Reappraisals of British Colonisation in Atlantic Canada, 1700-1930 (Histories of the Scottish North Atlantic)

This volume offers new perspectives on the impact of British colonisation by concentrating on Atlantic Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), a region that was pivotal in safeguarding Britain’s imperial ambitions and one that continues to grapple with the legacies of the Empire. Chapters in the collection engage with these legacies across three thematic sections: Dispossession and Settlement; Religion and Identity; and Reappraising Memory. Showcasing original research of both new and established scholars from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, the collection challenges the established historiography of the region by highlighting the indigenous experience as well as that of people of colour, seafarers, and religious minorities - groups who have traditionally been excluded from Britain’s imperial narrative - as well as providing fresh analyses of early colonial planners and elite colonial land policy makers. Reappraisals of British Colonisation in Atlantic Canada, 1700–1930 Contents Notes on the Contributors 1 Colonial Legacies 2 British Colonisation in an Atlantic Canadian Context 3 Barren Icy Rocks or a Nursery of Seamen? Debating Nova Scotia and Ideologies of Empire in the Era of the American Revolution 4 Leaving Nova Scotia: Sierra Leone and the Free Black People, 1792–1800 5 New World, Old Problems? Aristocratic Influences on Colonial Governance and Land in Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Canada 6 Catholic Highland Scots and the Colonisation of Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island, 1772–1830 7 The Church of England, Print Networks and the Book of Common Prayer in Atlantic Canada, c.1750–c.1830 8 ‘For Christ and Covenant’: Scottish Presbyterian Dissent and Early Political Reform in Nova Scotia, 1803–1832 9Fenian Ghosts: The Spectre of Irish Republicanism in Ethnic Relations in Newfoundland 10 Cosmopolitan Engagements: Class, Place and Diplomacy in the Gulf of St Lawrence Fisheries, 1815–1854 The Mi’kmaq, the Pattersons and Remembering the Scottish Colonisation of Nova Scotia Index This collection offers new perspectives on the legacy of British colonisation by concentrating on Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island), a region that was pivotal to safeguarding Britain’s imperial ambitions, between 1750 and 1930. New and established researchers from Canada, Scotland and the United States engage with the core themes of migration, dispossession, religion, identity, and commemoration in a way that diverges markedly from existing scholarship. The research shines much-needed light on groups traditionally excluded from Britain’s broader imperial narrative, highlighting the indigenous experience and the presence and agency of slaves, free people of colour and religious minorities.