Abu Juwairiya
Junior Member
"Empire’ is a grand word. But behind its façade (in every place and time) stood a mass of individuals, a network of lobbies, a mountain of hopes: for careers, fortunes, religious salvation or just physical safety. Empires were not made by faceless committees making grand calculations, nor by the ‘irresistible’ pressures of economics or ideology.
They had to be made by men (and women) whose actions were shaped by motives and morals no less
confused and demanding than those that govern us now. This was certainly true of the British overseas empire. Far from being the mere handiwork of kings and conquistadors, it was largely a private enterprise empire: the creation of merchants, investors, migrants and missionaries, among many others.
Building an empire was not just an act of will or an imaginative impulse, though both were
essential. It required a long chain of mundane activities to bring it about: the reconnoitring of
‘targets’; the founding of bridgeheads; the raising of money; the recruiting of sailors, soldiers,
emigrants and adventurers; the rallying of allies (not least at court or in government); the writing of
rules (not least about property in ‘newfound’ lands); the regulation of trade as well as of moral
behaviour in exotic locations; the framing of governments." (Source: "Unfinished Empire, The Global Expansion of Britain", By John Darwin, P 5)
They had to be made by men (and women) whose actions were shaped by motives and morals no less
confused and demanding than those that govern us now. This was certainly true of the British overseas empire. Far from being the mere handiwork of kings and conquistadors, it was largely a private enterprise empire: the creation of merchants, investors, migrants and missionaries, among many others.
Building an empire was not just an act of will or an imaginative impulse, though both were
essential. It required a long chain of mundane activities to bring it about: the reconnoitring of
‘targets’; the founding of bridgeheads; the raising of money; the recruiting of sailors, soldiers,
emigrants and adventurers; the rallying of allies (not least at court or in government); the writing of
rules (not least about property in ‘newfound’ lands); the regulation of trade as well as of moral
behaviour in exotic locations; the framing of governments." (Source: "Unfinished Empire, The Global Expansion of Britain", By John Darwin, P 5)