Empire, David Olusoga at his best.

Ologusa did use part of one the programmes to describe the West African slave trade.
Watch the programmes and be educated, if you so chose.

As regards slaving already going on in Africa, what we did was make it worse, as we were a huge "new market" for the slaving going going on already

Wyllow3

WithNobsOnIt

Yes l have watched all of the episodes and found it enlightening and informative, on some aspects of how the present day UK came about

Where it falls down for me is. The way in which some of these slaves were violently rounded up and sold as slaves to the British and other countries by their fellow countryman for large profits

For years his was a routine commonplace practice

This is a very controversial subject,which has been swept under the carpet and hushed up for years.

Maybe Mr Olusoga can make a programme on this subject in the future.

It's been known for years and not hushed up at all. I did history at Uni in the 1970's.

^It doesn't make what we did OK, does it^

It happened, its history, we were not born and not responsible. It was a different time with different mores. We should not look back and judge but just accept our history as there is nothing we can do to change it.

No idea why people seem to take pleasure in debating how awful we have been in the past.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there

REKA

No idea why people seem to take pleasure in debating how awful we have been in the past.

*The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there*

Pleasure is an odd word to use. And what happened in the past directly affects every single person on earth.

Pleasure is an odd word to use
Trichotillomania might be more appropriate!

Whitewavemark2

REKA

No idea why people seem to take pleasure in debating how awful we have been in the past.

*The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there*

Pleasure is an odd word to use. And what happened in the past directly affects every single person on earth.

Our word, our economic situation, the boundaries of each country, the politics and ideologies, are all, all shaped by the past. We can't go forward without understanding mistakes made!

As regards, the remark made about being glad to learn English, that is because historically the dominance of the UK and the US, came at the same time as mass international communication developed, therefore more countries teach English as the second language.

GN's may have noticed it's not necessary an advantage.

why do so many want to come to the UK
its because they have learnt or have a modicum of English. .......and its just as well really, or we wouldn't have enough doctors and nurses in the UK.

(correction, first sentence, "Our world" not "Our word"

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Maremia

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Its not about not remembering it, but not being able to change anything.

But we can change the consequences of the past, and you cannot do that without understanding it.

For example, the social and economic circumstances that breeds a Sudan, or a Hitler, situation.
Or create, as we are learning from the series, the relationships between ex colonies and ourselves, why we now find ourselves in x or y a situation in internationals relationships.

Or, on the positive side, we use the knowledge of the past to make better decisions about for example dealing with a pandemic, dealing with flooding. How we build our houses and make future housing situations better. How we treat such and such an illness ...

The list is endless, and sometimes actually very profound

I like David Olusoga. I like his surly presentation manner and I like the way he dives deep into obscure documents and pulls out threads that shed loads full of weight to them. He goes for the facts and their consequences.

Whitewavemark2

Yes. He also does a podcast that is worth listening to.

I've listened to a couple after you mentioned them WWM and have learned a lot. Thank you.

It is about remembering it, and remembering the consequences, and thus having the opportunity to make the choice to change the pattern or not.
If we are lucky enough to live in a democracy, and have cash to spend, then we can make big choices every 4 years or so, and small choices every day, with every purchase we make.

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The mariners NEVER had to go inland to 'kidnap' potential slaves. The black natives captured their own family members and neighbours and brought them to the quayside themselves and then sold them for trinkets.
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Sarnia

I too very much enjoyed 'A House through Time'. In fact I've watched the episode that featured my home city three times!!

However, I gave up after the first episode of this series as, typically for his programmes on this type of subject, it is extremely biased. There is NEVER any report or appreciation for all the good the British did to the commonwealth.

Certainly the more advanced nations re education and health care are more advanced because of being in the Commonwealth than those who weren't. - particularly those in the Eastern Caribbean.

There are presently 56 countries in the Commonwealth. They don't have to stay. There's (c) half-a-dozen pending
applications to join.

DO seems to revel at putting Britain down at every opportunity. He says that he isn't anti-Brit but he does appear to have an axe to grind. He has a white British mother and a lovely white British wife (they're near neighbours and she's absolutely delightful) so I wonder what they think of his continual denigration of their homeland? And what influence it is passing on to the perspective of their 10-year old daughter.

Maybe he could do a programme telling of all the good things that Great Britain has done throughout history all over the world. It would take a few episodes.

He has really become a bit of a one-trick pony.
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So, if the Empire was so absolutely fabulous, why did colonised countries seek their independence?

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P.S. I enjoyed seeing him in 'Traitors' and he came over as very pleasant. But it was obvious that he had no imagination, common sense or nous; at no time did he show any intelligent thought or discernment.
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Allira

The afternoon will appear even more miserable after you watch it! Totally biased. Usual BBC.
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The United Kingdom is the former colonial power from which the largest number of countries have gained independence (62 nations in total) a Guinness World Record.

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Of those who did, the majority are still third world countries.

Of those that didn't (e.g. Australia, Canada, NZ) they are prosperous and are the envy of many.

Many Caribbean countries after becoming independent still chose to remain in the Commonwealth (e.g Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua). They have good education, health care, life styles - for example the literacy rate percentage on Barbados is higher than that of the UK and USA.

And there are still countries with applications pending to join the Commonweath (which at present comprises of 56 countries)
.
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Commonwealth yes,.Empire? Most said 'no thanks'.

I'm not sure if we should still be wearing hair shirts over what some people's ancestors did in many countries, not just Great Britain.
Great Britain

We have moved on since then. Slavery was abolished 200 years ago but some would want us to still keep apologising for the sins of some of our fathers.

Maremia

It is about remembering it, and remembering the consequences, and thus having the opportunity to make the choice to change the pattern or not.
If we are lucky enough to live in a democracy, and have cash to spend, then we can make big choices every 4 years or so, and small choices every day, with every purchase we make.

Yes its about remembering but not feeling guilty.

He appeared in Meghan and Harry’s Netflix documentary having a right old go at the Commonwealth. Called it British Empire 2.0. Really?
All countries are in it by free will. Gabon and Togo recently chose to join - both former French colonies. Some former British colonies have chosen to leave. He never mentioned that…🤔