What is the history of extinction?

Scientists warn we are in an age of mass-extinction. Entire species are ceasing to exist at unprecedented rates. When did this age begin, and when did humans start to confront their impacts on ecosystems and living populations?
 
Sadiah Qureshi explores extinction as ‘unnatural’ and inherently political, by placing humanity at the centre of her latest book, 'Vanished: an Unnatural History of Extinction'. 

In conversation with Bertie, she traces the history of the concept of extinction in European thought and its connection with settler-colonial politics. Bertie and Sadiah also discuss present day conservation policy, and echoes of imperialist thought within it.
 
Sadiah Qureshi is a Chair of Modern British History at the University of Manchester, and a historian of science, race and empire. 

Further reading

• ‘Vanished: An Unnatural History Of Extinction,’ is available to purchase from Penguin here.
• This week, Professor Qureshi delivered the annual Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Prize Lecture for the Royal Society. You can watch that here.
• 'What can histories of Empire teach us about modern environmental efforts?', The British Academy, December 2025
• 'Reversing extinction', aeon 
• '‘A billionaire will pay a lot of money to shoot a recreated being’: historian Sadiah Qureshi on extinction and empire', The Guardian, June 2025

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