Synopsis
In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations were laid, not by a grand political strategy but by British pirates, especially in the Caribbean.
- Programme: Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
- Episode: 1: Why Britain?
- Channel: Channel 4
- Broadcast year: 2003
- History
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
2: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
2: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
The concept of 'plantation' is explored in this programme, referring not to crops but the settlement of British p...
3: The Mission | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
3: The Mission | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
Following the religious revival that started in the late 18th century, missionaries began working in Africa and In...
4: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
4: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
In this programme we discover how a few thousand British people ruled over India, a country of more than 250 mi...
5: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
5: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
The 'scramble for Africa' by competing European nations during the last years of Queen Victoria's reign is the com...
6: Empire for Sale | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
6: Empire for Sale | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
The fall of the British empire is usually attributed to nationalist groups fighting for independence, yet as N...
More resources about The British empire
1: A Taste of Power | Empire
1: A Taste of Power | Empire
Jeremy Paxman begins by asking how such a small country got such a big head and came to rule a quarter of the world.
1: Betrayal | Suez: A Very British Crisis
1: Betrayal | Suez: A Very British Crisis
Archive material, interviews, and dramatisations provide an insight into to the Suez crisis of 1956; the Egyptian uprising that bro...
1: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj
1: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj
The first episode recreates the era of the 1930s, when British expatriates attempted to create an idyllic version of English life i...
1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
David Olusoga challenges our perceptions of the First World War with the stories of the millions of Indian, ...
1: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File
1: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File
The development of the triangular trade is described from its ancient origins, through the European involvement in the 16th and 17...
1: The Viceory of India | A Passage to Britain
1: The Viceory of India | A Passage to Britain
Dr Yasmin Khan tracks down passengers who travelled from Mumbai to Britain in the 1930s on the luxurious P&O liner The Viceroy...
10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History
10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History
Programme covers events in India from the 1930s to Independence and Partition in 1947.
2: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
2: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
In part two, historian David Olusoga explains how the First World War spread far beyond the mud and trench...
2: Making Ourselves at Home | Empire
2: Making Ourselves at Home | Empire
Jeremy Paxman continues by examining how traders, conquerors and settlers spread the British way of doing things.
2: Pirates | Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues
2: Pirates | Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues
Sam Willis explores the golden age of piracy during the early 18th century and charts the devastating impact p...
2: Sex and Sensibility | Lost World of the Raj
2: Sex and Sensibility | Lost World of the Raj
Raj society was based on a formal order of precedence, but behind the scenes there was a great deal of flirtation, fun, affair...
2: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
2: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
The concept of 'plantation' is explored in this programme, referring not to crops but the settlement of British p...
2. On trial | The Compass
2. On trial | The Compass
Ken Saro Wiwa and Ledum Mittee come face to face with the power of the Nigerian state.
3: Lady Constance Lytton | Shoulder to Shoulder
3: Lady Constance Lytton | Shoulder to Shoulder
1908: Constance Lytton: daughter of the Viceroy of India, she came from one of the leading families in the land. Almost any d...
3: Playing the Game | Empire
3: Playing the Game | Empire
Jeremy Paxman continues by tracing the growth of a peculiarly British type of hero.
3: Pomp and Power | Lost World of the Raj
3: Pomp and Power | Lost World of the Raj
Set against the backdrop of British India from the 1920s to Independence in 1947, this third and last programme in the series tells...
3: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley
3: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley
Lucy explores how British history is a concoction of fibs. She debunks the fibs that surround th...
3: The Mission | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
3: The Mission | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
Following the religious revival that started in the late 18th century, missionaries began working in Africa and In...
3: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga
3: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga
The 19th-century union appears secure, but beneath the surface run deep divisions, leading to the emergence of a new working-cl...
3: War | Suez: A Very British Crisis
3: War | Suez: A Very British Crisis
How the invasion of Egypt caused an international outcry and the end of Eden's career.