Submarine Telegraphy and the Hunt for Gutta Percha, Helen Godfrey traces the connections between submarine telegraphy and the peoples of Singapore and Sarawak (Borneo) who supplied 'gutta percha', the latex insulating the world network of undersea telegraph cables. The book examines the complex inter-relationships linking metropolitan and local environments in a trade once described as a matter of interest to the whole civilized world. Using previously untapped corporate and official archives, trade data and a rich documentary record, the study explores the roles of cable producers, scientists, administrators, and local Chinese and indigenous traders. It reveals how a global trade may transcend technological, geographic and cross-cultural challenges, even hostilities. Motivations and outcomes are more complex than simple commercial gain.
Helen Godfrey, Ph.D. (2011), University of New England, is an independent researcher who has published related material as journal articles. Experiences living in Australasia, Africa, Britain and the Caribbean have widened her research perspectives.
Table of contents
List of IllustrationsAbbreviationsCurrency Values, Weights and MeasurementsGlossaryIntroduction
Part 1: Submarine Telegraphy: The Forces of Science and Commerce
The Significance of Gutta Percha and the Rise of Submarine Telegraphy Gutta Percha and its Significance The Development and Significance of Submarine Telegraphy 2
Gutta Percha and the Challenge of Submarine Telegraphy Gutta Percha and Submarine Telegraphy – The Early Years Growth Years of Submarine Telegraphy and its Dependence upon Gutta Percha 3
The Rise and Challenges of the Gutta Percha Trade The Lands of Plenty: Southeast Asia and Regional Trade The European Hunt for Gutta Percha 4
Factory to Forest: Opportunity at the Periphery Singapore and the Development of the Gutta Percha Trade The Trade Comes to Sarawak via Singapore Part 2: Power, Profit and the Periphery 5
The Gutta Percha Trade of Sarawak Sarawak, its People and the Brooke Administrations Significance and Growth of the Gutta Percha Trade in Sarawak 6
Operation of the Gutta Percha Trade in Sarawak The Trade Network Overland Trade Paths Trade Venues: Bazaars and Outports Credit and Barter 7
Impact of the Gutta Percha Trade – Opportunity Interaction with the External Market The Changing Nature of Sarawak Imports Prestige Goods or Pusaka 8
Impact of the Gutta Percha Trade – Change and Challenge Monetization Changing Social Relations and the Gutta Percha ‘Wars’ 9
Conclusions Appendix 1 Gutta PerchaAppendix 2 Statistical MaterialReferencesIndex
Academic libraries; scholars in economic, colonial, or Southeast Asian history, globalization, telegraphy, business history, commodity trade, human/economic geography, subsistence/prestige trade, cross-cultural trade, environmental history, NTFP, economic botany, economic anthropology.