Language and Culture I. Prof. Adriana M. Fernández.

Britain and the World

(Summarized from Britain in Focus by Lawrence Kimpton, Life in Modern Britain by Peter Bromhead, Aspects of
Britain and the USA by Gardwood, Gardani & Peris and An Oxford Guide to British and American Culture, for
academic purposes only).

During the 20th Century, the position of Great Britain among the countries of the
world changed beyond recognition, and the process of adjustment was not altogether
easy. In 1900 it was not absurd to regard London as the centre of the world, and
children learned certain phrases which expressed in simple terms the “truths” the British
regarded as paramount: The sun never sets on the British Empire; India is the brightest
jewel in the Imperial Crown; Britannia rules the waves. Such phrases are now obviously
unrealistic, and there is no place in the modern world for the attitude which they
express. The old imperialism has become unfashionable. Britain is merely one of the
states in Western Europe aiming to keep up with the economic progress of the others,
and feeling some duty to give material help to former colonies without claiming any
sort of power over them. There is still a feeling in Britain that the country should be
able to make significant contributions to international peace keeping efforts.
The growth of the British Empire was at first the result of competition among
European nations, especially Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands, for new areas
in which to trade and new sources of raw materials. In the 16th C. many colonies
began as trading centres, or were founded to protect a trade route, and were run for the
profit of the mother country. Some colonies were founded by people trying to make a
new life for themselves, others were originally penal colonies. Britain’s first foreign
possession was Newfoundland, now part of Canada, in the late 15th C. During the 17th
and 18th C. colonies were established on the east coast of North America, including
Plymouth Colony founded by the Pilgrim Fathers. The wealthiest area in the early days
of empire was the West Indies because of money trade from sugar cane and tobacco.
Later, the British Government began to see India as politically important and took a
greater interest in the territory. Roads and railways were built to make trade easier and
improve contacts with more remote districts, a Governor-General was put in charge and
British civil servants and troops were sent to the region. Australia, discovered by
Captain Cook, was first settled as a penal colony. New Zealand became a colony in
1840. Hong Kong was important both for trade with China and for strategic reasons,
and became a British colony in 1842. It later became an important business centre. In
Africa, the Cape of Good Hope was important to Britain because it was on the sea route

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to India. It was bought from the Boers in 1815, and British settlers went out to live there
alongside the Boers. However, between about 1870 and 1900 Britain, Belgium, France,
Italy and Germany took part in what came to be called “the scramble for Africa”. In
1884, the European Nations, in an attempt at cooperation, agreed spheres of influence.
Britain’s colonies in West Africa were the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Nigeria, Sierra
Leone and Gambia. In East Africa, countries that were acquired as protectorates
included the territories of what are now Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Zanzibar, Zambia,
Zimbabwe and Malawi.
District officers and civil servants were sent out to administer the colonies on
behalf of Britain. Regular Imperial conferences were held in Britain to discuss matters
of general concern, such as trade, defence and foreign policy.
The second period of empire-building took place in the late 19th C. At that time,
Britain was one of the leading economic and political powers in the world, and wanted
to protect her interests and also increase her international influence by obtaining new
lands. It was also thought by some people to be a matter of moral obligation and
destiny to run poorer, less advanced countries and to pass on European culture to the
native inhabitants. In the 19th C. the empire was a source of pride for Britain. During the
20th C. it became expensive to run and also an embarrassment. The middle of the
century was a time of changing values and it was morally no longer acceptable to take
over other countries and cultures and to exploit them. The loss of the Empire inevitably
meant loss of power and status, but Britain’s world influence has been maintained.
The dismantling of the British Empire took place comparatively peacefully, so
that good relations between Britain and the newly independent countries were
established. As a result and with the encouragement of Queen Elizabeth II, an
international organization of 53 members called the Commonwealth, composed of the
countries that used to be part of the empire, has continued to hold annual meetings. The
British Commonwealth of Nations was set up in 1931, but since 1949 it has been
known simply as the Commonwealth. Some countries in the Commonwealth have even
kept the British monarch as head of state. The older Commonwealth countries of
Canada, Australia and New Zealand have particularly close links with Britain because
many of their people are of British descent. Almost all Commonwealth countries use
English as their official language of government. The Commonwealth has no formal
institutions, though informal contacts are well maintained. All members are equal and
agree to work together towards world peace, the encouragement of trade, the

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defence of democracy and improvements in human rights, health and education.

The Commonwealth also encourages joint cultural activities and sports events.
Each of the countries which were part of the British Empire, on becoming self-
governing, continued to have the British King or Queen as head of state, with their
actual functions performed by a Governor-General as representative of the Crown. Each
Governor-General is appointed by the Queen for a period of four years, but the
appointment is always made on the advice of the Prime Minister of the country
concerned, not of the British Prime Minister. Thus in each case, if a republican system
were to be introduced to replace the monarchy, the only necessary change would be to
change the title of Governor-General to “President”. The devices used to grant these
countries independence were basically the same everywhere: little by little the
proportion of local people in administrative and political charges was increased until
they could hold a “responsible government”. However, the old imperial spirit
sometimes seems not to be dead. The British feel proud when some of the old colonies
suggest how beneficial the British imperial administration was. A feeling of
embarrassment is sometimes present because the possession of colonial territories
would not fit with the image of a modern democratic state. From the early 1950’s a
growing number of immigrants from the Caribbean and South Asia came to settle in
Britain. Until 1962 Commonwealth citizens were freely admitted to Britain. The empire
has had both a positive and a negative influence on the cultures of the countries that
were part of it. British rule influenced local systems of government, and most countries
have a civil service, army and legal system organized in a similar way to those in
Britain. Many roads and railways were also started under British rule, and schools were
established. On the other hand, much of British foreign policy was based on racial
prejudice and contempt for native cultures. Many people believed that they had a moral
duty to convert local people to Christianity, and did not sufficiently respect local
religions. Native people everywhere were usually considered inferior to white people
and to have few rights.
Perhaps the most important and lasting cultural influence of the British Empire
has been the spread of the English language. After independence English remained an
official language in many countries and is taught as a second language in schools. The
ability to speak English as well as local languages was useful for establishing a position
in international politics, trade and finance. The English language has in turn become
richer with words borrowed from many of the cultures with which it came into contact.

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After the end of the Second World War in 1945, two major groups of countries
emerged in Europe, one made up of Western countries, most of which had
democratically elected governments, and the other made up of the communist states of
Eastern Europe. England, then, had to find a new role. Within these two broad groups a
variety of international organizations, social, economic, political and military,
developed.
The European organization of most concern to The United Kingdom is the
European Economic Community (EEC). In March 1957, France, West Germany,
Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg signed the Treaty of Rome to establish
the EEC in 1958. In 1967 the EEC became the European Community (EC),
nowadays known as the European Union (EU). The aims of the EC were to reduce
and end all restrictions on trade, movement of money and movement of workers
between the member countries. Common policies on agriculture, transport and external
trade were to be worked out. The United Kingdom, together with Denmark and the Irish
Republic, joined the EU on January 1st 1973. At that time the EU was often referred to
in Britain as the Common Market. Greece joined the EU in 1981 and Spain and
Portugal in 1986. Turkey, Malta and Cyprus are associate members together with a
large group of developing countries, mainly former colonies of France in Africa. These
countries have special trade terms with the EU members and receive aid for
development.
Farming in the EC is regulated by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The CAP has been the source of much friction between the members of the EU.
Farming varies greatly in prosperity and efficiency between and within the member
countries. Many people think that too much EU money is going to countries with many
inefficient farmers and, therefore, levels of support for farming are being lowered.
Being a member of the EU has given Britain relatively free access to the markets
of the other EU countries, but also gives those countries freer access to the British
market. A major effect of being an EU member is that British trade with Europe has
greatly increased, at the expense of traditional trade links with Commonwealth
countries.
Today’s community works hard to promote European business, industry and free
trade. It is not just an economic organization. People within the EU are free to seek jobs
in other member countries, work permits not being required. These days EU decisions
and laws affect almost every aspect of life in the member countries, including:

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education, employment, energy, foreign aid, human rights, medical aid, the law,
scientific research and transport.
Although Britain’s share of world markets for manufactured goods has steadily
declined, she remains an important exporter of manufactured products. Other important
trends in the changing partner of trade have been the reduction in food imports and the
increase in fuel exports. The direction of Britain’s trade has also changed, her main
trading partners being now the EU countries together with the USA and, for imports,
Japan. The countries of the Commonwealth are much less important trading partners
than they were in the days of the British Empire, when they provided cheap raw
material and food and were a major market for British exports. How will the EU
develop in years to come? Will there be a European government one day? Will there be
“The United States of Europe”? Nobody knows. Right now, it is too early to say, but
one thing is certain – Europe has never been more united in its long history than it is
today.
Economic links between Britain and the rest of the world also involve
investment by British companies in their overseas branches and subsidiary companies
and the investment by foreign companies in Britain. The USA is by far the largest
foreign investor in Britain while Japanese investment is increasing particularly rapidly.
Britain also belongs to other international organizations including the United
Nations. Money, expertise and people are contributed to the various United Nations
agencies such as UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and the WHO (World
Health Organization). As part of the UN they can also decide when the Security Council
can use force, impose trade sanctions and send observers to investigate violations.
The United Kingdom also belongs to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization), a military alliance of most western European countries together with the
USA and Canada. NATO was formed after the end of the Second World War in
response to the threat to Western Europe that was felt to come from the USSR and its
allies. Its policy to provide European security changed after the end of communism and
its main concerns are now ethnic and territorial conflicts as well as the dismantling of
nuclear weapons. The stationing of British troops in West Germany or other places in
the world is part of the country’s contribution. The USA has a large Military presence in
Britain with air bases and communication centres. The question of whether the USA
should continue to have bases with nuclear weapons in Britain is part of the fiercely-

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argued debate over nuclear arms. Britain itself has military bases abroad besides those
in West Germany, for example, in Hong Kong, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.
As a member of the World Bank, the UK can stop aid if they find human rights
violations. In 1992, for example, they suspended aid to Kenya and Malawi.

Britain and Ireland

British colonization of Ireland began in the Middle Ages under Henry II, but the
real conquest of Ireland dates from the beginning of the 17 th C, when James I of
England began the systematic expropriation of land from the Irish by sending anti-
Catholic Protestants from Scotland to settle in Ulster, the north-eastern region of Ireland
which had always put up the greatest resistance to English rule. Fifty years later Oliver
Cromwell put down Irish rebellions with extreme ferocity and since then the Pro-British
Protestants have had an ascendancy.
However, the Irish continued to resist. By the end of the 19 th C most people in
Britain favoured Home Rule for Ireland, but the Protestant Unionists in the north were
sufficiently strong to prevent it. In 1916, however, the Irish rebelled once again, when a
group of Irish Republicans staged the famous Easter Rising in Dublin. The uprising was
put down, and the leaders were executed, but the brutal methods used by the British
troops strengthened Irish resistance and led to the formation of the Irish Republican
Army (IRA) which fought for five years against British occupation. This resulted, in
1921, in independence being conceded to the 26 counties of southern Ireland, which
became the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
Ulster, however, was allowed to remain within the UK. The politicians in the
Ulster Parliament used their power to discriminate against the Catholic minority as
regards jobs, housing and the voting system, and the British government continued to
ignore all complaints. The injustices gave rise to a Civil Rights Movement among
Catholics and Republicans in Northern Ireland in the 1950’s, but the stronger it grew,
the more violent was the reaction of the Ulster Unionists. Eventually, in 1969, the
British government sent in the British Army to “restore peace” and safeguard the
Catholic minority against the attacks of the Unionists. Greeted at first as “saviours” by
the Catholic population, the British troops came to be regarded as enemies; relations
reached their worst point in 1972 on Bloody Sunday when British troops fired on a civil
rights demonstration, killing thirteen people. In reaction to this and other atrocities, the

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IRA began a military and terrorist campaign against British rule. Successive British
governments tried to solve the “Irish Question” by a variety of political initiatives.
Since 1997 a fragile ceasefire has been held among the main paramilitary
groups, while the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, has offered the best hope
of a lasting settlement to the violence for well over a generation. Still, however, most of
Northern Ireland's minority Catholic population, mistrustful of the Protestant majority,
would prefer to belong to a single, united Ireland. Most of its Protestants, on the other
hand, are determined to remain a part of the UK. In the meantime, the two communities
remain deeply suspicious of each other, and it is this legacy of antagonism and mistrust
that the current peace process is seeking to dismantle. Despite such difficulties, there is
a wide determination to make the peace last. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair said
in a 1999 speech to the House of Commons: "I accept that this is often and has to be an
imperfect process and an imperfect peace, but it is better than no process and no peace
at all."