Atlantic Voyages

The East India Company and the British Route to the East in the Age of Sail

Inbunden, Engelska, 2023

AvJohn McAleer,University of Southampton) McAleer, Dr John (Associate Professor of History, Associate Professor of History,John Mcaleer

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As he prepared to embark for India in 1774, Alexander Mackrabie's excitement at the sights to be seen and novelties to be experienced was palpable. Mackrabie's journey was conducted under the auspices of the London-based East India Company and was one of the many thousands of Company voyages that brought Europeans into contact with Asian countries and cultures, as well as numerous people and places along the way. Atlantic Voyages tells the story of travellers like Mackrabie as they navigated the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, reflecting on who and what they had left behind in Europe, looking forward to new challenges in Asia, and evaluating the sights and smells, sounds and tastes, hopes and expectations, fears and regrets, that regaled their senses and played on their minds as they sailed along the way. It charts the tension between tedium and terror on the one hand, and exhilaration and excitement on the other, attempting to understand the maritime space of the Atlantic as it was experienced by the people who traversed its waters. The lives of the people carried by East Indiamen were deeply affected by their Atlantic experiences. They confronted the reality of shipboard life: its seasickness and boredom, its cramped living conditions, its questionable dining fare, and its severely restricted privacy. They acclimatised to the rhythms of the ocean and the vicissitudes of the weather. They encountered rites of passage and ceremonies of initiation on the high seas. They prepared themselves for cultural disorientation and a host of unusual sights and sensations. And they wondered at the extraordinary beauty of the elements around them - the sea, the sky, the islands - and the strangeness of their inhabitants, human and animal alike. The ship's passage played a crucial role in shaping the responses and experiences of those individuals surrounded by its wooden walls. Their words bring to life this maritime journey, illuminate the experiences of the people who undertook it, and contribute to our understanding of the place of the Atlantic Ocean in wider histories of the East India Company and the British Empire in this period.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2023-06-01
Mått161 x 241 x 20 mm
Vikt568 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor274
FörlagOUP OXFORD
ISBN9780192894748

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John McAleer is Associate Professor of History at the University of Southampton. His work explores the British encounter and engagement with the wider world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, situating the history of empire in its global and maritime contexts. He was previously Curator of Imperial and Maritime History at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

1: Introduction: 'A formidable undertaking': Travellers' tales, Atlantic voyages, and the route to the East2: Embarking: 'An inhabitant of another world': Shipboard spaces and daily life3: Voyaging: 'My time hangs rather heavy on my hands': Passing the time, marking the passage4: Observing: 'The wonders of the boundless ocean': Sea, sky, and the living world5: Stopping: 'The salutary effects of the shore': Landfall, islands, and going ashore6: Conclusion: Beyond the Cape

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Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail

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