This project explored visions of the tropics by British travellers during a formative period in the history of European overseas expansion, between the voyages of Cook and Darwin. The contrast between the temperate and the tropical is part of an enduring imaginative geography. Yet voyaging naturalists, artists and surveyors were faced with the problem of making sense of profoundly unfamiliar sights and experiences.

The research considered the visual archive of travel in several different parts of the tropical world. Workshops were held during the course of the project, and an international conference on Tropical Views and Visions took place at the National Maritime Museum in July 2002. A book is to be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2005.

The project was directed by Professor Felix Driver and Dr. Luciana Martins was the postdoctoral research fellow. The project was based in the Social & Cultural Geography Group at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The project was funded by the