Banished Potentates: Dethroning and Exiling Indigenous Monarchs Under British and French Colonial Rule, 1815-1955

This book explores how the British and French colonizers deposed and exiled indigenous monarchs from the early 19th century to the eve of decolonization, using examples in India, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Tunisia, and Morocco. It argues that the removal of native sovereigns and sometimes the abolition of dynasties was a powerful strategy used by colonizers, but they were rarely able to quell resistance or erase the memory of local monarchies and their legacies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 08 September 2020
Publisher: Manchester University Press

Though the overthrow and exile of Napoleon in 1815 is a familiar episode in modern history, it is not well known that just a few months later, British colonisers toppled and banished the last king in Ceylon. Beginning with that case, this volume examines the deposition and exile of indigenous monarchs by the British and French – with examples in India, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Tunisia and Morocco – from the early nineteenth century down to the eve of decolonisation. It argues that the removal of native sovereigns, and sometimes the abolition of dynasties, provided a powerful strategy used by colonisers, though European overlords were seldom capable of quelling resistance in the conquered countries, or of effacing the memory of local monarchies and the legacies they left behind.

Though the overthrow and exile of Napoleon in 1815 is a familiar episode in modern history, it is not well known that just a few months later, British colonisers toppled and banished the last king in Ceylon. Beginning with that case, this volume examines the deposition and exile of indigenous monarchs by the British and French – with examples in India, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Tunisia and Morocco – from the early nineteenth century down to the eve of decolonisation. It argues that the removal of native sovereigns, and sometimes the abolition of dynasties, provided a powerful strategy used by colonisers, though European overlords were seldom capable of quelling resistance in the conquered countries, or of effacing the memory of local monarchies and the legacies they left behind.

Weight: 510g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781526151667