Why do you say that? Because Britain is a colonial imperialist.

The British Empire emerged with the overseas colonial expansion of the British. The history of British overseas immigrants can be traced back to the end of 15. 1607, the British established the first permanent colony in North America. However, large-scale overseas immigrants from Britain appeared after18th century. Immigrants leave their homeland for various reasons: to get rid of political and religious persecution, to get their own land, to find jobs and better life opportunities. Due to the industrial revolution, the surplus labor force under capitalist conditions first appeared in Britain. During the hundred years from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the outbreak of the First World War, about 20 million people immigrated from Britain, of which130,000 moved to the United States and 4 million moved to Canada.1. Colonies are of great historical significance not only to Britain, but also to the world. Many scholars believe that colony is one of the prerequisites for the origin of British capitalism. For example, the author of "Great Divergence" regards the reduction of population pressure on land and the exploitation of coal as two major reasons for the development of British capitalism.

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the world was basically divided up by the great powers, Britain got the largest share. 19 14 Before the outbreak of World War I, the British colonial area had reached 3,350 square kilometers, ruling 394 million people, accounting for14 of the world population; This is equivalent to 137 times that of Britain and more than 8 times that of its own population, so it is called "the sun never sets". During the formation of the British Empire, there were both repression of local aborigines and competition with other colonial countries. This process has a great influence on the development of British society, the history of modern international relations and the development and evolution of political geography. The British Empire is built on a strong economic foundation. /kloc-in the 0/9th century, Britain's coal production accounted for 60% and iron production accounted for 50% of the world. This is a veritable "world factory". At that time, more than 1/3 merchant ships sailing in various oceans were flying the "m" flag, and even the whole19th century could be called "English century" to some extent. However, the 20th century witnessed the decline of the British Empire, although it was a victorious country in two world wars. In his memoirs, British Prime Minister Churchill described his feelings at the Yalta Conference: "I sat with a huge Russian bear on one side, a huge bison on the other side, and a poor little British donkey in the middle." With the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union and the influence of national independence after World War II, the British Empire gradually disintegrated. By the 1960s, the British Empire, as a colonial system, had become history. However, the Commonwealth, mainly composed of former British colonial countries, still has considerable international influence.

How to understand and evaluate the historical role of the British Empire is an important issue in modern world history. This topic involves many aspects, one of which is the role of the British Empire in colonial development, whether it caused poverty or promoted development. Many scholars, including Marx, have made great efforts to this end. However, history is complicated and the historical role of the British Empire is diversified. The existing research results show that it is impossible to evaluate the historical role of the British Empire as a whole, and it is even more unrealistic to expect to find a clear answer in a book. Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire does not attempt to do this, but tries to show this history comprehensively and completely, providing readers with a platform for thinking and judging. The main 1 1 authors of this book are historians from Britain, America and Australia, which makes this book full of vivid details. What is even more rare is that the ideas and research achievements of western new historiography since World War II fully absorbed by these authors are unique in the arrangement of content and form of the book.

First of all, the history of the British Empire here has no trace of previous political history, especially the western central concept has been obviously bound. As the author thinks, "the history of the British Empire is to study the interaction between the British and other ethnic groups, not the' influence' of the British on these ethnic groups". Interaction theory admits that before the western colonial rule, the local people had rich culture and history. After the British forces participated in its historical development, they continued to write their own history, including the history of resisting oppression and developing local culture. This is the author's respect for history. In fact, there is no unified management organization and no unified colonial rule model within the British Empire. Except for a few former colonies with British immigrants as the main residents, such as the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries and regions, the situation in other colonies is very different, and the local cultural characteristics are still very obvious. This feature is vividly displayed in the architectural art that embodies the western and local traditional styles.

Secondly, the book is extremely rich in content because it breaks through the narrow limitations of pure political history. The history of the British Empire is not a simple history of the spread of civilization, nor a history of oppression and exploitation by colonialism and imperialism. The contact between western culture and pre-colonial culture is all-round, and the author also tries to look at this phenomenon from all angles, from various forms of colonial rule, trade, cultural conflicts, population mobility, urban architecture, painting art, sports and entertainment, racism, ethnic integration, women's life, to the spread of western culture such as English and a sense of belonging to the empire, and so on. As the author has carefully noticed, competitive sports is also a hotbed for cultivating national consciousness. "Australia has demonstrated its national consciousness not in the battlefield for independence, but in the cricket match for self-esteem. For New Zealanders, the sense of independence is expressed through football games. "

The most commendable thing is that almost every page of the book has illustrations, or paintings, or maps, or photos, just like a window of history. By enhancing readers' visual perception, the popular narrative is more vivid and fully stimulates readers' thinking activities. The British Empire left a deep imprint on British national consciousness and artistic life. Strolling through the streets of London, you will see many figures sculptures, most of which are generals who opened up overseas territories for the empire. The tall images of these imperial heroes are also preserved in oil paintings with the theme of British history. There is a picture in the book depicting the righteous death of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan. In the commentary, the author wrote that it is almost certain that Gordon was far from such a heroic scene when he was killed, and the artist gave a purely mythical description of the incident. General Gordon in the painting is recorded in the history textbook of our country, who led the movement to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China.

This book can be regarded as a model of contemporary western new historiography. In fact, it is an organic integration of political history and social history, women's history, cultural history, international relations history, economic history, immigration history and other fields.