Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain

by Sathnam Sanghera

This half-day school holiday was established by the Earl of Meath, to celebrate the splendour of the empire on 24 May each year, the late Queen Victoria’s birthday, with the aim of creating a bond between imperial subjects and counteracting what Meath felt was lamentable ignorance about its achievements.

Holiday

The most shocking revelation for me, however, is that the Sikh reputation for being a warrior race, which you probably wouldn’t pick up on if you glanced at my physique, but which is nevertheless more central to our self-identity than beards, turbans and private numberplates on BMWs, can to a significant degree be attributed to British empire. When the British first started recruiting soldiers they didn’t

History

Amritsar in 1919, the British lived away from the ‘native city’ behind the ‘civil lines’, while elsewhere in India Britons talked about Indians living in ‘Black Town’ or the ‘native quarter’, reflecting a widespread attitude across empire that the ruling race should not mix with ‘darkies’ –

Racism