An examination of the role of horses in the colonial economies of South Africa
Horses were key to the colonial economies of southern Africa, buttressing the socio-political order and inspiring contemporary imaginations. Just as they had done in Europe, Asia, the Americas and North Africa, these equine colonizers not only provided power and transportation to settlers (and later indigenous peoples) but also helped transform their new biophysical and social environments. The horses introduced to the southern tip of Africa were not only agents but subjects of enduring changes. This book explores the introduction of these horses under VOC rule in the mid-seventeenth century, their dissemination into the interior, their acquisition by indigenous groups and their ever-shifting roles. In undergoing their relocation to the Cape, the horse of the Dutch empire in southeast Asia experienced a physical transformation over time. Establishing an early breeding stock was fraught with difficulty and horses remained vulnerable in the new and dangerous environment. They had to be nurtured into defending their owners' ambitions: first those of the white settlement and then African and other hybrid social groupings. The book traces the way horses were adapted by shifting human needs in the nineteenth century. It focuses on their experiences in the South African War, on the cusp of the twentieth century, and highlights how horses remained integral to civic functioning on various levels, replaced with mechanization only after lively debate. The book thus reinserts the horse into the broader historical narrative. The socio-economic and political ramifications of their introduction is delineated. The idea of ecological imperialism is tested in order to draw southern African environmental history into a wider global dialogue on socio-environmental historiographical issues. The focus is also on the symbolic dimension that led horses to be both feared and desired. Even the sensory dimensions of this species' interaction with human societies is explored. Finally, the book speculates about what a new kind of history that takes animals seriously might offer us.

Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa

History

Swart, Sandra

Africa

Wits University Press

This book explores the "invention" of specific breeds of horse in the context of imperial design and colonial trade routes. Divided into two sections, it deals respectively with the introduction, invention, and use of the horse in the Philippines, Thailand, and southern Africa, as well as examining its roots and evolution within Indonesia. The study is supplemented by a discussion of the colonial trade in horses within the Indian Ocean and by introductory and concluding sections that discuss the historiographical and methodological problems associated with writing a more species- or horse-centric history.

Breeds of Empire: The Invention of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500-1950 (Nias Studies in Asian Topics, 42)

Bankoff, Greg

NIAS Press

This book explores the "invention" of specific breeds of horse in the context of imperial design and colonial trade routes. Divided into two sections, it deals respectively with the introduction, invention, and use of the horse in the Philippines, Thailand, and southern Africa, as well as examining its roots and evolution within Indonesia. The study is supplemented by a discussion of the colonial trade in horses within the Indian Ocean and by introductory and concluding sections that discuss the historiographical and methodological problems associated with writing a more species- or horse-centric history.

Breeds of Empire: The Invention of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500-1950 (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies: Studies in Asian Topics)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Swart, Sandra. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Swart, Sandra

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Swart, Sandra. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa

Breeds of Empire: The Invention of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500-1950 (Nias Studies in Asian Topics, 42)

Breeds of Empire: The Invention of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500-1950 (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies: Studies in Asian Topics)