Travellers Through Empire
Indigenous Voyages from Early Canada
An exploration of Indigenous people’s experiences travelling from Canada to Britain and beyond from the 1770s to 1914.
Description
In the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century, an unprecedented number of Indigenous people—especially Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabeg, and Cree—travelled to Britain and other parts of the world. Who were these transatlantic travellers, where were they going, and what were they hoping to find? Travellers through Empire unearths the stories of Indigenous peoples including Mississauga Methodist missionary and Ojibwa chief Reverend Peter Jones; the Scots-Cherokee officer and interpreter John Norton; Catherine Sutton, a Mississauga woman who advocated for her people with Queen Victoria; E. Pauline Johnson, the Mohawk poet and performer; and many others.
Reviews
"Morgan encourages historians to find similar stories in the experiences of Indigenous peoples from across North America. These men, women, and children brought Indigenous culture to the heart of the empire, shaped and were shaped by their relations with
"Exceptionally well researched and very fluently written, Travellers through Empire will be an important contribution to the growing literature on Indigenous travellers outside the bounds of their traditional territories. " Coll Thrush, University of British Columbia and author of Indigenous London: Native Travellers at the Heart of Empire
"Prolific and respected historian Morgan makes an important contribution to scholarship on the mobility of Indigenous peoples in the 19th century. Although they were far from the first North American Indigenous peoples to travel overseas, Morgan frames their stories within the context of Indigenous reactions to 19th-century imperial expansion, the actions of settler governments encroaching on Indigenous territories, and settler efforts to restrict Indigenous mobility, confining people geographically, politically, culturally, and socially. Required reading for 19th-century Canadian and Indigenous history. Highly recommended. " Choice
"An excellent addition to the growing body of literature on Indigenous mobility. " Historical Studies in Education / Revue d'histoire de l'éducation