Le Muséum national d'histoire naturelle et l'expansion coloniale de la Troisième République (1870-1914)

摘要

This article views the Paris Museum national d'histoire naturelle as an imperial institution, and shows that the naturalists' activities Hnked in several ways with the French colonial expansion of the late 19th century. It is in the wake of exploration and colonial conquest that the Professors of the Museum extended their web of overseas collectors and observers. Not only did militaries, missionaries and colonial officers recognize the Museum as a source of expertise for assessing and displaying the resources of the empire, the paper suggests more deeply that natural history was part of (and shaped) imperial culture.