Viewing and Walking: Swedish Visitors to Eighteenth-Century London

During the eighteenth century, London became the largest city in Europe and attracted many foreign visitors, and the task here is to analyze a set of Swedish travelers. Sweden was a predominately rural country, but urban development was an integrated aspect of its mercantilist policy; towns were the outcome of an active state promoting trade. With such an intellectual background, the Swedes going to Britain viewed London accordingly, as seen from above. However, these visitors also walked the streets of the British capital and saw an everyday life different from their Swedish setting. The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between these two ways of approaching London.