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
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
Americans are not the first to fret over the potential harm that parties can inflict. But parties can also promote the common interest.
A paddler launches a canoe on Bass Lake in central Ontario on Canada Day, 2021. Could humble Canada be heading towards superpower status in the decades to come?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Thornhill
In 1776, with a population of 2.5 million, few imagined that within two centuries, the U.S. would become the dominant superpower. It’s not inconceivable that Canada could do the same by 2223.
Kew Gardens in London was at the centre of a huge colonial plant trade.
'The world's metropolis', Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, 1855
The mega dam in Jinja was meant to give Uganda energy independence, but this was constrained by Britain’s agricultural interests in Egypt.
Remnants of polychrome colouring were scrubbed from recovered ancient Greek sculptures and artists created new all-white marble sculptures seen as continuous with an imagined past.
(Shutterstock)
Western fashion, laundering and style reflected the racialized politics dramatically shaped by profound global transformations bound up with slavery, colonialism and modernization.
Chief Aùtshumao! Francisco MacKenzie (front) protests the Amazon headquarters development in Cape Town.
Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The British empire brought the practice of commons enclosure to Africa to claim land. Its effects continue today at sites like the Liesbeek River in Cape Town.
The Queen in Manitoba during a 1970 royal tour.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Bregg
Queen Elizabeth harnessed goodwill from Canadians mostly as an individual, rather than as the hereditary head of an institution. But her death will lead to debate about the relevance of the monarchy.