|
Europe and
the British Geographical Imagination, 1760-1830
Paul Stock
Oxford: University
Press, 2019 Hardcover.
xi+330 p. ISBN 978-0198807117. £70
Reviewed by Hugh Clout University College London
Analysing the content
of almost 350 ‘geographical’ books published between 1760 and 1830, this
remarkably detailed work examines what literate British readers came to
understand by the term ‘Europe’. It also sheds important light on what was
conveyed by the concept of ‘geography’ during that period. In both respects,
long-held ideas are shown to have carried through to our own time. Source
materials embrace reference works, gazetteers, textbooks, dictionaries and
encyclopaedias, including those originally published elsewhere and later
translated and republished in Britain and Ireland. Many are only to be found in
high-quality rare-book libraries. Works of this kind became more common during
the seven decades in question as the general demand for books grew and their
production duly expanded. ‘Geographical’ books became increasingly popular,
providing knowledge of the world not only to specialists, scholars and
travellers but also to industrialists, traders and members of the literate
classes. Such texts covered a very wide range of topics from astronomy to
agriculture as well as the characteristics of individual states. However, the
over-arching notion of ‘geography’ was understood in relatively precise terms
as ‘the description of the Earth’, occupying a median position on a spatial
scale extending from cosmography (study of the heavens) to chorography that
focused on distinct regions, areas and places. With just a few exceptions, as
sources ‘these books have been largely ignored or dismissed by historians’,
partly because of ‘their pseudonymous or opaque authorships, plagiaristic
contents, and complex publication histories’ [17]. Nonetheless, they offer a
valuable route toward appreciating the ‘geographical imagination’ regarding
Europe and the world at large in this time of dramatic political and economic
change when a veritable ‘travel culture’ also appeared. Having introduced the
topic in the first two chapters, historian Paul Stock devotes the remainder of his
book to examining a variety of approaches to the idea of Europe. He
demonstrates that geography books published between 1760 and 1830 are ‘almost
always explicitly Christian texts, and they frequently praise the splendour of
God and His creation’ [79]. The Christian faith is presented as defining
Europe’s specificity and supposed superiority compared with other parts of the
globe. The continent’s elevated status was also a reflection of its ‘natural
environment’ that is seen as a divine gift for careful husbandry by mankind. It
was believed that the continent’s ‘fertile soil, mild temperature and plentiful
resources [stimulate] the growth of arts and sciences’ [101]. As well as
displaying a collective notion of being European, geographical sources also
recognise differences among the continent’s inhabitants: Some see Europeans as
. . . collectively superior to the peoples of other continents on aesthetic and
intellectual grounds. But others identify a range of European races co-habiting
and competing with each other. The latter theory often uses language to
identify distinct groups [123]. Geographical works of
this period invariably pay much attention to the political states of Europe,
exploring debates about whether they should be ‘organic communities with
multi-faceted jurisdictions, or governmental jurisdictions with increasingly centralized
administrations’ [152]. Most specify monarchy as the definitive form of
government and see European states as sharing ‘a propensity for liberty,
broadly defined as respect for legal structures and for property rights’ [152].
Europe’s borders and the boundaries of component states are explained in part
by ‘natural’ features, such as mountains and rivers, but also by the outcome of
human decisions, activities and conflicts. Individual states, with distinctive
centres and peripheries, are judged to be spatially cohesive to varying degree.
For example, the influence of France in artistic culture and military
adventurism seemingly confirms it as one of Europe’s core polities, but ‘many
books disparage its fragility and supposedly tyrannous aspirations as contrary
to the norms of the European state system’ [209]. By contrast and not
surprisingly, Britain is widely ‘celebrated as the epitome of Europe, and
valued for its distinctiveness from the rest of the continent’ [209]. In many geographical
texts, discussion of Europe is not constrained to the territorial extent of the
continent and attention is directed to the commercial activity and imperial
ambitions of component states and the competition between them that resulted.
Navigation, discovery and military superiority are shown to cause new
expressions of European space to come into being overseas. Most texts celebrate
the imperial prowess and success of European states but some ‘are sharply
critical of imperial endeavours, especially those associated with the slave
trade and other forms of egregious exploitation’ [233]. Nonetheless, commercial
empires are widely extolled as offering a vital mechanism whereby Europeans
might supposedly ‘improve’ the rest of mankind. An inter-relationship between
the march of history and the outworking of human progress is central to the
argument of many geographical texts, however some envisage the qualities of
being European as being set and constant while others acknowledge the impact of
many tumultuous political and economic changes during the decades from 1760 to
1830. Thus, taking the corpus of evidence as a whole, ‘the problem of whether
the continent continues to progress, or whether it has already achieved
perfection remains unresolved’ [255]. Indeed, some texts suggest that Europe’s
supposed unique status and flawlessness are subjective impressions rather than
expressions of objective proof. Paul Stock concludes that, between 1760 and
1830, literate British people understood ‘Europe’ to encompass two
perspectives. One envisaged the continent as ‘an assortment of (sometimes
contradictory) ideas which co-exist and compete in an unstable mélange’ [256].
The other defined Europe by reference to ‘specific arguments and purported
characteristics which remain broadly consistent throughout the period’ [256]. This impressive work
of deep and meticulous critical scholarship illuminates the history of
geography at a time well before it was established as a distinct subject in
institutions of higher education in the British Isles. I suspect that it will
receive a warmer reception among historians of knowledge and science than among
professional geographers, who have greater concern for understanding the
present world and shaping its future than investigating the past of their own
branch of learning. But of course, many of the ideas that were prominent in
geographical work in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries have a
certain resonance today. The relationship between ‘natural’ and human forces in
damaging our climatic and terrestrial environments comes to mind, as do many
aspects of geopolitics and territorial power, including the departure of the
United Kingdom from the European Union. In addition, the supposed superiority
of Europe must be recognised as but a passing phase when compared with the
growing strength and global influence of East Asia. As always, there is much of
great value to be gained by studying the lessons of the past.
Cercles © 2020 All rights are reserved and no reproduction from this site for whatever purpose is permitted without the permission of the copyright owner. Please contact us before using any material on this website.
|
|
|
