John McAleer 
Representing Africa 
Landscape, exploration and empire in Southern Africa, 1780–1870

Southern Africa played a varied but vital role in Britain’s maritime and imperial stories: it was one of the most intricate pieces in the British imperial strategic jigsaw, and representations of southern African landscape and maritime spaces reflect its multifaceted position.

Representing Africa examines the ways in which British travellers, explorers and artists viewed southern Africa in a period of evolving and expanding British interest in the region. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, contemporary travelogues and visual images, many of which have not previously been published in this context, this book posits landscape as a useful prism through which to view changing British attitudes towards Africa.

Richly illustrated, this book will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in British, African, imperial and exploration history, art history, and landscape and environment studies.

Table of Content

List of illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Note on the text
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. Archiving the landscape
2. ‘The fairest Cape’: Landscapes of convenience
3. The aesthetics of landscapes
4. The scientific impulse
5. Missionaries and migrants
6. The land in amber
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

About the author

John Mac Kenzie is Emeritus Professor of Imperial History, Lancaster University and holds Honorary Professorships at Aberdeen, St Andrews and Stirling, as well as an Honorary Fellowship at Edinburgh.