England and Wider World 1550 to 1815

This colloquium explores the evolution of English overseas enterprise from the Protestant Reformation through the end of the Napoleonic Wars.  Topics include the origins and organization of the early British Empire, the production of wealth through colonial settlement and overseas trade, the development of consumer markets for tropical commodities, the relationship between European and imperial spheres of endeavor, the relationship between overseas enterprise and evolving definitions of British identity, and new problems of governance and administration in the late eighteenth century that accompanied colonial expansion in North America, South Asia, the Caribbean, and West Africa.