The Novara Circumnavigation: Liberals, Colonial Fantasy, and the Mid-19th Century Habsburg Political Equilibrium

The Habsburg Empire has typically been understood as a continental power with few overseas aspirations, or as Robert Musil waxed nostalgically in his fictional Kakania: “A Ship would now and then be sent off to South America or East Asia, but not too often.” It is mostly true, of course, that Austria did not have “ambition for world markets or world power,” 1 but recently historians have begun to explore the role colonial fantasy played in an empire with no actual overseas colonies to speak of. 2 The Empire did support a series of oceanic voyages in the 19 th century. None resulted in permanent settlement of course, but the voracious enthusiasm with which a Habsburg public responded to them is a testament to the weight colonial discourse had even in continental empires like Austria's. 3 A small, but exciting literature has sprung up around these expeditions, situating them in their broader political contexts. 4 The exercise has been fruitful at situating Habsburg history in a broader global context and has done much to de-provincialize what was once a relatively insular field.