Conclusion

This chapter provides an overview the key themes discussed in the previous chapters of this book. The book considers how new visual and statistical conceptualisations of empire took hold in the Colonial Office really affected colonial governance. Through its examination of early nineteenth-century networks of personal connection, the book has suggested one way in which the British colonial experience, and the operation of imperial and colonial rule, could be assessed more profitably. The transition to greater colonial self-government changed the status of governors too. While many of the policies implemented in the late 1830s and early 1840s were ultimately unsuccessful, the way in which Britain's empire was imagined and construed was forever altered. The information revolution gave the imperial government a new language of statistics and expertise with which to meet both metropolitan criticism and colonial crises.

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