[critical cartography] The floating economies of quinine

Cartographic experiments: the floating economies of quinine (2022). The search for better topographical and climatic conditions in the colonial territories, as well as the amount of alkaloids existing between different species of Cinchona, outlined the successes and failures of these transplantation attempts. Among the selection of the most effective species in the production of quinine and strategies to monopolize its production, it was Java, in the Dutch East Indies, which quickly came to concentrate more than 90% of the global production of quinine.

On the map, south of the Java Sea, a set of colonial territories (continental and insular) of different European powers — centers of experimentation and plantation of Cinchona — were manipulated in their scales and placed to float side by side with Java. miguel costa [maarqa]. See related posts/activities.