Summary: book "Britain for Learners of English", James O'Driscoll
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| The nineteenth century Not long before this century began, Britain lost its most important colonies (north American ones) in a war of independence. It was also locked in a war with France, during which an invasion of the country was areal possibility. Soon after the end of the century, it controlled the biggest empire the world had ever seen. Distributing prohibited | Downloaded by Ngan Tien (nganctddongnai@yahoo.com.vn) lOMoARcPSD|2347954 One section of this empire was Ireland. During this century, it was in fact apart of the UK itself and it was in that same century that British culture and way of life came to predominate in Ireland. In the s, the potato crop failed two years in a row and there was a terrible famine. Millions of peasant, those with Gaelic language and customs, either died or emigrated (mostly to America. By the end of the century, almost the whole of the remaining population had switched to English as their first language. Another part of the empire was made up of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where British settlers had become the majority population. And India of course. An enormous country with culture that is more ancient than Britain’s. Large parts of Africa also belonged to the empire, except for South Africa, where there was some British settlement. Most of Britain’s African colonies started as trading bases on the coast, and were only incorporated into the empire at the end of the century. As well as these areas, the empire included numerous smaller areas and island. Some, such as those in the Caribbean, were the result of earlier British settlement, but most were included because of their strategic position along trading routes. During this century, Britain became the world’s foremost economic power. This, together with long years of political stability unequalled anywhere else in Europe, gave the British a sense of supreme confidence, even arrogance, about their culture and civilization. Download 0.78 Mb. Share with your friends:
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