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      Empirical Power, Imperial Science: Science, Empire, and the ‘Classification’ of the Late Eighteenth Century Pacific

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      VOOGEL-THESIS-2017.pdf (2.948Mb)
      Date
      2017-10-30
      Author
      Voogel, Justin Wyatt 1991-
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      The Pacific of the mid eighteenth century was far removed from what it would become by the first decade of the nineteenth. The transformation from an expansive, unknown blue desert to a clearly defined space crisscrossed by trade routes and dotted with burgeoning colonial settlements came as the result of four decades of survey and study carried out by the governments of Europe. At the fore of this expeditionary fervor, Great Britain sponsored five separate voyages of discovery that served to codify the Pacific Ocean under the precepts of European cartography and Linnaean classification with the aid of natural historians, botanic draughtsmen, gardeners, and astronomers. At a time when European powers found themselves at odds, if not outright war, these voyages and their discoveries became a focal point of cooperation as the far-flung regions of the globe were slowly given shape and meaning within a European context. Combining the resources of the Royal Navy with members and backing from the Royal Society, these endeavours sought to bring back to Europe a defined picture of the Pacific, from its coastlines to its flora and fauna and, of course, descriptions of the Polynesian societies they encountered. Covering the final decades of the long eighteenth century, these voyages formed quintessential examples of Enlightenment ideals, seeking out the unknown areas of the globe and sharing those discoveries with the world, and would ultimately be appropriated and used towards the national interest. This thesis, then, serves to highlight the move from empirical voyage of discovery to imperial scientific endeavour through the changing role of naval captains and natural historians and their understanding of their place in this larger endeavour.
      Degree
      Master of Arts (M.A.)
      Department
      History
      Program
      History
      Supervisor
      Neufeld, Matthew
      Committee
      Carlson, Keith; Clifford, Jim; Aitken, Alec
      Copyright Date
      September 2017
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/8244
      Subject
      Exploration
      Scientific Discovery
      Royal Society
      Sir Joseph Banks
      Enlightenment
      South Pacific
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      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
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