Facing Empire: Indigenous Experiences in a Revolutionary Age

Abstract

The “age of revolutions” was characterized not only by intense political struggles in Europe, Asia, and the Americas but also by new encounters between peoples throughout the world. The contributors to Facing Empire have attempted to analyze the experiences of indigenous peoples comparatively within and across imperial boundaries. Unlike many comparative histories of empire that adopt a European lens, this volume treats indigenous peoples as its main subjects. The thirteen essays in Facing Empire take a broad geographical approach to indigenous experiences of the British Empire. Three essays concentrate principally on mainland North America. Michael A. McDonnell considers how the Anishinaabe peoples of the Great Lakes region shaped imperial policy on their own terms after 1763. Colin G. Calloway shifts focus to the Ohio Valley and considers how the Ohio Indians both frustrated and influenced imperial plans from the Seven Years' War to the War of 1812. Elspeth Martini follows the Ojibwe chief and Methodist missionary Shawundais as he traveled to London to petition for recognition of his people's rights as original owners of their land north of Lake Ontario. Three more essays draw comparisons between the experiences of indigenous peoples in North America and those elsewhere in the British Empire. Kate Fullager explores the connections between two late eighteenth-century visitors to London, the Cherokee warrior Ostenaco and the Ra'iatean refugee Mai. Joshua L. Reid focuses on attempts to gain control over marine space and resources in the Pacific region through a comparative study of the Makah of northwest North America and the Māori of New Zealand's South Island. Justin Brooks stretches the definition of indigenous through an examination of imperial policies toward negotiated rule in North America, Scotland, and India in the early eighteenth century. The remaining essays explore indigenous experiences in Australia, West Africa, the Pacific islands, New Zealand, the Persian Gulf, and the Cape of Good Hope. This breadth is to be commended, although some readers may be disappointed by how little attention is given to the Indian Ocean region.