英国皇家植物邱园在殖民扩张中所起的作用

The Functions of Botanical Garden Kew in British Colonial Expansion

英国皇家植物邱园位于伦敦西郊,是全英最大的植物园,于1795年由奥古斯塔公主下令建成。在英国18-19世纪殖民扩张蓬勃发展阶段,这里不仅仅供大众游览,同时担负着对海外殖民地植物的科学研究、树种优化、珍稀植物标本保存等科研任务。而对于例如金鸡纳、橡胶树等经济附加值很高的植物,邱园又承担着提高植物产量和输送新品种到其他海外属地的作用,以此发挥其经济功能。所以,殖民扩张时期的邱园对英国产生的作用可以分为三部分,即公共社会服务、植物学研究、提高经济作物价值的作用,这奠定了邱园在英国近代史上的独特历史地位。

Royal botanical garden Kew is located in the west of London which was established in 1795 on the command of Princess Augusta. In the booming period of Great British colonial expansion about 18-19 century, here was not only a park opened to common people for entertainment,but also undertook botanical research missions including colonial plants＆#39; research,seeds optimization,infrequent specimen preservation.To those high economic value added plants like cinchona and rubber,Kew also played as an institution to improve their production and transfer new plants to other overseas botanical gardens and plantations,which showed its economic function.Consequently,Kew＇s complex functions to Britain at that time could be divided in three parts：social service,botanical research and economic value,which lay a stable status in modern history of Britain.