Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
History
Date of Award
5-2019
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
John Rankin
Committee Members
Brian Maxson, Stephen Fritz
Abstract
Using part of James Cook’s first voyage of discovery in which he explored the Australian coast, and Joseph Banks’s 1772 voyage to Iceland as case studies, this thesis argues that late eighteenth-century travelers used scientific voyages to present audiences at home with a new understanding and scientific language in which to interpret foreign places and peoples. As a result, scientific travelers were directly influential not only in the creation of new forms of knowledge and intellectual frameworks, but they helped direct the shape and formation of the Empire. The thesis explores the interplay between institutional influence and individual agency in both journeys. As a result, it will argue that the scientific voyages that were most influential in the imperial process were those directed and funded by the state.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Barker, Ryan, "For Natural Philosophy and Empire: Banks, Cook, and the Construction of Science and Empire in the Late Eighteenth Century" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3551. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3551
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.