Beyond the Ocean

Brett Rushforth, Christopher Hodson

ISBN 10: 0190455845 / ISBN 13: 9780190455842

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, US, 2026

About this Item

A bold reinterpretation of French colonialism from its medieval roots to the early nineteenth centuryBetween 1400 and 1800, the people of Europe, Africa, and the Americas grew ever more connected by overseas trade and colonization. Histories of this transformative era have been dominated by Iberian and British experiences, overlooking the vast reach of the pre-Napoleonic French Empire. Yet by the mid-eighteenth century, France claimed nearly a third of North America, ruled over the Caribbean's most profitable and brutal plantations, and controlled a substantial proportion of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In Beyond the Ocean, Christopher Hodson and Brett Rushforth reveal the significant role that France played in the history of the Atlantic world and the ways the Atlantic shaped France in return. Drawing on expansive original research in multiple languages, they craft an unconventional history of empire that highlights the experiences, priorities, and influence of Native Americans and West Africans, both free and enslaved. French sailors, nuns, smugglers, and weavers also appear as dynamic historical actors who shaped the emerging empire as much as kings and bureaucrats.Driven by compelling individual stories woven into a sweeping chronological narrative, Beyond the Ocean offers a bold new interpretation of French colonialism that recovers the full complexity of a misunderstood empire and reveals its profound significance to the interconnected Atlantic basin and the early modern world.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780190455842

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beyond the Ocean
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, US
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0190455845
• ISBN 13: 9780190455842
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 943 grams

About this title

Synopsis

A bold reinterpretation of French colonialism from its medieval roots to the early nineteenth century

Between 1400 and 1800, the people of Europe, Africa, and the Americas grew ever more connected by overseas trade and colonization. Histories of this transformative era have been dominated by Iberian and British experiences, overlooking the vast reach of the pre-Napoleonic French Empire. Yet by the mid-eighteenth century, France claimed nearly a third of North America, ruled over the Caribbean's most profitable and brutal plantations, and controlled a substantial proportion of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

In Beyond the Ocean, Christopher Hodson and Brett Rushforth reveal the significant role that France played in the history of the Atlantic world and the ways the Atlantic shaped France in return. Drawing on expansive original research in multiple languages, they craft an unconventional history of empire that highlights the experiences, priorities, and influence of Native Americans and West Africans, both free and enslaved. French sailors, nuns, smugglers, and weavers also appear as dynamic historical actors who shaped the emerging empire as much as kings and bureaucrats.

Driven by compelling individual stories woven into a sweeping chronological narrative, Beyond the Ocean offers a bold new interpretation of French colonialism that recovers the full complexity of a misunderstood empire and reveals its profound significance to the interconnected Atlantic basin and the early modern world.

About the Author

Christopher Hodson is Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University. He is the author of The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History (OUP, 2012).

Brett Rushforth is Editor in Chief of the Huntington Library Quarterly. He previously held positions at the University of Oregon and the College of William and Mary. He is the author of the award-winning Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France.