Hello guys, Today I would like to share with you some positive and negative aspects about the British empire for your own reflection but before that I would like to show you a short introduction.
The British Empire was the largest colonial empire in the history, it covered more than 13.000.000.000 square miles, that is aproximatelly a quarter of the earth's total land area!!! Also it controlled more than 500 million people.
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| Victoria's Memorial |
Britain spread trade, we can think in India again with the tobacco and tea, architecture (just think about Victoria's Memorial) and technology, for good or for bad, the empire introduced guns and other devices to Africa.
ALTHOUGH the empire had negative aspects too, such as the racism. Britain gave alcohol and other sustances to aborigines causing many problems, in Australia a lot of children were taken away of their parents by the British to start a new life with the "white people" and they never saw their parents again.
One other negative aspect was the slave trade, britain chased africans, was involved in many bloody wars, and took a lot of bad desicions.The lack of identity was another problem, for example with the religion. the "white people" had to teach christianity to the "incivilized" colonies, the consequence was that the original beliefs and religions were bypassed and ignored, such as the Eskimos, the Cree indians and muslims in India.
So, what would be the world if the British Empire never existed????? worse or better? let me know your points of view.
You have to see it. See you soon! :)
Those questions are really difficult to answer, for me. Now, I just can say that the world would be different, but I don't know if would be better or worse. Maybe, we might read much more about the British Empire to answer those questions. Anyway, the good thing is taking a moment to wonder these kind of important events.
ReplyDeleteI liked the ending of your post!
This is an interesting question, but before to answer it: do you know the existence of the UK is connected with the Porteño culture (specifically with Valparaiso)? Before the Victorian Times, a great amount of British people arrived in Valparaiso to carry out their business. So, Valparaiso was considered as a “small London,” and that’s why we can still find out British architecture in the city (for example, houses with a Victorian style in Playa Ancha or the famous “Arco Británico”). Indeed, Valparaíso became a prosperous city in which the most powerful men lived there and not in Santiago because the major commercial activity in Chile was concentrated in Valparaiso.
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, I think Valparaiso would have been quite different without the influence of the British Empire. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to know places such as Paseo Atkinson or Paseo Wheelwright whose origins were British, and maybe Valparaiso wouldn’t have had the rich history and characteristics we already know. In other words, the UK made, at some point, a positive contribution to the identity of this city.
Personally I come from a school of British origins and I must say, it's an honor for me to tell "I have been taught the wonderful British culture" for about 12 years. As a student to be a teacher of the mother tongue of an entire kingdom of great recognition, I must say it will be a privilege and pleasure to teach what I learn in college, sure it will not be all easy, but we put effort into everything you want and I'm sure that personally I will. If we want to teach English, we must learn about its origin and history and teach it as equal as we can teach someone to use a pencil, that easy.
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