Inquiring into Empire: Colonial Commissions and British Imperial Reform, 1819–1833

By: Lisa Ford and Kirsten McKenzie and Naomi Parkinson and David Andrew Roberts

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Synopsis: This is the first history to grapple with the vast project of British imperial investigation in the years between the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the Great Reform Act. Beginning in 1819, commissions of inquiry were sent to examine law, governance, and economy from New South Wales and the Caribbean to Malta and West Africa. They left behind a matchless record of colonial life in the form of papers, reports and more than 200 volumes of testimonies and correspondence. Inquiring into Empire taps this under-used archive to develop a new understanding of imperial reform. The authors argue that, far from being a first step in the march towards liberalism, the commissions represented a deeply pragmatic, messy but concerted effort to chart a middle way between reaction and revolution which was constantly buffeted by the politics of colonial encounter.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9781009470605
Related ISBNs:: 9781009470629, 9781009470629
Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Date of Addition:: 03/17/25
Copyrighted By:: Lisa Ford, Kirsten McKenzie, Naomi Parkinson and David Andrew Roberts
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: History, Nonfiction
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.