The British 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 "supreme symbol of imperial heroism". (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

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

How historians helped build the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria

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

Imperialism on the oceans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Empire builder Maharajah Ranjit Singh sits astride a horse as an attendant holds a parasol over him. Singh is historically credited with growing his ancestral warrior-clan, the Sukerchakia misl, into a grand imperial dynasty. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

A Sikh tragedy: the Indian kingdom that fell foul of the British empire

Woodcut illustration of slave labour on a sugar plantation

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

Resistance in the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A replica of the Koh-i-Noor in Bangalore in 2002

Desired, stolen, cursed: the history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond

A British officer stands alongside two of his Japanese counterparts in 1914 in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Japanese troops played a key role in the capture of that strategic German concession in north-east China. (Photo by Getty Images)

First World War: beyond the western front

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

The big questionShould museums return their treasures?

A c1860 depiction of Wentworth Works steel manufacturer in Sheffield

Why Britain punched above its weight

A young visitor looks at a painting depicting the Amritsar Massacre

Amritsar: day of shame

The Tibetan plateau lies at an altitude averaging over 4,500 metres above sea level

In the footsteps of Sir Francis Younghusband's 1903 invasion of Tibet

Daniele Manin proclaiming the Republic of Venice, 22 March 1848. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/A. Dagli Orti/Bridgeman Images)

1848: the year of revolutions

Chris Patten, the last governor of colonial Hong Kong, is pictured here receiving the Union Jack flag shortly before Hong Kong was returned to China, ending over a century of British rule. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

The British empire: 10 big questions

English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-94), author of 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The decline and fall of the British Empire

The myth of native-bashing

Scout Troop

Baden-Powell, Scouting and the British empire