‘Betwixt us and the crowning race’: Thinking About the Future of Humanity in Geological Time, 1830–50

In the first half of the nineteenth century developments in the new science of geology presented a fresh vision of the history of the earth as both immeasurably long and punctuated by periodic global catastrophes followed by new creations. This new vision of the deep past led to a flurry of speculation about the future and fate of humanity. In Britain this period was one of unprecedented change. The resulting tensions and anxieties about the present were mirrored in this debate on the prospects and possible fate of humanity in the distant future.