British empire
Forbidden
Fruit
Taboo and titillation, racial pride and prejudice – these mark the story
of love and sex between black and white people. This site looks at how people's
curiosity of the exotic was poisoned by the violence and brutality of the plantations.
The timeline includes key dates along the route to racial harmony.
- 1798 and After
The social and political history of Ireland from the 1798 Rebellion to partition in 1921 (Channel 4 Learning). - American Colossus
Professor Niall Ferguson shows how, in terms of economics and military capability, the US sometimes exceeds the British empire at its height. - The British Slave Trade: A chronology
From the first British slave trader Sir John Hawkins to the Slavery Abolition Act and US Emancipation Proclamation. - Empire and globalisation
An extract from Professor Niall Ferguson's revisionist history of Britain and its colonies. - The Empire Pays Back
Should the companies and other institutions that profited from the slave trade apologise and pay reparations? - Empire's Children
Trace and tell your family's empire stories. Stories, histories, research guides, videos. - Going
Critical: HMS Coventry
The sinking of HMS Coventry during the Falklands War, which killed 17 men, and the science behind what went wrong. - An
Indian Affair
The hidden origins of Britain's relationship with India from the 17th century to the religious zealotry and imperial ideology that was the Raj. This website places the interaction into the context of trade and politics and shows the myriad ways that India has suffused the English lifestyle. - Julius Nyerere
Tanzania’s first president who favoured of government that reflected African society. - Kwame Nkrumah
The first black African to lead his country – Ghana – to independence. - Mahatma Gandhi
Indian national and spiritual leader who preached non-violence but was killed by an assassin. - Margaret Thatcher
Britain’s first woman prime minister, who introduced swingeing conservative economic policies and waged war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands. - Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muslim leader who pressed for partition but died just after Pakistani independence. - My Culture Right or Left
Archaeologist Francis Pryor claims that the British did to its colonies what the Romans did to Britain. - Nelson Mandela
This Channel 4 Learning website describes Mandela’s career as leader of the African National Congress and explains why he decided that it should adopt violent methods of protest. - Mary
Seacole: The real angel of the Crimea
The extraordinary life of the Caribbean-born nurse Mary Seacole, who became famous for her pioneering work in caring for British troops during the Crimean War. Why was she so swiftly forgotten after her death? - Nelson’s Navy
While ‘rum, sodomy and the lash’ might be the stereotype of life at sea in in the 18th and early 19th century, it is far from the reality. - Origination
Brings together the wealth of web resources that record and celebrate the contributions of immigrant cultures to British history. - Public and Private Tragedies: Voices of the Indian Mutiny
Historian William Dalrymple describes the discovery of previously unknown eyewitness accounts of the crisis, and draws startling parallels between the dying Mughal world and our own. - Race in the 20th Century
This C4 Learning website explores the representations of empire and immigration in Britain and civil rights in the United States. - The Road to 9/11
A chronology that investigates the ‘humiliation and disgrace’ that, according to Osama bin Laden, the Middle East suffered for ‘more than 80 years’ before the bombing of the World Trade Center. - The Slave Trade and the Industrial Revolution
How the slave trade helped Britain become the 'workshop of the world' while reinforcing a racist view of Africans. - The War of the World
According to historian Niall Ferguson, from the Russo-Japanese war of 1904/5 to the aftershocks of the Cold War, the 20th century was by far the bloodiest in history. In this website, Ferguson explains why this came about, and there is an extensive chronology of the events that made this the ‘age of hatred’. - When
Britain Went to War
Facts and figures of the war in the Falklands, plus a discussion of the role of the media during various conflicts.
