
Europe And The British Geographical Imagination, 1760-1830 Explores What Literate British People Understood By The Word 'europe' In The Late Eighteenth And Early Nineteenth Centuries. Was Europe Unified By Shared Religious Heritage? Where Were The Edges Of Europe? Was Europe Primarily A Commercial Network Or Were There Common Political Practices Too? Was Britain Itself A European Country?while Intellectual History Is Concerned Predominantly With Prominent Thinkers, Paul Stock Traces The History Of Ideas In Non-elite Contexts, Offering A Detailed Analysis Of Nearly 350 Geographical Reference Works, Textbooks, Dictionaries, And Encyclopaedias, Which Were Widely Read By Literate Britons Of All Classes, And Can Reveal The Formative Ideas About Europe Circulating In Britain: Ideas About Religion; The Natural Environment; Race And Other Theories Of Human Difference; The State; Borders; The Identification Of The 'centre' And 'edges' Of Europe; Commerce And Empire; And Ideas About The Past, Progress, And Historical Change.-- Part I The Geographical Imagination -- 1 Geographical Texts P. 17 -- 2 Geographical Knowledge P. 38 -- Part Ii The Idea Of Europe -- 3 Religion P. 65 -- 4 The Natural Environment P. 80 -- 5 Human Difference P. 103 -- 6 The State P. 124 -- 7 Borders P. 153 -- 8 Centres And Peripheries P. 177 -- 9 Commerce And Empire P. 210 -- 10 History And Progress P. 234. Paul Stock. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 261-322) And Index.
This book investigates how the concept of 'Europe' was constructed and understood within the British geographical imagination during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Paul Stock, a scholar of intellectual and cultural history, examines a vast corpus of non-elite texts to determine how ordinary literate Britons defined the continent's borders, identity, and political character. By analyzing nearly 350 geographical reference works, textbooks, and encyclopaedias, the author reconstructs the formative ideas about religion, race, commerce, and statehood that shaped British perceptions of their European neighbors.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars recognize this work as a significant contribution to the history of ideas, particularly for its innovative use of non-elite source material to map cultural attitudes. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the thoroughness of the bibliographical research provided by the author.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
1900-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press,
ISBN-10:
0191844861
ISBN-13:
9780191844867
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