Representing Africa : landscape, exploration and empire in southern Africa, 1780-1870 / John McAleer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McAleer, John, author.

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Navigation--Africa, Southern--History--19th century.

Navigation.

Landscapes--Africa, Southern--History--19th century.

Landscapes.

Navigation--Africa, Southern--History--19th century--Sources.

Landscapes--Africa, Southern--History--19th century--Sources.

Africa, Southern--Discovery and exploration.

Africa, Southern.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--19th century.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--19th century--Sources.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 241 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Southern Africa played a varied but vital role in Britain's maritime and imperial stories. The region was one of the most intricate pieces in the British imperial strategic jigsaw, and representations of southern African landscape and maritime spaces reflect its multifaceted position. This book examines the ways in which British travellers, explorers and artists viewed southern Africa in a period of evolving and expanding British interest in the region. Cape Town occupied in the visual and cultural understanding of British people in the 1760s. It is a representation of southern Africa. The book presents a study that examines and contextualises such representations of southern African landscapes, seascapes and settlements by British officials, travellers and artists. It interrogates how and why these descriptions and depictions came about, as well as the role they played in the British imagining and understanding of southern African spaces. The focus is on a period of evolving and expanding British interest and intervention in southern Africa, its impact on peoples and their environs, and the expression in contemporary landscape and seascape representation. British formal control at the Cape of Good Hope brought European aesthetic frameworks to bear on the viewing of landscapes. Exploration and imperialism were defining features of the British experience in southern Africa. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, contemporary travelogues and visual images, the book posits landscape as a useful prism through which to view changing British attitudes towards Africa.

Contents:

List of illustrations

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Note on the text

List of abbreviations

Introduction

1. Archiving the landscape

2. 'The fairest Cape': Landscapes of convenience

3. The aesthetics of landscapes

4. The scientific impulse

5. Missionaries and migrants

6. The land in amber

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 30 Mar 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Restricted: Printing from this resource is governed by The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK) and UK copyright law currently in force.

ISBN:

9781526118370

OCLC:

1232721971