The Importance Of The British Empire

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Until recent history, world history has been a history of empires. From the Mongols to the Ottomans, empires have always sought to push their physical boundaries, yet none have achieved the success of the British. With colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Australia, 19th century Britons were able to claim that the sun never set on their empire. This far-reaching and wide-encompassing empire allowed the British to establish a global movement of people, goods, capital, and ideas. This global movement not only asserted Britain’s financial dominance, but it also enabled the British to project their western ideology on to the rest of the world. However, the British visions of empire did not always match up with reality. Although there was a British presence across a large part of the globe, the different kinds of people and the treatment of these people created sharp distinctions among the empire. Yet, the commercial practices of informal empire, technological advances, and the security provided by Britain’s military unified the diverse British world and allowed Britons at home to view the global empire as an extension of Britain itself. In Jules …show more content…

In 1847 Britain introduced Greenwich Mean Time, and began making an effort to standardize time across its colonies. This was primarily to allow trains to run to an agreed timetable, but also so that employees could keep regular working hours. Clocks were prominently placed at railway stations, marketplaces, and forts. There was practical benefit to monitoring time, but it also served as a symbol to the local population of British order, discipline, and efficiency. Phileas Fogg 's successful endeavor to go around the world in eighty days is partly dependent on this new regularized concept of time. The other reason for his success is the virtual shrinking of the globe through rapidly improved transport and

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