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Documentary
How did a small island once rule over a quarter of the world's population? This shared history still shapes us today - and billions of people are part of its story.
David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, the Caribbean and India.
David Olusoga reveals how the loss of the American colonies led to the colonisation of Australia and how the Indian indenture system was established.
David Olusoga reveals how the Empire reached its maximum size after the First World War but within a generation had begun to collapse, as he uncovers the story of decolonisation.
Presenter
From dangerous explosives and deadly curses that put everyday people at risk, to treasures found in the unlikeliest of ways, each episode digs into the people, the places and historical significance of these discoveries. And sometimes just being in the right place at the right time can make history…because nothing stays hidden forever.
In four chapters, largely based on and illustrated with archaeological finds and sites, Neil Oliver explains how, as far as is known, the Iron Age Celtic tribes known as the Ancient Britains evolved and entered European civilization. Their internecine tribal phase was warlike and partitioned. Overseas contacts, especially metal trade, brought wealth and progress. Ultimately, it attracted the superior Roman empire, which would conquer and pacify Britain into a province, like Gaul shortly before, but Caesar's invasion wasn't the definitive annexation yet, that was left to emperor Claudius; even afterward some Celtic traits and even rebellions remained.
