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Colonial Monocrops and Global Climatic Oscillations in the Philippines

Also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, PodBean, Spotify and more

Prof. James Warren (Murdoch University) discusses his past and ongoing research into the effects of global climatic oscillations on the history of the Philippines. In this podcast episode, he examines the role of ENSO-related climatic anomalies and typhoons on the colonial monocrops of tobacco (Spanish era) and sugar (American era). In these contexts, he also responds to questions on the lives of indigenous populations and on colonial science.

For more on Prof. Warren’s work, see:

Prof. Warren has also provided us with some images that may be of interest and use to listeners:

Jose Algue (1856-1930), Jesuit meteorologist
Map: Sulu and Celebes Seas
Map: Iranun Balangingi raiding
Map: The Philippines
Map: Typhoons in the western Pacific Ocean
“Eye of the storm”
Flattened canefields, 1899
Barocyclonometer (1)
Barocyclonometer (2)
Common Typhoon Paths

This podcast was produced with the help of Renée Manderville (Project Manager, IOWC), Archisman Chaudhuri and Philip Gooding (both postdoctoral fellows, IOWC, McGill).