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Articles on British colonies

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Martin Howard, left, and Stephen Hopkins came to opposing conclusions about their colonial British identities. Howard: John Singleton Copley via Wikimedia Commons; Hopkins: New York Public Library

2 colonists had similar identities – but one felt compelled to remain loyal, the other to rebel

What might appear to be common values about shared political and cultural identities can at times serve not as a bridge joining people together but a wedge driving them apart.
Former Gov. Gen. Julie Payette invests Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, from Wikwemikong First Nation, Ont., as a Member of the Order of Canada outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa in September 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The search for a new governor general is tough in a disparate nation like Canada

Canada’s new governor general will have to fuse the British, French, American and Indigenous elements of Canada that together are the core of the country.
Have you ever wondered why U.S. money is green? Yulia Grigoryeva/Shutterstock.com

Why are dollar bills green?

The color of American money goes back to the British colonies.
Hindu texts from thousands of years ago demonstrate acceptance of a ‘third gender.’ Today, transgender Indians, or hijras, remain visible members of society. AP Photo/Bikas Das

India’s sodomy ban, now ruled illegal, was a British colonial legacy

Before colonialism, India embraced homosexuality and gender fluidity. The Supreme Court’s repeal of a 157-year-old gay sex ban partially reclaims that history, but LGBTQ Indians still face hurdles.
French armed forces prepare aid and assistance to French territories in the Caribbean. Guillaume Cabre/Defense Armee de Terre

Hurricane Irma’s devastation of Caribbean territories piles pressure on strained relationship with UK

The aid and assistance Britain’s Caribbean territories will need to rebuild will make highlight the fault lines in the relationship between Westminster and its former colonies.
Sol Plaatje at his writing desk taken from his book Native Life in South Africa. Historical Papers Research Archive, University of the Witwatersrand A979 Fca3.

Conversing across a century with thinker, author and politician Sol T Plaatje

The centennial publication of Sol Plaatje’s seminal, ‘Native Life’ is a timely reminder of his estimation of intellectual work, in contrast to the current disparagement of ‘clever blacks’.

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