Elephants and Kings: an Environmental History

The elephant is huge and majestic. It has been an irresistible symbol of dignity for the king since the birth of kingship. Elephants were domesticated in various early civilizations, such as Egypt, Assyria, Mesopotamia, China, and the Indus Valley. In these places, elephants were primarily used as royal sacrifices and hunting objects. However, Thomas Trautmann discovered a special system of elephant use in the South Asian subcontinent that protected their habitat and population: the war elephant. Starting from the Ganges River Basin, the footprints of war elephants gradually spread throughout South Asia, while spreading westward to Persia, Syria, Egypt, Carthage, Greece and Rome, and eastward to Indochina, Java and other parts of Indonesia. Thomas Trautmann traced the origin, spread and cultural relics of war elephants, and painted a cultural picture spanning 3,000 years. To maintain this unique system, the king had to protect wild elephants from hunters, protect the forests where the elephants lived from being cut down, and maintain relationships with forest peoples. Therefore, the relationship between the king and the elephant is actually a four-cornered relationship between the king, the elephant, the forest and the forest people - a rich and complex network of relationships. All of this constitutes what we call civilization. In the 19th century, as the British arrived and ruled most of South Asia, the population exploded and elephant hunting became a sport. The war elephant system has withdrawn from the stage of history, the distribution range of elephants has been reduced, and the population size has also been sharply reduced. It's all a constant reminder that we need to find ways to protect our own future, and in the process, protect the future of the creatures we share with us.