Empire

Under the far-sighted rule of the Five Good Emperors, writes Anthony Birley, the Roman world enjoyed a period of unexampled prosperity and peace.

Among the English pioneers in Southern Africa must be honoured the name of John Gregory of Lyme Regis, writes W.F. Rea, who embarked for Mozambique from the Jesuit College at Goa during the reign of Charles II.

James Lunt describes how, it was from Fort St. George, now incorporated in the busy modern city of Madras, that Stringer Lawrence laid the foundations of the Indian Army, and that Clive embarked on the conquest of Bengal.

Robin Hallett describes how, when the maritime powers of Europe were battling for supremacy in the Orient, the isles of the Indian Ocean played their part in history.

Colin Martin describes how, on the frontiers of Caledonia eighteen centuries ago, the Romans kept watch from camp and wall over turbulent northern tribes.

Not until three years after the fall of Jerusalem did Zealot resistance come to a bloody end. S.G.F. Brandon reviews the history of this fanatical sect, whose exemplary devotion and fortitude modern Israelis seek to emulate.

Michael Langley writes how, as early as 1620, an English traveller wrote an enthusiastic report on the wealth of the Gambia and its commercial possibilities.

George Woodcock describes how Malacca was once a city so rich that “its merchants valued garlic more highly than gold,” and how it has slowly dwindled in wealth and importance since the middle of the seventeenth century.

From the time when the Dutch flag was first planted there in 1652, C.R. Boxer describes how the Cape became the maritime half-way house between Europe and Asia.

E. Mary Smallwood asserts that when trouble broke out between rulers and subjects, the fault did not always lie with the Roman administration.