The Global Eighteenth Century

Historians have generally come to accept the idea of a "long 18th century", one that extended from circa 1660 to 1830.

In this book, editor Felicity Nussbaum and the contributing authors take this idea one step further, positing an 18th century that is "wide" as well as long, reaching beyond Europe into the African diaspora, the Americas, the Levant, China, India and Oceania.

Showcasing the work of 21 scholars in literature, world history, art history, geography and environmental studies, this collection of essays explores both the literal and the metaphorical crossings of the globe, addressing the cultural significance of maps, paintings, travel writing, tourist manuals, cultural identities, island gardens and other topics in order to lend insight to our perception of global culture during this time.In addition, the contributors examine the tension between the tendency toward homogenization at the global level and the specifics of local knowledge and culture, analyzing examples of sexual and racial intermingling, the European reception of indigenous knowledge, encounters with diverse religions, the exchange of goods and diseases, and the real and imagined mappings of the world.

These essays, which the introduction considers within global and imperial studies, add a crucial historical element to the emerging concept of the global.

Through careful analysis of texts, images and artefacts, they articulate the truly global nature of relations among the freshly juxtaposed regions, disciplines and methodologies of this complex era.