The British Empire

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 history Slavery's painful legacy

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Pod Wolfson Empire WL

General History

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

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Pod Henrietta Harrison WL

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

HEX_Voices_Kavita Puri

First World War

Kavita Puri "Many south Asian diasporic families don’t know of their First World War links"

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Hannah Rose Woods Brit Nostalgia WL

General History

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

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Pod Caroline Elkins WL

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

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Pod Kojo Koram WL

General ancient history

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

British author Sathnam Sanghera

Sathnam Sanghera Britain's Imperial Legacy: “It was painful to realise how my education had colonised me”

Illustration representing various empires across history

General ancient history

Have empires ever been a force for good?

Students study mathematics in Lahore in 1933

Revising the Raj

Alex Renton shares the story of his own family’s involvement in the slave trade, and considers how best to deal with this unwanted inheritance. (Image from Getty Images)

The slave trade: a family history

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

Opulent headquarters East India House in London, 1850. From inside this grand building, the East India Company directors oversaw the governance of India and its associated territories (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

1838: A year in the life of the British empire

An engraving of the thin Red Line, depicting the 93rd Regiment at the battle of Balaklava

Q&A What was the Thin Red Line?

Sathnam Sanghera discusses where we can see the legacy of imperialism in Britain today

Sathnam Sanghera on how modern Britain is shaped by empire