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Consuls, Colonies and the World: Low-level bureaucrats and the machinery of empire, c. 1880–1914
- Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 20, Number 3, Winter 2019
- 10.1353/cch.2019.0037
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
This essay brings the history of the multi-national yet unfashionable consular corps into conversation with the history of imperialism and colonialism between 1880 and 1914. It argues that the flows of information circulated by consuls were critical not only to how empires functioned but also to how they functioned in the larger global system of competing empires and independent states. It also argues that consuls were not simply neutral collectors and transmitters of information, but that they served political functions as well. Finally, it argues that consular sources provide a consistent record of the many challenges brought by other powers to colonial rule.