At the Edge of Empire: The Backcountry in British North America

Description

During the course of the seventeenth century| Europeans and Native Americans came together on the western edge of England’s North American empire for a variety of purposes| from trading goods and information to making alliances and war. This blurred and constantly shifting frontier region| known as the backcountry| existed just beyond England’s imperial reach on the North American mainland. It became an area of opportunity| intrigue| and conflict for the diverse peoples who lived there.

In “At the Edge of Empire|” Eric Hinderaker and Peter C. Mancall describe the nature of the complex interactions among these interests| examining colorful and sometimes gripping instances of familiarity and uneasiness| acceptance and animosity| and cooperation and conflict| from individual encounters to such vast undertakings as the Seven Years’ War. Over time| the European settlers who established farms and trading posts in the backcountry displaced the region’s Native inhabitants. Warfare and disease each took a horrifying toll across Indian country| making it easier for immigrants to establish themselves on lands once peopled only by Native Americans. Eventually| these pioneers established economically| culturally| and politically self-sufficient communities that increasingly resented London’s claims of sovereignty. As Hinderaker and Mancall show| these resentments helped to shape the ideals that guided the colonists during the American Revolution.

The first book in a new Johns Hopkins series| Regional Perspectives on Early America| “At the Edge of Empire” explores one of British America’s most intriguing regions| both widening and deepening our understanding of North America’s colonial experience.