Expedition into Empire

Expeditions combined the traversing of space with the production of discourse. The "discoveries" of expeditions, disseminated in the form of maps and reports, books and pictures, would provide the stimulus for invasion, migration, investment and more. While there is an incalculably large literature dealing with exploration and its effects, the expedition itself, a culturally and historically specific way of organising, conducting and inscribing a journey, is surprisingly under-examined. This book proposes that the expedition is as much a cultural form, specific to its epoch, as the novel or the photograph.