Empire of the Ants

1905 short story by H. G. Wells

For other uses, see Empire of the Ants (disambiguation).

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"The Empire of the Ants"

Short story by H. G. Wells

Opening illustration for the story in Amazing Stories magazine, 1926.

Country| United Kingdom
Genre(s)| Science fiction
Publication

"The Empire of the Ants" is a 1905 short story by H. G. Wells about the an explorer who is dispatched to South America to investigate reports of intelligent ants destroying a colony. A 1977 film, Empire of the Ants, was loosely based on Wells' story.

## Plot summary

[edit]

"The Empire of the Ants" features a Brazilian captain, Gerilleau, who is ordered to take his gunboat, the Benjamin Constant, to assist the inhabitants of the town of Badama, in the "Upper Amazon", "against a plague of ants".[1]

Accompanying him is a Lancashire engineer named Holroyd, from whose point of view the story is (for the most part) told. They find a species of large black ant that has evolved advanced intelligence and has used it to make tools and organize aggression. Before arriving in Badama, Captain Gerilleau encounters a cuberta[2] which has been taken over by the ants, which have killed and mutilated two sailors. After Capt. Gerilleau sends his second in command, Lieutenant da Cunha, aboard the vessel, the ants attack him and he dies painfully, apparently poisoned.

The next day, after burning the cuberta, the Benjamin Constant arrives off Badama. The town is deserted and all its inhabitants dead or dispersed. Fearing the ants and their poison, Capt. Gerilleau contents himself with firing "de big gun" at the town twice, with minimal effect. He then demands "what else was there to do?" (a phrase that is echoed when discussing the ants) and returns downstream for orders.[3] A final section reports that Holroyd has returned to England to warn the authorities about the ants "before it is too late".

"The Empire of the Ants" was first published in 1905 in The Strand Magazine.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ H.G. Wells, "The Empire of the Ants", in The Short Stories of H.G. Wells (London: Ernest Benn, 1927), p. 92.
2. ^ A cuberta is a large canoe used on the Amazon having two masts and sails used for transporting goods. Henry Coleman Folkard, The Sailing Boat: A Treatise on Sailing Boats and Small Yachts, Their Varieties of Type, Sails, Rigs, etc., 5th ed. (London: Edward Stanford, 1901), p. 508.
3. ^ H.G. Wells, "The Empire of the Ants", in The Short Stories of H.G. Wells (London: Ernest Benn, 1927), p. 106.

## External links

[edit]

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Empire of the Ants

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Empire of the Ants.

* The complete short fiction of H. G. Wells at Standard Ebooks
* "EMPIRE OF THE ANTS: H.G. Wells and Tropical Entomology". Sleigh, C. Science as Culture, Volume 10, Number 1, 1 March 2001, pp. 33–71

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Bibliography

Novels|

* The Time Machine (1895)
* The Wonderful Visit (1895)
* The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
* The Wheels of Chance (1896)
* The Invisible Man (1897)
* The War of the Worlds (1898)
* When The Sleeper Wakes (1899)
* Love and Mr Lewisham (1900)
* The First Men in the Moon (1901)
* The Sea Lady (1902)
* The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth (1904)
* Kipps (1905)
* A Modern Utopia (1905)
* In the Days of the Comet (1906)
* The War in the Air (1908)
* Tono-Bungay (1909)
* Ann Veronica (1909)
* The History of Mr Polly (1910)
* The Sleeper Awakes (1910)
* The New Machiavelli (1911)
* Marriage (1912)
* The Passionate Friends (1913)
* The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
* The World Set Free (1914)
* Bealby (1915)
* Boon (1915)
* The Research Magnificent (1915)
* Mr. Britling Sees It Through (1916)
* The Soul of a Bishop (1917)
* Joan and Peter (1918)
* The Undying Fire (1919)
* The Secret Places of the Heart (1922)
* Men Like Gods (1923)
* The Dream (1924)
* Christina Alberta's Father (1925)
* The World of William Clissold (1926)
* Meanwhile (1927)
* Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928)
* The Autocracy of Mr. Parham (1930)
* The Bulpington of Blup (1932)
* The Shape of Things to Come (1933)
* The Croquet Player (1936)
* Brynhild (1937)
* Star Begotten (1937)
* The Camford Visitation (1937)
* Apropos of Dolores (1938)
* The Brothers (1938)
* The Holy Terror (1939)
* Babes in the Darkling Wood (1940)
* All Aboard for Ararat (1940)
* You Can't Be Too Careful (1941)

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* Anticipations
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* Crux Ansata
* The Discovery of the Future
* An Englishman Looks at the World
* Experiment in Autobiography
* The Fate of Man
* First and Last Things
* Floor Games
* The Future in America
* God the Invisible King
* In the Fourth Year
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* Mind at the End of Its Tether
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* The New America
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* The Open Conspiracy
* The Outline of History
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* A Short History of the World
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* This Misery of Boots
* Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water
* War and the Future
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* The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind
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* A Year of Prophesying

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* The Country of the Blind and Other Stories
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* Twelve Stories and a Dream

Short stories|

* "Æpyornis Island"
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* "The Country of the Blind"
* "The Crystal Egg"
* "A Deal in Ostriches"
* "The Diamond Maker"
* "The Door in the Wall"
* "A Dream of Armageddon"
* "The Empire of the Ants"
* "In the Abyss"
* "The Land Ironclads"
* "Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation"
* "The Lord of the Dynamos"
* "The Man Who Could Work Miracles"
* "The New Accelerator"
* "The Pearl of Love"
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Screenplays|

* Things to Come (1936)
* The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937)

Related|

* Political views
* G. P. Wells
* Anthony West (son)
* Joseph Wells (father)
* Simon Wells (great-grandson)
* H. G. Wells Society
* Lunar crater
* Time After Time (1979 film)

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