Eco Imperialism in Glass Palace

Abstract

The process of colonization brought along with it the exploitation of all kind of resources. The process of colonization was all a business deal. The main purpose was to earn money and Industrialization paved a cleared way for that. It awakened the greed in human and the whole world suffered the consequences. Colonizers never gave any thought, before digging any country for money. Natural resources were exploited along as was the case with human beings. The whole atmosphere was disturbed, and the consequences were never thought of. And all this was a part of the process of imperialism, a process which gravely disturbed ecology. The term ecological imperialism was coined by the great historian Alfred Crosby. This ecological imperialism can be witnessed practically in the novel The Glass Palace written by the famous Indian writer in English, Amitav Ghosh. The aim of present paper is to explore the abuse of natural resources and disrespect towards environment by colonial powers in the country Burma. The paper will do so through the reading and analysis of the well-known novel Glass Palace, which fabricate an interesting story around the history of colonial hegemony over Burma. In the year 1885 the King and the Queen of Burma were disposed by British colonizers merely for the sake of business, just because they were not ready to give permission for the blindfolded exploitation of Burmese jungles. After gaining the hold of Burma, British sucked the whole country. Burma was distraught culturally, economically, socially and ecologically. Largely Burma was exploited ecologically. The peaceful and serene Burma was changed into a commercial country, and people there were now living a disturbed life. This was the result of ecological imperialism; disturbance and destruction in the name of progress. Present paper will scrutinize this injustice to our own mother nature and its consequences on human beings.