Replenishing the earth: the settler revolution and the rise of the Anglo-world, 1783--1939

Why are we speaking English? Replenishing the Earth gives a new answer to that question, uncovering a 'settler revolution' that took place from the early nineteenth century that led to the explosive settlement of the American West and its forgotten twin, the British West, comprising the settler dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Between 1780 and 1930 the number of English-speakers rocketed from 12 million in 1780 to 200 million, and their wealth and power grew to match. Their secret was not racial, or cultural, or institutional superiority but a resonant intersection of historical changes, including the sudden rise of mass transfer across oceans and mountains, a revolutionary upward shift in attitudes to emigration, the emergence of a settler 'boom mentality', and a late flowering of non-industrial technologies -wind, water, wood, and work animals - especially on settler frontiers. This revolution combined with the Industrial Revolution to transform settlement into something explosive - capable of creating great cities like Chicago and Melbourne and large socio-economies in a single generation. When the great settler booms busted, as they always did, a second pattern set in. Links between the Anglo-wests and their metropolises, London and New York, actually tightened as rising tides of staple products flowed one way and ideas the other. This 're-colonization' re-integrated Greater America and Greater Britain, bulking them out to become the superpowers of their day. The 'Settler Revolution' was not exclusive to the Anglophone countries - Argentina, Siberia, and Manchuria also experienced it. But it was the Anglophone settlers who managed to integrate frontier and metropolis most successfully, and it was this that gave them the impetus and the material power to provide the world's leading super-powers for the last 200 years. This book will reshape understandings of American, British, and British dominion histories in the long 19th century. It is a story that has such crucial implications for the histories of settler societies, the homelands that spawned them, and the indigenous peoples who resisted them, that their full histories cannot be written without it. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Contents 10 List of Maps 12 Abbreviations 13 Introduction 14 PART I. The Anglo Explosion 32 Introduction to Part I 34 1. Settling Societies 38 2. Shaping the Anglo-World 62 3. Exploding Wests 92 4. The Non-Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Mass Transfer 119 5. The Settler Transition 158 6. Colonizations 190 PART II. Testing Wests 232 Introduction to Part II 234 7. Boom and Bust in the Old West, 1815–60 236 8. British Wests to 1850 274 9. Golden Wests 319 10. The Great Midwest 344 11. Melbourne’s Empire 369 12. Boers, Britons, and the ‘Black English’ 386 13. Last Best Wests 406 PART III. Recolonization at Large 446 Introduction to Part III 448 14. Urban Carnivores and the Great Divergence 450 15. The Rise and Fall of Greater Britain 469 16. The Rise and Rise of Greater America 492 17. Beyond the Anglo-World 515 18. Adopted Dominions? 531 Conclusion: Thinking in the Rounds 561 Index 574 A 574 B 575 C 576 D 577 E 577 F 578 G 578 H 579 I 579 J 580 K 580 L 580 M 580 N 581 O 582 P 583 Q 583 R 583 S 584 T 585 U 585 V 586 W 586 X 586 Y 586 Z 586 This Is A Pioneering Study Of The Anglophone 'settler Boom' In North America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, And New Zealand Between The Early 19th And Early 20th Centuries, Looking At What Made It The Most Successful Of All Such Settler Revolutions. Pt. I. The Anglo Explosion -- 1. Settling Societies -- 2. Shaping The Anglo-world -- 3. Exploding Wests -- 4. The Non Industrial Revolution And The Rise Of Mass Transfer -- 5. The Settler Transition -- 6. Colonizations -- Pt. Ii. Testing Wests -- 7. Boom And Bust In The Old West, 1815-60 -- 8. British Wests To 1850 -- 9. Golden Wests -- 10. The Great Midwest -- 11. Melbourne's Empire -- 12. Boers, Britons, And The 'black English' -- 13. Last Best Wests -- Pt. Iii. Recolonization At Large -- 14. Urban Carnivores And The Great Divergence -- 15. The Rise And Fall Of Greater Britain -- 16. The Rise And Rise Of Greater America -- 17. Beyond The Anglo-world -- 18. Adopted Dominions? -- Conclusion: Thinking In The Rounds. James Belich. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.