Shampoo Empire
Shampooing was brought to Britain by a Bengali immigrant who knew his craft – and how to sell it.
Shampooing was brought to Britain by a Bengali immigrant who knew his craft – and how to sell it.
What did it mean to be black and British in the Caribbean in the 20th century?
Three lives from Britain’s 18th-century global empire speak of collaboration, resistance and ambivalence.
In the 18th century, celebrity culture helped make the British Empire seem both a part of everyday life and a place of fantasy.
The first ‘New World’ reached by Europeans was not in the Americas, but in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where previously uninhabited islands were transformed forever.
Sweltering British imperialists relied on an army of fan bearers, whose stories are as invisible as the air they circulated.
Empires have been part of human history for millennia. Are they, of necessity, a bad thing?
Though the beginnings of the Byzantine Empire are unclear, its demise is not. The history of the Eastern Roman Empire, from its foundation in 324 to its conquest in 1453, is one of war, plague, architectural triumphs and fear of God's wrath.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 16 empires of varying size and reach. At the end of the century, there was just one: the United States. How did this happen and what role did Britain play in smoothing America’s path to global hegemony?
The voice of the British monarch carried considerable weight in imperial India. Its slow silencing mirrored the retreat of Britain from the subcontinent.