later some of the environmentalists and conservators
began to argue that all these animal species need to be
protected not killed.

12.  Colonial control over forest had a positive impact also,
some opportunities opened up in trade.
 Many communities had left their traditional occupations
and started trading in forest products (Honey & Rubber) .
 This opportunity was enjoyed across the world. Eg.
Mundurukcu people of Brazilian Amazon shifted from
cultivation of manioc to the cultivation of latex from wild
rubber.
 In Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, forest people
started working in tea plantation fields.
 They started to join work in factories under government
supervision.

13.  In many parts of India, and across the world forest
communities rebelled against the challenges that were
being imposed on them. The leaders of this movement
are still remembered in song and stories.

14.  Bastar is located in the southern most part of Chhattisgarh
and Borders Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra.
 A number of people lived in Bastar such as Maria and Muria
Gonds, Dhurvas, Bhatras etc.
 They spoke different language but shared common customs
and beliefs.
 The people of Bastar believed that each was given its land by
earth, and in return they looked after their villages and also
showed respect to the spirit of river, forest etc.
 Every year there is a big hunt where headmen of villages met
and discussed about the issues of concern including forests

15.  When colonials made laws for the forest the people of Bastar
were worried.
 People began to gather and discuss the issues in their village
councils, in bazaar and other public places.
 The initiative was taken by the Dhruvas of the Kangra Forest.
Although there were no single leader, many people spoke of
Gunda Dhur as an important fig.
 In 1910 mango boughs, a lump of earth, chilies and arrows,
began circulating between the villagers as an invitation to rebel
against the Britishers.
 Bazars were looted, British officials’ houses, police stations
were robbed in order to meet the expenses of the rebellion.
 The Britishers sent troops to suppress the rebellion and
punished those who were caught.

16.  Java is now famous as a rice producing island in Indonesia.
 The colonials in power in Indonesia were the Dutch, like
the Britishers they wanted timber for making battle ships.
The Woodcutters of Java
 The Kalangs were a famous community of skilled forest
cutters and shifting cultivators.
 The Dutch tried to gain control over the forests in 19th
century and tried to make Kalangs work under them.
 In 1770, the Kalangas resisted by attacking the dutch fort
at Joana, but the uprising was supressed.

17.  The Dutch enacted forest laws in Java restricting villagers’
access to the forest.
 Now the trees could only be cut for few things like building
boats, houses etc. That too from the forest under close
supervision.
 Villagers were punished for grazing cattle, transporting wood
without permit and travelling in the forest.
 There was a need of laborers for cutting which was fulfilled
by the local people and in return they were exempted from
paying taxes.
 Later instead of tax exemption they were give small wages but
their right to cultivate forest land was restricted.

18.  Around 1890, Surontiko Samin of Randublantung
village, a teak forest village, began questioning state
ownership of forest.
 They believed that they had not created the spirits of
nature, so they could not own it.
 By 1907, 3,000 families were following this ideas.
 They protested by laying down on the ground when
the dutch came for survey and did not paid taxes or
fines.

19.  In the first and second world war colonials cut trees freely
for war needs.
 In java, as the Japanese were going to occupy the region,
Dutch followed ‘Scorched Earth’ policy.
Scorched Earth policy : Dutch colonial officials destroyed saw
mills and burnt huge piles of Giant teak logs, so that the
Japanese could not get it.
 Japanese also exploited the forest recklessly for war
industries.
 Villagers used this opportunity for expanding cultivable
land.
 All these conditions led to huge deforestation.

20.  Science the 1980s, govt. across Asia and Africa have
begun to see that scientific forestry and the policies of
keeping forest communities away from the forest has
resulted in many conflicts. So the government is now
looking to different forms of forest management.