2 - Locating the British Mediterranean World

Summary

This chapter makes a case for the existence of a cohesive “British Mediterranean world” that encompassed not only Britain’s Mediterranean colonies (in this period, Malta, Gibraltar, and the Ionian Islands) but also the intrigue and influence the Mediterranean exerted in Britain itself. We consider the diverse ensemble of British personnel driven to the Middle Sea by the obligations of military service, by the needs of diplomacy, or by personal inclination. The chapter demonstrates that it was primarily attention to and interest in Mediterranean dynamics that shaped the course of Britain’s attitude toward quarantine. Finally, in considering the “Doctor’s Mediterranean,” it concludes with a study of the ways in which medical expertise developed in the Mediterranean region impinged in an outsized manner on British debates of the validity of quarantine.