Description:
Abstract:
"Robert Gordon?s trip to the Mogok ruby mines in northern Burma, as reported in his testament to the Royal
Geographical Society in 1888, represents one of the most blatant uses of travel as empire building in the Mekong
Region. While European explorers and adventurers had been travelling to and along the region for centuries,
most had been intent on mapping, surveying and categorizing its contents for purposes of their own profit, in one
way or another. Gordon, while of course not unmindful of his own career, represents the traveller aiming to be of
service to the greater power. He was strongly motivated by the desire to bring the ruby mines of Mogok into the
reach of the British Empire through the building of a railway and the necessary infrastructure to pacify the
countryside and its people, thereby enabling the enclosure of another type of commons."...
Keywords: Capitalism, Imperialism, British Empire, Burma, Ruby mining
Source/publisher:
Canadian Center of Science and Education (CCSE) ("Asian Culture and History" Vol. 2, No.3
Date of Publication:
2011-01-00
Date of entry:
2012-03-04
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English