The British Empire

A gold funerary mask shaped into a human face, with almond‑shaped eyes, a prominent nose, and a closed mouth. The surface is worn and cracked, with some sections missing.

Membership

Blood and plunder: the looted African gold – and the fight to get it back. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A collage of six images shows Queen Elizabeth II in military uniform, in later life wearing a light outfit and hat, in coronation regalia beside Prince Philip, speaking at a BBC microphone, on her wedding day, and as a young woman hugging a dog.

Membership

Long to reign over us: how did Queen Elizabeth II survive seven decades of dizzying change?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The hydroelectric power plants at Niagara Falls, seen in 1890, would have been a key target for the US in War Plan Red (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

20th Century

War Plan Red: The secret US plan for war with Britain via Canada

Membership

Imperial spectacle: inside Britain's 1924 'Empire Exhibition'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

InterviewCharlotte Lydia Riley: “We need to get rid of the idea that Britain was humanitarian in its imperialism. That needs to go”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The 1924 British Empire Exhibition showcased industry close to home, as well as in the far-flung reaches of the empire. Here, Belfast ropeworkers show off the fruits of their labour. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Membership

The British empire’s last hurrah? Why an epic celebration of imperialism in 1924 failed to mask a superpower in decline. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King George V crosses a river in Nepal, 1912. “Historians have moved the discussion on empire in all sorts of directions over many years,” says Bronwen Everill. (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Membership

The challenge of writing histories of the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Michael Wood on crafting a national narrative“We need a meaningful story for the new generation – our composite union”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chinese workers tend a tea plantation in a mid-19th-century lithograph. Importing leaves from China was expensive – until Scottish botanist Robert Fortune introduced the plants to India. (Photo by Getty Images)

Membership

Eastern promises: the long and troubled history of Britain's relations with China. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Video podcastThe British empire's divisive legacy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British author Sathnam Sanghera poses for a photograph in Hampstead

Membership

Sathnam Sanghera on the legacy of empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

The British empire's divisive legacy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Video podcastIreland's tangled relationship with empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An Indian soldier keeps watch in a British trench, c1916

20th Century

The British empire in 1923: the story of the imperial project's territorial height

20th Century

One day in the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Battling the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrayal of the Charge of the Light Brigade

Victorian

The Charge of the Light BrigadeWho blundered in the Valley of Death?

Captives being brought on board a slave ship on the West Coast of Africa (Slave Coast), c1880. Although Britain outlawed slavery in 1833 and it was abolished in the USA after the defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War in 1865, the transatlantic trade in African slaves continued. The main market for the slaves was Brazil, where slavery was not abolished until 1888. (Colorised black and white print). Artist Unknown.. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

General History

Black British historySlavery's painful legacy

General History

Empire: the big historical questions. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Clash of cultures: how interpreters bridged the gap between Britain and China. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Kavita Puri"Many south Asian diasporic families don’t know of their First World War links". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Has Britain always looked backwards?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Empire of blood. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

A legacy of inequality: the economic impact of empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British author Sathnam Sanghera

Membership

Sathnam SangheraBritain's Imperial Legacy: “It was painful to realise how my education had colonised me”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of the England team that faced Australia at the Oval in the 1896 Ashes series

Membership

Batting for the British Empire: how Victorian cricket was more than just a game. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration representing various empires across history

General ancient history

Have empires ever been a force for good?

Students study mathematics in Lahore in 1933

Membership

Revising the Raj. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

The slave trade: a family history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Samir PuriHow Empires Shaped the World. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

You're currently on page 1

Next Page