HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Dracula
can be framed against the social and political currents
of the Victorian period in English society
, which existed during
the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. During this
time, England experienced a great deal of economic, social, and
political change. Under Victoria, England expanded its colonial
holdings to form an empire "
on which the sun never set"—this
empire extended from India to ports in China, to islands in the
Caribbean, to portions of Africa in which England had trading
and other financial interests. British imperialism during this
time caused not only a great infusion of money into London, the
capital of the empire, but also caused a greater exchange of
information, stories, and legends from around the world. The
legends of the Carpathian mountains, in present-day Romania,
form the basis of the novel
Dracula.