Strangers Within the Realm: Cultural Margins of the First British Empire

Description

Shedding new light on British expansion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this collection of essays examines how the first British Empire was received and shaped by its subject peoples in Scotland, Ireland, North America, and the Caribbean. An introduction surveys British imperial historiography and provides a context for the volume as a whole. The essays focus on specific ethnic groups -- Native Americans, African-Americans, Scotch-Irish, and Dutch and Germans -- and their relations with the British, as well as on the effects of British expansion in particular regions -- Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and the West Indies. A conclusion assesses the impact of the North American colonies on British society and politics. Taken together, these essays represent a new kind of imperial history -- one that portrays imperial expansion as a dynamic process in which the oulying areas, not only the English center, played an important role in the development and character of the Empire. The collection interpets imperial history broadly, examining it from the perspective of common folk as well as elites and discussing the clash of cultures in addition to political disputes. Finally, by examining shifting and multiple frontiers and by drawing parallels between outlying provinces, these essays move us closer to a truly integrated story that links the diverse ethnic experiences of the first British Empire. The contributors are Bernard Bailyn, Philip D. Morgan, Nicholas Canny, Eric Richards, James H. Merrell, A. G. Roeber, Maldwyn A. Jones, Michael Craton, J. M. Bumsted, and Jacob M. Price. Acknowledgments Contents Introduction The Marginal Kingdom: Ireland as a Problem in the First British Empire Scotland and the Uses of the Atlantic Empire "The Customes of Our Countrey": Indians and Colonists in Early America British Encounters with Africans and African-Americans, circa 1600-1780 "The Origin of Whatever Is Not English among Us": The Dutch-speaking and the German-speaking Peoples of Colonial British America The Scotch-Irish in British America Reluctant Creoles: The Planters' World in the British West Indies The Cultural Landscape of Early Canada Who Cared about the Colonies? The Impact of the Thirteen Colonies on British Society and Politics, circa 1714-1775 Index Notes on Contributors