The introduction of the rinderpest virus into Africa by Europeans decimates cattle and wildlife populations, leading to severe famines.
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Following the emergence of its colonial forest service, France establishes the first forest reserves to manage the precious tropical rain forests in Cochinchina (present-day Vietnam).
The Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains become Australia’s first landscape reservation.
The Suez Canal is completed under French supervision and becomes one of the world’s most important waterways.
The completion of this infrastructure leads to lasting controversy over the severe deterioration in the flow of the Ganges and the decay of the river as an inland waterway.
The introduction of rabbits to Australia led to significant loss of other species.
Guano, one of the main export goods in South America in the mid-nineteenth century, becomes a central cause of the Chincha Islands War.
Increased European demand for rubber leads to the destruction of forests in West and Central Africa.
The eruption of this volcano kills over 150 people and transforms the landscape of New Zealand’s North Island.
Peru nationalizes its guano reserves, beginning a period historians refer to as “the guano age.”