3 Coronation Everest
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Peter H. Hansen
Abstract
This chapter examines the representations of the Empire and Commonwealth in the conquest of Everest in British culture in the 1950s. The imperial connotations of the ascent of Everest were shaped in the interwar years, but altered by the Second World War and the independence of India. Images of 'Coronation Everest' persisted, long after the 'second Elizabethan age' had faded, because Everest helped to renegotiate and redefine the British Empire as something new the Commonwealth of Nations. British mountaineers in the Alps and Himalayas had described their climbing as a form of imperial conquest, exploration and adventure since the mid-nineteenth century. The aftermath of the Great War altered the earlier priorities of the Great Game, and continued British domination of India led to permission to climb Everest. British diplomats aided the Tibetans in a war against China by trading weapons with Tibet in exchange for permission to climb Everest.
Abstract
This chapter examines the representations of the Empire and Commonwealth in the conquest of Everest in British culture in the 1950s. The imperial connotations of the ascent of Everest were shaped in the interwar years, but altered by the Second World War and the independence of India. Images of 'Coronation Everest' persisted, long after the 'second Elizabethan age' had faded, because Everest helped to renegotiate and redefine the British Empire as something new the Commonwealth of Nations. British mountaineers in the Alps and Himalayas had described their climbing as a form of imperial conquest, exploration and adventure since the mid-nineteenth century. The aftermath of the Great War altered the earlier priorities of the Great Game, and continued British domination of India led to permission to climb Everest. British diplomats aided the Tibetans in a war against China by trading weapons with Tibet in exchange for permission to climb Everest.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
