Opening the Peninsula: Colonial impacts
British colonial encounters with the Malaysian natural environment produced two contrasting outcomes. The colonial administration applied its knowledge and technology to exploit resources, ostensibly for the welfare of society back in Britain. The development of roads, railways, tin mines, and extensive rubber and oil palm plantations in the first half of the 20th century, are all legacies of Malaysia's colonial past. But, amidst the exploitation of resources the British also initiated environmental conservation through legislation and exemplary deeds.
- Information in the full article includes
- Commercial exploitation of resources
- Tin mining
- Other new impacts
- Colonial conservation
