Introduction: Archives, Record Keeping and Imperial Governance, 1500-1800

Abstract

Abstract In the last decades, a vast body of literature has scrutinized the archive, regarding it as an instrument of power for the Western conquest of the world. More recently, a new, vibrant cultural history of archives has changed our understanding of archives as a fully-fledged historical object and why they matter for extending the geographical scope of history and achieving a more connected image of modernity. The articles assembled in this themed issue delve into the history of imperial archives and archival practices in the period 1500-1800, bringing together different lines of inquiry. Each contribution focuses on a major Western imperial formation at different epochs in their evolution, dealing both with current records and historical collections; each engages with archives as an institution, as assemblages of documents that circulated in and out of official depositories, as a site where colonial administrative knowledge was elaborated, and as a political project.