European Colonialism since 1700

Lehning, James R.James R. Lehning is Professor of History at the University of Utah. His previous publications include To Be a Citizen: The Political Culture of the Early French Third Republic (2001) which won the Laurence Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies in 2003 and, as co-editor, Europeans in the World: Sources on Cultural Contact (2 volumes, 2002).

This masterful synthesis provides a much-needed, complete survey of European colonialism from 1700 to decolonization in the twentieth century. Written by an award-winning author, this advanced undergraduate and graduate level textbook bridges, for the first time, the early modern Atlantic empires and the later Asian and African empires of 'high imperialism'. Viewing colonialism as a phenomenon of contact between Europe and the rest of the world, the author takes an 'entangled histories' approach, considering the surprising ways in which the imperial powers of Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands displayed their identities in colonial settings, as much as in their imperial capitals. The author illuminates for students the common themes of colonial government, economic development and cultural contact across empires, and reveals the ways in which these themes played out, through contrast of the differing development, structure and impact of each empire.

The only textbook to survey the major Atlantic, Asian and African empires of Europe, from 1700 through decolonization in 1945. A much-needed complete survey of European colonialism from 1700 to twentieth century decolonization, bridging, for the first time, the early modern Atlantic colonies and later Asian and African colonies of Spain, Portugal, Britain, France and the Netherlands. For advanced undergraduate and graduate students of history, international studies and political science.

1. Introduction; 2. The European empires in the early eighteenth century; 3. The restructuring of the Atlantic empires; 4. The new empires in Oceania and Asia; 5. Africa and the Middle East; 6. Imperial Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; 7. Decolonisation and postcolonial Europe.