ABSTRACT
By the eighteenth century Britain’s powerful naval superiority was as much about colonial trade, shipping goods and peoples across the globe, as it was about the warfare so typical of the period. The visible growth in Britain’s global activities, interests and profi tability outside Europe led to a greater awareness, and often celebration, of the phenomenon of imperialism. Empire came, in the eighteenth century, more and more to connote British-held territories rather than merely British infl uence overseas. In parliament, imperial concerns took up an increasing amount of time; 29 Acts on colonial trade and related items were passed between 1714 and 1739 alone. Newspapers, magazines and journals in eighteenth-century Britain devoted considerable space to discussions of Britain’s imperial possessions. More goods criss-crossed the globe, as did more people. Over the course of the century, the British Empire not only grew – in size, in stature, in profi tability – but it also shifted in focus. For the most part, the eighteenth century was an era characterised by Atlantic domination, with North America and, more critically for British wealth, the West Indies at the imperial centre.
