Eugen Sandow’s visit to South Africa in 1904 was a triumph of colonial display and racism. Despite its prejudices it influenced the development of bodybuilding in South Africa.
State Library of Western Australia, call number: BA428/1
While Western Australia’s secession movement foundered, it sparked a series of debates around London’s obligations to overseas Britons, Britannic identity, and the future of imperial relations.
An 1862 photo of a prison hulk docked in Ireland Island, Bermuda.
Royal Navy
Jack Vowles, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
If Māori did not explicitly cede sovereignty in 1840, neither did they fully retain it. If sovereignty is already being shared, where does Te Tiriti o Waitangi sit within our unwritten constitution?
Taapsee Pannu and Shah Rukh Khan take the donkey route.
TCD/Prod.DB / Jio Studios
Britain’s industrial revolution was built on slavery: both black labour and intellectual property.
Signwriters rush to replace colonial street names with news ones in April 1964, a few months after Kenya’s independence on December 12, 1963.
AFP via Getty Images
The naming of streets, places and landmarks in colonial Nairobi was used to show the political, ideological and ethnic dominance of the British.
Hamilton Dhlamini in The Head & The Load, a production in which composer Philip Miller reworks the British national anthem.
Stella Olivier/The Head & The Load
The coronation will have echoes of empire, but represents an important stage in the modern monarchy’s move away from its shadow.
The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign’s Orb and Sceptre, following her funeral at Westminster Abbey in London in September 2022.
(Mike Egerton/Pool Photo via AP)
Gems do not a monarch make, and repatriating the Crown Jewels would strengthen the contemporary British monarchy at a time when it most urgently needs to modernize.
What can the Crown Jewels tell us about the history and future of the British Royals? In this photo from last May, then-Prince Charles sits with Camilla and William by the Imperial State Crown in the House of Lords Chamber in London.
Ben Stansall/AP
Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation and Ollie Nicholas, The Conversation
Although King Charles will have a low-key ceremony this coronation, the Crown Jewels will still figure prominently. An exploration of the jewels tells a tale of exploitation, rape and pillage.
Charles’s culinary choices might be intended to recognise the multiculturalism of Britain today. But they are also a reminder of the difficult legacy of empire.
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla pose for a photo with representatives of the Commonwealth countries during the annual Commonwealth Day reception at Buckingham Palace in May 2022.
(Daniel Leal/Pool via AP)
The coronation is a critical moment for King Charles to show that the monarchy can be more efficient and more sensitive to the legacy of British imperialism.
Sir Edmund Hillary (left) and companions Derek Wright and Murray Ellis after arriving at the South Pole, January 3, 1958.
Getty Images
March 2 marks the 65th anniversary of the completion of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Intended to demonstrate Commonwealth unity, it became a symbol of Britain’s imperial decline.
Koh-i-Noor as set in Queen Mary’s crown in 1911.
Tom Hanley/Alamy