Empire

‘Magnified security’, cover illustration for Puck, by Udo J. Keppler, 6 May 1908.

‘America, América’ by Greg Grandin review

America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin finds a place for Latin America and its ideals in the story of the United States.

An allegorical scene showing the benefits of James I’s reign, by Simon Gribelin II after Peter Paul Rubes, 1720. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘The Sun Rising’ by Anna Whitelock review

The Sun Rising: James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain by Anna Whitelock offers a panoramic view of Jacobean foreign policy.

‘The Church Militant’, by John Collet, 1779. Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. Public Domain.

‘The Crisis of Colonial Anglicanism’ by Martyn Percy review

The Crisis of Colonial Anglicanism: Empire, Slavery and Revolt in the Church of England by Martyn Percy takes the British Empire’s church militant to task. Is there a case to answer?

King Lewanika wearing the Victorian ambassador’s court uniform he wore to Edward VII’s coronation, 1902. Aberdeen City Council (Archives, Gallery & Museums Collection).

The African King at Edward VII’s Coronation

King Lewanika’s invitation to the coronation of Edward VII was intended to stabilise British relations with the Barotse nation. Instead, it exposed the cracks in the imperial veneer.

Petty officers and seamen of the Royal Navy, by Frank Dadd, c. 1900. Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown University Library. Public Domain.

‘The Price of Victory’ by N.A.M. Rodger review

The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain: 1815-1945 by N.A.M. Rodger looks above decks for the story of the modern Royal Navy.

Arab merchants depicted in the Codex Casanatense, Portuguese, c.1540. Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome.

Portugal, the Mamluks, and the Age of Discovery

For the Portuguese empire to rise, an old world had to give way. Rivals in Europe’s lucrative spice trade, how much did they know about the powerful Mamluk sultanate?

Map of the Moluccas, by Petrus Plancius, Amsterdam, 1617. State Library of New South Wales. Public Domain.

‘Spice’ by Roger Crowley review

In Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World, Roger Crowley explains how Spain and Portugal turned up the heat in the age of imperialism.

Portuguese portolan chart of West Africa and the Canary Islands, 1563. Photo Josse/Bridgeman images.

The World Divided at Tordesillas

With a line on a map, the Treaty of Tordesillas split the world between Spain and Portugal. Was it a grand refutation of papal authority or an extension of it?

Warren Hastings depicted in a manuscript of the Divan of Minnat, India, c.1782. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Rehabilitating the East India Company’s Nabobs

The nabobs of the East India Company were considered violent, greedy and – worst of all in a time of Enlightenment – uneducated. Could their reputation as philistines be laundered?

‘The Conflagration of Dalla on the Rangoon River’, from Eighteen views taken at and near Rangoon, by Joseph Moore, 1825. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

The First Anglo-Burmese War

In March 1824 the East India Company declared war on Burma, the opening salvo in a series of conflicts that would see one empire fall, another expand and leave divisive wounds still felt today.