Colonialism In The 18th Century

The 18th century serves as a major turning point in the British Empire, forming the modern view of its territories and conquests. The birth of imperial Britain is truly complete with the conquering of the New World, mainly the Caribbean and North America, near the middle of the 17th century. It is this conquering of the Spanish empire and the subjugation of newly discovered people that finalizes the trending growth of Britain’s global empire, which created and fostered anxiety in the British people. The idea of nation-building defined a new role for Britain, which only fully incorporated Scotland in 1740, solidifying their place in the networks of global trade. It is through this development that for the first time, in the 18th century, large groups of people were not only able to identify as a nation in Britain, but also distinguish “otherness” through the subjugation of native peoples in newly discovered lands. Combine the new otherness with the capital class and the investors, who now had leisure time, and the creation of the colonial narrative novel is set.Wealthy individuals needed to pass time and the novel --specifically the colonial narrative-- was used as a way to explore and justify the treatment of the natives while also allowing for the validity of a non-landed investor class to facilitate their own ascension. It is through this new narrative form --the novel-- that anxieties are both symptomized and allegorized. The formulation of writing exploring the New