Synopses & Reviews
Volume I of the Oxford History of the British Empire explores the origins of empire. It shows how and why England, and later Britain, became involved with transoceanic navigation, trade, and settlement during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapters, by leading historians, both
illustrate the interconnections between developments in Europe and overseas and offer specialist studies on every part of the world that was substantially affected by British colonial activity. As late as 1630, involvement with regions beyond the traditional confines of Europe was still tentative;
by 1690 it had become a firm commitment.
About the Series:
The Oxford History of the British Empire is 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.
Review
"An extremely useful volume, and it will be the principal reference work for many years to come."--Journal of American History
Review
"It must be said immediately that its first two volumes get
The Oxford History of the British Empire off to a strong start. Both books consist of essays that break new ground and do so with a confidence based on extensive research and with refreshing lucidity and frankness...These two books are likely to shock some of their readers. For example, the sentimentalized and idealized version of American history, which luxuriates in popular works and is more subtly present in much academic history, finds no favor with the contributors to these volumes." -Conor Cruise O'Brien in
The New York Review of Books"The first two volumes of this five-volume history of the British Empire establish a very high standard of scholarship....Recommended for all libraries."--Library Journal
"[Oxford History of the British Empire] provide[s] a huge, richly endowed quarry within which readers can delve with great profit and enjoyment."--The Independent
"Magisterial design and craftmanship in the detail"--Daily Telegraph (London)
"Magnificent...Taken together, these books constitute an extraordinary feat of organization and scholarship, and they provide the authoritative history of the British Empire for our generation, and the essential starting point of the re-writing of that history which will take place in the next generation. Opinions differ about the British Empire; there can be no disagreement about this superb history of it." --David Cannadine in The Times Literary Supplement
Synopsis
Volume I of the Oxford History of the British Empire explores the origins of empire. It shows how and why England, and later Britain, became involved with transoceanic navigation, trade, and settlement during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapters, by leading historians, both illustrate the interconnections between developments in Europe and overseas and offer specialist studies on every part of the world that was substantially affected by British colonial activity. As late as 1630, involvement with regions beyond the traditional confines of Europe was still tentative; by 1690 it had
About the Author
Nicholas Canny is Professor of History and Academic Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Settlement and Historical Change at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors; List of Maps; List of Figures; List of Tables; Abbreviations
1. The Origins of Empire: An Introduction, Nicholas Canny
2. The Struggle for Legitimacy and the Image of Empire in the Atlantic to c.1700, Anthony Pagden
3. War, Politics, and Colonization 1558-1625, John Appleby
4. Guns and Sails in the First Phase of English Colonization 1500-1650, N. A. M. Rodger
5. `Civilizing of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland 1580s-1640s, Jane Ohlmeyer
6. England's New Word and the Old 1480s-1630s, Nicholas Canny
7. Tobacco Colonies: The Shaping of English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake, James Horn
8. New England in the Seventeenth Century, Virginia DeJohn Anderson
9. The Hub of Empire: The Caribbean and Britain in the Seventeenth Century, Hilary McD. Beckles
10. The English in Western Africa to 1700, P. E. H. Hair
11. The English in Asia to 1700, P. J. Marshall
12. Literature and Empire, David Armitage
13. The English Government, War, Trade, and Settlement 1625-1688, Michael Braddick
14. New Opportunities for British Settlement: Ireland 1650-1700, T. C. Barnard
15. Native Americans and Europeans in English America 1500-1700, Peter C. Mancall
16. The Middle Colonies: New Opportunities for Settlement 1660-1700, Ned Landsman
17. `Shaftesbury's Darling': British Settlement in the Carolinas at the Close of the Seventeenth Century, Robert Weir
18. Overseas Expansion and Trade in the Seventeenth Century, Nuala Zahedieh
19. The Emerging Emprire: The Continental Perspective 1650-1715, Jonathan I. Israel
20. The Glorious Revolution and America, Richard S. Dunn
21. Navy, State, Trade, and Empire, G. E. Aylmer
Chronology; Index