Over the past half millennium, from circa 1450 until the last third or so of the twentieth century, much of the worldâs history has been influenced in great part by one general dynamic and complex historical process known as European expansion. Defined as the opening up, unfolding, or increasing the extent, number, volume, or scope of the space, size, or participants belonging to a certain people or group, location, or geographical region, Europeâs expansion initially emerged and emanated physically, intellectually, and politically from southern Europe â specifically from the Iberian peninsula â during the fifteenth century, expanding rapidly from that locus to include, first, all of Europeâs maritime and, later, most of its continental states and peoples. Most commonly associated with events described as the discovery of America and of a passage to the East Indies (Asia) by rounding the Cape of Good Hope (Africa) during the early modern and modern periods, European expansion and encounters with the rest of the world multiplied and morphed into several ancillary historical processes, including colonization, imperialism, capitalism, and globalization, encompassing themes, among others, relating to contacts and, to quote the EURO seriesâ original mission statement, âconnections and exchanges; peoples, ideas and products, especially through the medium of trading companies; the exchange of religions and traditions; the transfer of technologies; and the development of new forms of political, social and economic policy, as well as identity formation.â Because of its intrinsic importance, extensive research has been performed and much has been written about the entire period of European expansion.
With the first volume published in 2009, Brill launched the European Expansion and Indigenous Response book series at the initiative of well-known scholar and respected historian, Glenn J. Ames, who, prior to his untimely passing, was the founding editor and guided the first seven volumes of the series to publication. Being one of the early members of the seriesâ editorial board, I was then appointed as Series Editor. The seriesâ founding objectives are to focus on publications âthat understand and deal with the process of European expansion, interchange and connectivity in a global context in the early modern and modern periodâ and to âprovide a forum for a variety of types of scholarly work with a wider disciplinary approach that moves beyond the traditional isolated and nation bound historiographical emphases of this field, encouraging whenever possible non-European perspectivesâ¦that seek to understand this indigenous transformative process and period in autonomous as well as inter-related cultural, economic, social, and ideological terms.â
Despite, or perhaps because of, these new directions and stimulating sources of existing and emerging lines of dispute regarding the history of European expansion, I and the editorial board of the series will continue with the original objectives and mission statement of the series and vigorously â⦠seek out studies that employ diverse forms of analysis from all scholarly disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, history (including the history of science), linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, and religious studies.â In addition, we shall seek to stimulate, locate, incorporate, and publish the most important and exciting scholarship in the field.
Towards that purpose, I am pleased to introduce volume 32 of Brillâs EURO series, authored by Elisabeth Heijmans and entitled The Agency of Empire: Connections and Strategies in French Overseas Expansion (1686â1746). In this manuscript, which is a revised version of her doctoral dissertation (Leiden University 2018), she examines the history of the overseas maritime expansion of France and the process of empire building that was employed over a critical period of its formation (i.e. towards the end of the seventeenth until the middle of the eighteenth centuries) over two strategically important geographical regions, the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
Heijmans work deftly engages the general and timeless issues of power and wealth; she demonstrates how they intertwined in the general process of European expansion and provides new insights into the role of agency and the tension between agents of Empire in the metropolis and overseas in the
George Bryan Souza