Anglo-American inter-imperialism: US expansion and the British world, c.1865-1914

Journal article

Abstract:: This article examines the overlooked synergy between American economic expansion and British imperialism in the late nineteenth century. The established scholarship on American empire in this period focuses on the domestic origins of US expansion into the markets of the Western Hemisphere. This article contends, however, that informal American expansion was shaped by external collaborations with the British World. Between 1865 and 1914, an American "colony" of expatriate businessmen emerged in London that is central to this study. The American "colony" integrated itself within the social and economic networks upon which British imperialism depended and mediated new inter-imperial collaborations. Migrants, knowledge, and investment flowed through these intersections, shaping the geography of American expansion around the global footprint of the British World. A snapshot of the pharmaceutical firm Burroughs Wellcome and Co. spotlights these processes, highlighting the mutual imbrications of the British and American empires and the inter-imperial reciprocities sustaining late-nineteenth century globalisation. © Edinburgh University Press.

Keywords:: American expansion

inter-imperialism

globalisation

expatriates

South Africa

Burroughs Wellcome
Pubs id:: pubs:486121
UUID:: uuid:569e7d7f-12ca-4128-8239-cebafeba4fd6
Local pid:: pubs:486121
Source identifiers:: 486121
Deposit date:: 2015-10-13
ARK identifier:: ark:/29072/ora_569e7d7f12ca41288239cebafeba4fd6

Licence:: Terms and Conditions of Use for Oxford University Research Archive

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