Before Empire
In its earliest days, the East India Company was seen not as a threat to Asia’s elites, but as a means of strengthening their powers.
Empire
Captain Cook’s Contested Claim
The concept of terra nullius has long been at the heart of explanations of why the British did not treat with Aboriginal people following Cook’s arrival in Australia. But should it be?
Shampoo Empire
Shampooing was brought to Britain by a Bengali immigrant who knew his craft – and how to sell it.
Britain’s Forgotten Citizens
What did it mean to be black and British in the Caribbean in the 20th century?
A Portrait of Empire
Three lives from Britain’s 18th-century global empire speak of collaboration, resistance and ambivalence.
Empire and Celebrity
In the 18th century, celebrity culture helped make the British Empire seem both a part of everyday life and a place of fantasy.
Virgin Islands of the Atlantic
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.
Keeping India Cool
Sweltering British imperialists relied on an army of fan bearers, whose stories are as invisible as the air they circulated.
Are Empires Always Bad?
Empires have been part of human history for millennia. Are they, of necessity, a bad thing?
The Elusive Byzantine Empire
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.