The British Empire

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

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

British author Sathnam Sanghera

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

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

Photo of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria: how and why did she become Empress of India?

Alphonse de Neuville's 1880 painting 'The Defence of Rorke's Drift'. The battle was to become a

The battle of Rorke’s Drift: a stand still clad in the “myths of empire”

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain: the decline and fall of the British empire

Priya Satia explores how historians helped advance the British empire, only to later become critics of imperialism. (Image by Getty Images)

How historians helped build the British empire

Queen Victoria

The Victorians and the British Empire: a brief guide and timeline

Sujit Sivasundaram offers a new perspective on the expansion of the British empire across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. (Image by Getty Images)

Imperialism on the oceans

Woodcut illustration of slave labour on a sugar plantation

Success, sugar and slaves: the uncomfortable story of slaveholder Simon Taylor

Attack on the Court-House, St. Thomas-in-the-East, Jamaica, during the Morant Bay rebellion, October 1865. (Photo by Getty Images)

Resistance in the British empire