Geographies of transimperial religion: the transformation of religious space in a world of empires

This article uses the concept of 'transimperial' history to show how religious transformations within then between different empires led to the development of new religious geographies and the alteration of existing religious centres. Combining examples from Asian, African, European and American empires, the article points to common patterns across four categories of religious space: steam ports (such as Bombay), railway towns (such as Harbin), preexisting pilgrimage places (such as Bodhgaya), and imperial borderlands (such as Hawaii). These transimperial sites spaces enabled doctrinal, ritual, linguistic, and organizational changes to Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, enabling the propagation of such new religions as Theosophy and Baha'ism. Further attention is paid to architectural and organizational change, as well as the use of printing and translation in promoting new versions of these religions to different population groups. In this way, transimperial tranformation paved the way for more familiar globalized forms of religiosity in the later 20th century.