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In the two decades before the First World War, Great Britain witnessed the largest revival of anti-slavery protest since the legendary age of emancipation in the mid-nineteenth century. The latter-day abolitionists focused on the so-called “new slaveries” of European imperialism in the Congo Free State, South Africa and Portuguese West Africa. A Civilised Savagery recounts the history of human rights protests in the context of European imperialism, illustrating the historical bridge between the Victorian era of empire and abolition and the twentieth–century era of humanitarian politics and human rights.

Concentrating on the 18th through the 20th centuries, this comprehensive reference provides full coverage of European exploration and imperial expansion in Africa and Asia. Three major themes—motive, the influence of changing ideas on the conduct and understanding of exploration, and the impact of exploration on the politics of the European empires—are integrated into seven chapters and an epilogue. Exploration in the Age of Empire examines the way in which all the great explorers who served the European empires of the modern era became popular celebrities, unlike their predecessors, and illustrates the roles of explorers as propagandists.