BRITISH HISTORY – MY INTRODUCTION

British history can be traced back thousands of years. It has gone through many upheavals and significant changes in its time, and in turn it has produced a magnificent range of people and lifestyles. 

In some way, I use the term ‘British’ history loosely, as it does involve the individual histories of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, but to all intense and purposes, I will regard it British history. 

On this blog, I do intend to cover lots of different aspects and timelines in British history, but the main content will be of the British Empire. The British Empire was the first genuinely global empire, an empire that ranged, at times, from the American colonies in the West, Australia and New Zealand in the East, Canada and her dominions in the North and huge chunks of Africa in the South, including Egypt and Rhodesia. These huge landmasses, and many other smaller islands and places besides, were to be shaped, controlled, dominated and otherwise brought under the dominion of a nation which, prior to colonial ambitions, was a small and perhaps dull and uninspiring set of countries. That the British Empire significantly kick-started the world into the modern era, and gave the world a unifying language. 

At its peak, the British Empire was the largest formal empire that the world had ever known. As such, its power and influence stretched all over the globe; shaping it in all manner of ways.  The size of the Empire was such that it was said the sun will never go down on the Empire, meaning that there was always a colony or a dominion somewhere in the world where it was daylight.

This blog is dedicated to analysing and explaining in easy to understand terms, the history of the British Empire.  

For better or worse, the British Empire had a massive impact on the history of the world. It is for this reason that this site tries to bring to life the peoples, cultures, adventures and domination that made the Empire such a powerful institution.

It is neither an apology for, nor a nostalgic reminiscence of the institution that so dominated the world for nearly two centuries. Rather, it analyses and describes the vast institution that so influenced the shape of the world that we see today. This blog is not a academic blog and I am not and academic either. I’m sure there are plenty of mistakes and oversights on my part; for which I apologise in advance!

My interest in the subject is purely that of a personal journey of discovery; to give myself a reason to research what I regard as a fascinating subject. I welcome suggestions, arguments, submissions and any personal insights in to this subject matter. The site is in a continuous state of upgrade and expansion. Please forgive me a few dead ends and incompletions as I try to build the site up to some sort of critical mass of content. Please enjoy…