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Imperial circuits and networks: geographies of the British Empire

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 17:18 authored by Alan LesterAlan Lester
How to write about the many, diverse places that constituted the British Empire in the same text; how to conceive of both the differences and the connections between Britain and its various colonies? These have been perennial problems for imperial historians. This article begins by examining the concept of ‘core’ and ‘periphery’, and the various ways that it has been employed within the tradition of British imperial history. It then turns to concepts such as networks, webs and circuits, which are characteristic of the ‘new’ imperial history. It suggests that these newer concepts are useful in allowing the social and cultural, as well as the economic, histories of Britain and its colonies to be conceived as more fluidly and reciprocally interrelated. The article concludes by suggesting that these spatial concepts could usefully be taken further, through an explicit recognition of the multiple trajectories that define any space and place.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

History Compass

ISSN

1478-0542

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Issue

1

Volume

4

Page range

124-141

Pages

18.0

Department affiliated with

  • Geography Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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