Mobility was central to imperialism, from the human movements entailed in exploration, travel and migration to the information, communications and commodity flows vital to trade, science, governance and military power. While historians have written on exploration, commerce, imperial transport and communications networks, and the movements of slaves, soldiers and scientists, few have reflected upon the social, cultural, economic and political significance of mobile practices, subjects and infrastructures that underpin imperial networks, or examined the qualities of movement valued by imperial powers and agents at different times. This collection explores the intersection of debates on imperial relations, colonialism and empire with emerging work on mobility. In doing this, it traces how the movements of people, representations and commodities helped to constitute the British empire from the late-eighteenth century through to the Second World War.

'Written in a highly accessible style, Lambert and Merriman finely point out the interconnections between research on mobilities and imperial histories. Through such positioning, the book argues that rigorous historical research can advance mobilities scholarship and shows that there is already much that mobility scholars may learn from histories of the empire. [...] I do hope that the volume finds its way to the hands of many students of history and geography as well as those of scholars of mobility more generally.'
Johanna Skurnik, Journal of British Studies

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David Lambert is Professor of History at the University of Warwick

Peter Merriman is Professor of Geography at Aberystwyth University