
How did Britain come to rule the world? asks Niall Ferguson in Empire. What would today's world be like now if it hadn't? Could such an organisation – run by, according to Winston Churchill, 'the greedy trader, the inopportune missionary, the ambitious soldier and the lying spectator' – ever have been a force for good?
Air Date: 2003-01-09
In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations were l...
Air Date: 2003-01-16
The concept of 'plantation' is explored in this programme, yet presenter Niall Ferguson is not referring to crops but...
Air Date: 2003-01-23
Following the religious revival that started in the late 18th century, missionaries began working in Africa and India...
Air Date: 2003-01-30
In this programme we discover how a few thousand British people ruled over India, a country of more than 250 million ...
Air Date: 2003-02-06
The 'Scramble for Africa' by competing European nations during the last years of Queen Victoria's reign is the compel...
Air Date: 2003-02-13
The fall of the British empire is usually attributed to Nationalist groups fighting for independence, yet as Niall Fe...