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The historiography of the British Empire refers to the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars. Historians and their ideas are the focus here; specific lands and historical dates and episodes are covered in the article on the British Empire. Scholars have long studied the Empire, looking at the causes for its formation, its relations to the French and other empires, and the kinds of people and their ideas who became imperialists or anti-imperialists. The history of the breakdown of the Empire has attracted scholars of the United States (which broke away in 1776), as well as India (independent in 1947) and the African colonies (independent in the 1960s). John Darwin (2013) identifies four imperial goals: colonizing, civilizing, converting, and commerce.〔John Darwin , ''Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain'' (2013)〕 In recent years scholars have expanded the range of topics into new areas in social and cultural history, paying special attention to the imact on the natives and their agency in response.〔The newer themes are emphasized in Sarah E. Stockwell, ed., ''The British Empire: Themes and Perspectives'' (2008)〕 The cultural turn in historiography has recently emphasised issues of language, religion, gender, and identity. Recent debates have considered the relationship between the "metropole" (Britain itself, especially London), and the colonial peripheries. The "British world" historians stress the material, emotional, and financial links among the colonizers across the imperial diaspora. The "new imperial historians," by contrast, are more concerned with the Empire's impact on the metropole, including everyday experiences and images.〔Zoë Laidlaw, "Breaking Britannia'S Bounds? Law, Settlers, and Space in Britain's Imperial Historiography," ''Historical Journal'' (2012) 55#3 pp: 807-830〕 Phillip Buckner says that by the 1990s few historians portrayed a benevolent empire. The new thinking was that the impact was not so great, for historians had discovered the many ways which the locals responded to and adapted to Imperial rule. The implication Buckner says is that Imperial history is "therefore less important than was formerly believed."〔Phillip Buckner, "Presidential Address: Whatever Happened to the British Empire?" ''Journal of the Canadian Historical Association/Revue de la Société historique du Canada'' (1993) 4#1 pp 3-32, quote on p 6〕 ==Historical framework== Historians agree that the Empire was not planned by anyone. The concept of the British Empire is a construct and was never a legal entity, unlike the Roman or other European empires. There was no imperial constitution, no office of emperor, no uniformity of laws. So when it began, when it ended, and what stages it went through is a matter of opinion, not official orders or laws. The dividing line was Britain's shift in the 1763-93 period from emphasis on Western to Eastern territories following U.S. independence. The London bureaucracy governing the colonies also changed, policies to white settler colonies changed and slavery was phased out.〔 Vincent T. Harlow. ''The Founding of the Second British Empire, 1763-1793: Vol 2: New Continents and Changing Values'' (1964)〕 The first major history was ''The Expansion of England'' (1883), by Sir John Seeley.〔see (online version )〕 It was a bestseller for decades, and was widely admired by the imperialistic faction in British politics, and opposed by the anti-imperialists of the Liberal Party. The book points out how and why Britain gained the colonies, the character of the Empire, and the light in which it should be regarded. It was well written and persuasive. Seeley argued that British rule is in India's best interest. He also warned that India had to be protected and vastly increased the responsibilities and dangers to Britain. The book contains the much-quoted statement that "we seem, as it were, to have conquered half the world in a fit of absence of mind". ''Expansion of England'' appeared at an opportune time, and did much to make the British regard the colonies as an expansion of the British state as well as of British nationality, and to confirm to them the value of Britain's empire in the East. In his history of the British Empire, written in 1940, A. P. Newton lamented that Seeley "dealt in the main with the great wars of the eighteenth century and this gave the false impression that the British Empire has been founded largely by war and conquest, an idea that was unfortunately planted firmly in the public mind, not only in Great Britain, but also in foreign countries".〔A. P. Newton, ''A Hundred Years of the British Empire'' (1940), pp. 240-241.〕 Historians often point out that in the First British Empire (before the 1780s) there was no single imperial vision, but rather a multiplicity of private operations led by different groups of English businessmen or religious groups. Although protected by the Royal Navy, they were not funded or planned by the government.〔Darwin, ''Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain'' p 386-400.〕 After the American war, says Bruce Collins, British leaders "focused not on any military lessons to be learned, but upon the regulation and expansion of imperial trade and the readjustment of Britain's constitutional relationship with its colonies." In the Second British Empire, by 1815 historians identify four distinct elements in the colonies.〔 The most politically developed colonies were the self-governing colonies in the Caribbean and those that later formed Canada and Australia. India was in a category by itself, and its immense size and distance required control of the routes to it, and in turn permitted British naval dominance from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. The third group was a mixed bag of smaller territories, including isolated ports used as way stations to India, and emerging trade entrepots such as Hong Kong and Singapore, along with a few isolated ports in Africa. The fourth kind of empire was the "informal empire," that is financial dominance exercised through investments, as in Latin America, and including the complex situation in Egypt (it was owned theoretically by the Ottoman Empire, but ruled by Britain).〔Darwin, ''Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain'' p 391.〕 Darwin argues the British Empire was distinguished by the adaptability of its builders: "The hallmark of British imperialism was its extraordinary versatility in method, outlook and object." The British tried to avoid military action in favour of reliance on networks of local elites and businessmen who voluntarily collaborated and in turn gained authority (and military protection) from British recognition.〔Darwin, ''Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain,'' p 388.〕 Historians argue that Britain built an informal economic empire through control of trade and finance in Latin America after the independence of Spanish and Portuguese colonies about 1820.〔Piers Brendon, ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781–1997'' (2008) p 61〕 By the 1840s, Britain had adopted a highly successful policy of free trade that gave it dominance in the trade of much of the world.〔Lawrence James, ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997) pp 169-83〕 After losing its first Empire to the Americans, Britain then turned its attention towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Following the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1815, Britain enjoyed a century of almost unchallenged dominance and expanded its imperial holdings around the globe. Increasing degrees of internal autonomy were granted to its white settler colonies in the 20th century.〔James, ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997) pp 307-18〕 A resurgence came in the late 19th century, with the Scramble for Africa and major additions in Asia and the Middle East. Leadership in British imperialism was expressed by Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Rosebury, and implemented in Africa by Cecil Rhodes. Other influential spokesmen included Lord Cromer, Lord Curzon, General Kitchner, Lord Milner, and the writer Rudyard Kipling. They all were influenced by Seeley's ''Expansion of England''.〔William L. Langer, ''The Diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902'' (2nd ed. 1950) pp 67-100〕 The British Empire was the largest Empire that the world has ever seen both in terms of landmass and population. Its power, both military and economic, remained unmatched in 1900. In 1876 Disraeli overcame vehement Liberal opposition and obtained for Queen Victoria the title of "Empress of India" (she was not "Empress of the British Empire.") 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Historiography of the British Empire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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