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Empire - Learning Zone

Jeremy Paxman travels the world exploring different aspects of the British Empire. He looks at the characters who created an empire four times the size of ancient Rome's.

Jeremy Paxman travels the world exploring different aspects of the British Empire. He sets off in search of the extraordinary characters, burning ambitions and surprising principles which created an empire four times the size of ancient Rome. Explorers and businessmen, soldiers and visionaries, missionaries and crooks play their part in a story that spans three centuries and five continents.

This special version made for the Learning Zone contains a number of films of two- to six-minute durations.

Each film explores a specific question, including: Why does the empire matter? How did the British gain control of India? What were relations like between rulers and ruled? How did Victorian values affect life in the empire? Why was India so valuable to the empire? What was the role of money and trade in the empire? Was the empire a force for good? How did the empire affect migration? What can cricket tell us about the empire? What traces has the empire left behind?

1 hour

Last on

Fri 19 Dec 2014 04:00

Bitesize Class Clips: Empire

Bitesize Class Clips: Empire

Visit the Bitesize website for a selection of video clips based on Empire, targeted for use in the classroom.

Get your free poster from The Open University

Get your free poster from The Open University

  • Explore how the Empire reinvented itself as the Commonwealth with the OU's free wall map ()

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Jeremy Paxman
Series Producer Julian Birkett
Assistant Producer Sophie Reid

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