The Oxford History of the British Empire: Historiography

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Oxford University Press, 1999 - Great Britain - 731 pages
Annotation. Where should we situate the British Empire in the larger picture of world history? This fifth and final volume ofThe Oxford History of the British Empireshows how opinions have changed dramatically from one generation to the next on the nature and role of imperialism generally, and the British Empire more specifically.

In these pages, a distinguished team of scholarly contributors discuss the many and diverse elements that have influenced writings on the Empire. Topics in this vein include the pressure of current events, access to primary sources, the creation of relevant university chairs, the rise of nationalism in former colonies, decolonization, and the Cold War. The chapters aim to demonstrate how the study of empire has evolved from a narrow focus on constitutional issues to a wide-ranging, multi-faceted analysis of international relations, the uses of power, and the influences and counter-influences between settler groups and indigenous peoples. The result is a thought-provoking cultural and intellectual inquiry into our understanding of the past.
About the Series:
The Oxford History of the British Empireis a major new assessment of the Empire in the light of recent scholarship and the progressive opening of historical records. It deals with the interaction of British and non-western societies from the Elizabethan era to the late twentieth century, provides a balanced treatment of the ruled as well as the rulers, and takes into account the significance of the Empire for the peoples of the British Isles. All five of the volumes in this series fully explore economic and social as well as political trends.
 

Contents

1 Introduction
1
2 The First British Empire
43
3 The Second British Empire
54
4 British North America in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
73
5 The American Revolution
94
6 Ireland
114
7 The British West Indies
134
8 Canada and the Empire
146
23 The EmpireCommonwealth and the Two World Wars
354
24 Imperial Flotsam? The British in the Pacific Islands
366
25 Formal and Informal Empire in East Asia
379
26 The British Empire in SouthEast Asia
403
27 Formal and Informal Empire in the Middle East
416
28 Informal Empire in Latin America
437
29 Britain and the Scramble for Africa
450
A Review of the Literature to the 1960s
463

9 Australia and the Empire
163
10 Colonization and History in New Zealand
182
11 India to 1858
194
12 India 1858 to the 1930s
214
13 India in the 1940s
231
14 Ceylon Sri Lanka
243
15 Pakistans Emergence
253
16 Science Medicine and the British Empire
264
Late TwentiethCentury Perspectives on Empire
277
18 Exploration and Empire
290
19 Missions and Empire
303
20 Slavery the Slave Trade and Abolition
315
21 The Royal Navy and the British Empire
327
22 Imperial Defence
342
31 West Africa
486
Metropolitan Action and Local Initiative
500
33 Southern and Central Africa
513
34 Decolonization and the End of Empire
541
35 The Commonwealth
558
36 Art and Empire
571
37 Architecture in the British Empire
584
Colonial Discourse Theory and the Historiography of the British Empire
596
39 The Shaping of Imperial History
612
40 Development and the Utopian Ideal 19601999
635
41 The Future of Imperial History
653
Chronology
669
Index
701
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