George Hayward’s Journey to the Central Asia: The Periphery of the British Imperialist Politics

Abstract

Geography formed an important part of the scientific knowledge which Britain needed during the time when its interest in Central Asia was starting to increase. The technical innovations developed accordingly were implemented in the field and cartography activities intensified. With the alternation of the domestic political dynamics and economic policies, George Hayward’s journey to Eastern Turkestan with the intent of a geographical expedition has a special importance in this context. This adventurer who was employed on a salary by Royal Geographical Society is the only move made by them in order to receive a recompense for politics-geography relation in the field. This move is the plan of the decision making British administrative, military and academic authorities converging in the same political direction. Consequently, Hayward served for the financial and political interests as a result of his geographical expedition. Geography formed an important part of the scientific knowledge which Britain needed during the time when its interest in Central Asia was starting to increase. The technical innovations developed accordingly were implemented in the field, and cartography activities intensified. With the alternation of the domestic political dynamics and economic policies, George Hayward’s journey to Eastern Turkestan in 1868 with the intent of a geographical expedition has a special importance in this context. This adventurer employed on a salary by the Royal Geographical Society is their only move to capitalize on the relation between geography and politics. This journey is the result of a decision-making mechanism merging the British administrative, military and academic authorities under the same political direction. Consequently, Hayward’s geographical expedition served their financial and political.