Empire, The Sea and Global History

This book contains essays exploring how Britain’s maritime engagement with the wider world was transformed between the end of the Seven Years war in 1763 and the abolition of slavery within its Empire in 1833.

Between the end of the Seven Years war in 1763, and the abolition of slavery within its Empire in 1833, Britain’s maritime engagement with the wider world was transformed. The essays in this book explore different aspects of that transformation, and in so doing assess the significance and complexities of Britain’s maritime world in this key period, which was characterized by the contradictory and competing forces of revolution and reaction, ‘liberty’ and imperialism, war and peace, enlightenment and enslavement. They were originally delivered as lectures in a series jointly sponsored by the Institute of Historical Research and by the Centre for Imperial and Maritime Studies at the National Maritime Museum.

DAVID CANNADINE is the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Professor of British History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. He is also a regular broadcaster on television and radio in the United Kingdom.

Introduction–D.Cannadine * The British Empire, the Sea and Global History–F.Fernandez-Armesto * Maritime Networks and the Making of Knowledge–R.Drayton * Gender and Empire–C.Hall * Slavery and Freedom: Black Experiences in Britain’s Maritime World, 1763-1833–P.Morgan * Instruments, Surveys and Maritime Empire–S.Schaffer * Cargoes: the Trade in Luxuries from Asia to Europe–M.Berg * Empire, Europe and British Naval Power, c. 1763-c.1833–S.Conway * Empires and British Identities: the Maritime Dimension–L.Colley