Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900

Alfred Crosby (1931-2018) was a history, American studies, and geography professor at the University of Texas, Austin. Throughout his career, he studied the various ways in which technology, disease, and climate contributed to the success or failure of various human populations. He was particularly interested in ancient disease and how microorganisms contributed to imperialist causes throughout the world. He wrote a number of books on the topic including America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 (1989) and The Colombian Exchange (1972).

Crosby was a groundbreaking text, being one of the first comprehensive studies of the natural forces that led Europe to become the most dominant influence on world culture. He coined the concept of Neo-Europes, which are places like Australia and North America where favorable climate conditions and locals with vulnerable gaps in technology, disease immunity, and large scale social unification allowed colonization to almost completely replace Indigenous ways of life with those of Europeans.

Crosby graduated from Harvard in 1952 with a degree in history, then joined the army and fought in the Korean War. In 1961, he completed a PhD in history from Boston University. He was an early adapter of an interdisciplinary approach to history, drawing from medicine, biology, geography and other diverse fields.