The British Empire

Bringing together a wide range of documentary evidence, this book examines the phenomenon of British imperialism while taking into account the wide range of debates that have recently invigorated the study of imperialism. It offers a broad-based, comparative study of the history of the British Empire using both primary and secondary sources. Selections are presented within a chronological framework and explore the role of economics and religion in imperial expansion and rule; how indigenous and Creole populations constructed and expressed their own identities; and what changes were wrought by the process of decolonization.

Jane Samson is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. She is editor, with Alan Frost, of 'Pacific Empires: Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams' (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press; Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999) and author of 'Imperial Benevolence: Making British Authority in the Pacific Islands' (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press and London: Curzon Press, 1998).