Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE

Burgeoning global trade and colonial policies promoted transformations in land use and agriculture throughout tropical regions in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the local and regional ecological consequences of landscape changes are still being identified and analysed. The Philippine Archipelago,...

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Main Authors:	Findley, David Max, Amano, Noel, Biong, Ivana, Bankoff, Greg, Dacudao, Patricia Irene, Gealogo, Francis A, Hamilton, Rebecca, Pagunsan, Ruel, Roberts, Patrick
Format:	text
Published:	Archīum Ateneo 2024
Subjects:	Arts and Humanities Asian History History History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Online Access:	https://archium.ateneo.edu/history-faculty-pubs/124 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/history-faculty-pubs/article/1129/viewcontent/s41599_024_03310_z.pdf
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Institution:	Ateneo De Manila University

id	ph-ateneo-arc.history-faculty-pubs-1129
record_format	eprints
spelling	ph-ateneo-arc.history-faculty-pubs-11292024-09-23T09:11:04Z Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE Findley, David Max Amano, Noel Biong, Ivana Bankoff, Greg Dacudao, Patricia Irene Gealogo, Francis A Hamilton, Rebecca Pagunsan, Ruel Roberts, Patrick Burgeoning global trade and colonial policies promoted transformations in land use and agriculture throughout tropical regions in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the local and regional ecological consequences of landscape changes are still being identified and analysed. The Philippine Archipelago, which experienced successive colonial regimes across more than 7100 islands, exemplifies the multiplicity of ecological outcomes produced by these transformations. To better characterise diverse landscape change, we use colonial censuses and datasets to assess land use, production and agricultural yields in the Philippines during the late Spanish and early U.S. colonial periods (ca. 1870–1925). Our novel digital, quantitative analysis indicates that, at the national and provincial scales, agricultural production and land use increased for all major crops in both periods, while agricultural yields were mostly constant. Our results suggest that colonial investments to “improve” Philippine agriculture, specifically their efforts to increase production per hectare, were not effective. Our provincial-scale analysis also confirms the importance of distinct labour patterns, geographies and socio-political arrangements in defining this period’s ecological consequences, and we provide quantified and historically contextualised data in a format amenable to ecologists to promote future, localised historic ecological research. 2024-12-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/history-faculty-pubs/124 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/history-faculty-pubs/article/1129/viewcontent/s41599_024_03310_z.pdf History Department Faculty Publications Archīum Ateneo Arts and Humanities Asian History History History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
institution	Ateneo De Manila University
building	Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent	Asia
country	Philippines Philippines
content_provider	Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection	archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic	Arts and Humanities Asian History History History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
spellingShingle	Arts and Humanities Asian History History History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Findley, David Max Amano, Noel Biong, Ivana Bankoff, Greg Dacudao, Patricia Irene Gealogo, Francis A Hamilton, Rebecca Pagunsan, Ruel Roberts, Patrick Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE
description	Burgeoning global trade and colonial policies promoted transformations in land use and agriculture throughout tropical regions in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the local and regional ecological consequences of landscape changes are still being identified and analysed. The Philippine Archipelago, which experienced successive colonial regimes across more than 7100 islands, exemplifies the multiplicity of ecological outcomes produced by these transformations. To better characterise diverse landscape change, we use colonial censuses and datasets to assess land use, production and agricultural yields in the Philippines during the late Spanish and early U.S. colonial periods (ca. 1870–1925). Our novel digital, quantitative analysis indicates that, at the national and provincial scales, agricultural production and land use increased for all major crops in both periods, while agricultural yields were mostly constant. Our results suggest that colonial investments to “improve” Philippine agriculture, specifically their efforts to increase production per hectare, were not effective. Our provincial-scale analysis also confirms the importance of distinct labour patterns, geographies and socio-political arrangements in defining this period’s ecological consequences, and we provide quantified and historically contextualised data in a format amenable to ecologists to promote future, localised historic ecological research.
format	text
author	Findley, David Max Amano, Noel Biong, Ivana Bankoff, Greg Dacudao, Patricia Irene Gealogo, Francis A Hamilton, Rebecca Pagunsan, Ruel Roberts, Patrick
author_facet	Findley, David Max Amano, Noel Biong, Ivana Bankoff, Greg Dacudao, Patricia Irene Gealogo, Francis A Hamilton, Rebecca Pagunsan, Ruel Roberts, Patrick
author_sort	Findley, David Max
title	Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE
title_short	Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE
title_full	Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE
title_fullStr	Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE
title_full_unstemmed	Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE
title_sort	colonial policy, ecological transformations, and agricultural “improvement”: comparing agricultural yields and expansion in the spanish and u.s. philippines, 1870–1925 ce
publisher	Archīum Ateneo
publishDate	2024
url	https://archium.ateneo.edu/history-faculty-pubs/124 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/history-faculty-pubs/article/1129/viewcontent/s41599_024_03310_z.pdf
_version_	1811611635445399552

Colonial Policy, Ecological Transformations, and Agricultural “Improvement”: Comparing Agricultural Yields and Expansion in the Spanish and U.S. Philippines, 1870–1925 CE

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