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Postcolonial witnessing: trauma out of bounds

themes, each of which is treated in a different chapter. So we have sections on contact, possession, rebellion, resistance, culture and collapse. In the chapter on conquest we learn about the significance of technology to British success, the role of the empire’s navy, the impact of military discipline, and the part that indigenous contingents played in the British success story. It is no surprise to see why India played such a significant role in the story of empire and how, once it became independent, the rest of the empire quickly came unstuck. Each of Darwin’s chapters is supported by half a dozen or so case studies. The text is augmented by a number of clear and useful maps. In the course of this epic narrative it is perhaps not surprising that no singular rationale or theory can explain precisely how and why the British were successful. Darwin argues instead that the empire was “improvised”, “unstable”, “higgledy-piggledy”, “a ragbag” and “a work in progress”. A number of intriguing themes thus emerge, in particular the centrality of luck. It seems that the British Empire arose just at the right time, when Ottoman, Mughal and Chinese power were on the wane (a theme addressed in Darwin’s earlier work After Tamerlane), when major reserves of gold and coal could be exploited and when no European power, post-Napoleon, was really in a position to jeopardize British ascendency. Unfinished Empire is thus also peppered with expressions such as: “fortuitous”, “unique”, “lucky”, “fortunate” and “against the odds”. Even during the Falklands crisis, when Britain’s imperial luck had begun to run out, these British possessions just happened to be on the edge of Argentinian air-power. Indeed, if Australia is the “lucky country”, after reading Unfinished Empire it appears that its British imperial counterpart is “the lucky empire”. Two other important themes emerge from the pages of Darwin’s story. The first is the significance of 1815 as a turning point in the development of British power and history. The other, which in the last few years has become more and more conspicuous, is the role that private initiative played in the construction of empire. Indeed, Darwin argues that the British Empire was “largely a private enterprise”, albeit one aided and abetted by the state. Witness the power and influence of the ubiquitous East India Company, as well as smaller and earlier schemes, ranging from Roanoke to the Royal African Company. I have only one minor criticism of the book, namely that, apart from the white settlement colonies of Australia and New Zealand, the South Pacific does not get much mention.