Mapping, Connectivity, and the Making of European Empires - (Global Epistemics) by Luis Lobo-Guerrero & Laura Lo Presti & Filipe Dos Reis

About the Book

Book Synopsis

This volume explores how maps can be approached to understand the making of European empires.

Review Quotes

Drawing on a range of cases from the 16th through to the 20th centuries, the contributors remind us that a map is not merely a reflection of power; a map is power. Each chapter reveals how, by constructing the 'other' within a system of order, relative difference, connectivity, and circulation, mapping is fundamental to the logic of empire.

This fascinating follow up to Imaginaries of Connectivity offers an extraordinarily productive focus for further investigation of the problem of connectivity. Focusing on how, by strategically combining disparate elements, various mapping practices contributed to the creation of imperial spaces, Mapping, Connectivity and the Making of European Empires illuminates the role of maps as instruments of power, the complicated relationship between mapping and empire, and how the connectivities that maps depict both reflected European imperial ambitions and provided scaffolding for European imperial rule.

This impressive collection of essays offers an important and timely contribution to the study of mapping, empires, and the politics of space, with the novel addition of an explicit focus on connectivity. Particularly useful is the interdisciplinary nature of the volume, given that these issues undoubtedly cross--and bring into question--disciplinary boundaries.

About the Author

Luis Lobo-Guerrero is Professor of History and Theory of International Relations at the University of Groningen.
Laura Lo Presti is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Padova.
Filipe dos Reis is Assistant Professor of Geopolitics and Connectivity at the University of Groningen.