English was imposed as Nigeria’s official language, but the British had no way of controlling what people did with it.
Articles on British colonialism
Displaying 1 - 20 of 37 articles
The British Empire has long since folded. But the Commonwealth of Nations remains a global collective of like-minded countries.
The American Revolution was won not just by ideals and armies, but by the strategic trade networks of a small Caribbean port.
The term Fenian can’t be untangled from a dark history of anti-Irish racism. That’s why Kneecap chose it.
Characteristics that would come to define Mau Mau camps – neglect, forced labour and ill-health – were ingrained long before 1952.
If archives were destroyed and public history suppressed, where else might the past be found?
Museveni came to power with the sense that violence is critical to politics, and especially critical to liberation politics.
The Christian Council of Kenya got involved in a violent colonial effort to rehabilitate independence fighters. It saw this as an opportunity to evangelise.
On 24 April 1950, 29 members of Dini ya Msambwa, an anti-colonial religion, were killed by British forces. The UK government refuses to acknowledge this massacre.
It’s important that this brutal chapter in South Africa’s past be commemorated in the right spirit, to reflect, take stock and to heal.
Kenya’s first post-independence president used his writings to present himself as a leader of an exceptional sort.
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.
Lowering Indigenous incarceration rates is a key aim of the Closing The Gap targets, but there are more First Nations people behind bars than ever. How did this happen and what can fix it?
Pakistan’s laws against blasphemy have been used to bring cases against numerous people over the years, and in particular, the country’s religious minorities.
Operation Legacy highlights the repercussions faced when people with power determine what information is available to interpret events of the past.
Many believe Australia became it’s own country at federation in 1901, but that’s not strictly true. Instead, it happened more than 80 years later. Why don’t we celebrate it?
Variations of English names reveal the enduring effects of British rule - but there’s also a return to tradition.
Some explorers believed they had found unicorns depicted on rocks. The truth behind the paintings is far more interesting.
Too often, in discussions about tropical modernism, what African architects working in Africa were doing is overlooked. Their work matters.
Throughout its known history, Koh-i-Noor has been a symbol of imperial conquest and glory.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of History, CQUniversity Australia
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Cohen Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College
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Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Waikato
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Associate Professor of World Cultures and Languages, Northern Illinois University
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Professor of African Studies, University of Leeds
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Doctoral Candidate, Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfrid Laurier University
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Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Emerson College
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Assistant Professor the history of modern and contemporary India, University of Nottingham
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Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
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Senior Lecturer, Covenant University
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Honorary Professor of International Relations, The University of Melbourne
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Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
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Associate Professor Sport History, Stellenbosch University