ABSTRACT
In the late nineteenth century, Great Britain acquired a new empire in Africa and elsewhere in the Tropics. And it acquired a new enthusiasm for empire as a whole. A vast swathe of ‘British Empire Red’ stretched across thousands of schoolroom maps, and it made millions of British hearts beat faster. Imperial questions became central in British politics. The Boer War of 1899–1902 was fought in service of the imperial mission, a mission that soared above the rather meagre economic benefits of almost all the territory in Africa. People died for the empire. Where did this late nineteenth-century enthusiasm for empire come from?
