Analysing a comprehensive shift in the governance of the British Empire in the mid 1830s, this article introduces the context for the following three articles in the Feature, ‘Legacies of Slave Ownership’. This shift included the abolition of slavery in the Caribbean, upon which these articles concentrate, but also the restructuring of the East India Company. A reformed British parliament introduced transitions in the western and eastern halves of the Empire in a concentrated burst of legislation between 1833 and 1838. While vested interests were protected, not least by facilitating a surge in the colonization of Australia, the transition produced the template of a liberal Empire.

中文翻译：

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1832–8年，大英帝国的重组和澳大利亚的殖民化

本文分析了1830年代中期大英帝国统治的全面转变，并介绍了专着《奴隶制的遗产》中的以下三篇文章的背景。这种转变包括废除了这些条款集中的加勒比奴隶制，还包括东印度公司的改组。经过改革的英国议会在1833年至1838年间集中爆发了立法，在帝国的西半部和东半部引入了过渡。虽然既得利益得到了保护，尤其是通过促进澳大利亚殖民化的发展，但这种过渡产生了一个自由的帝国。