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Through a focus on the role of war in shaping attitudes, British Relations with Mexico since the Colonial Era examines the historical relationship between Britain and Mexico for the first time. Mark Lawrence insightfully traces Mexico's journey from being an object of smuggling and 'Black Legend' myth-making during the centuries of Spanish colonialism to its emergence in the 19th century as an offbeat destination for Britain's tourists, adventurers, mercenaries and traders. Lawrence reflects on how commercial interests pre-empted diplomatic recognition of Mexican independence and analyses the century of entanglements in war and peace which followed. The book then goes on to consider Britain's secondary role to the USA in terms of investments and informal empire in Mexico after 1914.

Using biographies, travel narratives, and diplomatic evidence from Britain, Mexico, and sources held in US libraries, this book offers a uniquely entwined history of Mexican relations, distinct from dominant binary visions of orientalism, inferiority complexes ('malinchismo') and informal empire. It is a valuable comparative history that contextualises British impressions by exploring Mexican reactions and Britain's 'Anglo' identity in the context of rising US hegemony south of the Rio Grande.