The British Empire: A Force For Good

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‘The British Empire was a force for good.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement? The British Empire had had a huge impact on the world. Although there are some negative aspects, such as harming multiple cultures, they still established some things that made the world a more efficient place; a common language, means of transport and communication, and technology. One of the biggest reasons why the British Empire was a force for good was the spreading of the English language. In many countries in Africa and Asia, such as Kenya, Ghana and India, people spoke their own dialects. When the British Empire took over, the colonizers took this as a chance to teach the local people English. They mostly taught English in missionary schools,…show more content…
When George Stephenson created the first train, he quickly realized that he had created the most practical mean of transportation of his time. Before the train, horses and ships were the most useful and efficient way to carry things, but it was clear that they did not compare to a train. Firstly, it’s clear that ships can’t reach the interior, and horses’ speed could not compare to the speed of Stephenson’s new invention. India, a previously established colony, jumped at the railway opportunities, and built a railway structure that could compare to Britain’s in scale. The trains helped transport products from India (such as opium, cotton, spices and tea) to ports, and the products would then be shipped to Britain. Once they got to their final destination, Britain taxed them, which helped with the economy massively. Some negative aspects to the new invention are that the trains caused lots of pollution in India. Also, the trains caused deforestation, because they needed lots of room to build a railway structure. The British Empire acted as a force for good in building means of communication and transportation in lEDC’s (less economically developed countries). The evidence to prove this point is that Hong Kong still uses trams, which were brought to them by the British. Although there were a few negative consequences, the…show more content…
Richard Arkwright got rid of the domestic system, as it wasn’t as cheap of efficient as the factory system. In history, Richard Arkwright can be seen as a saint or a sinner, depending on whether you focus on the social outcomes, or the economic outcomes. The factory system had some good outcomes and some bad, as do all things. Some benefits of the factory system were that clothes were cheaper and of better quality than if they were made in the domestic system. Also, factories gave women independence because instead of marrying young, women could start earning their own wage. Because of the growing population, houses were being built much quicker than before, and they were very well built. On the other hand, factories could have been bad. Some consequences were that kids were forced to work, which almost meant that children lost their childhood. People’s health was becoming worse and worse because of all the smoke the machines produced. But what was worst was that people were forced to work under bad conditions, and if there was ever a complaint, the person was fired and someone else was hired. They never ran out of people to hire because of the increasing population. My opinion is that Richard Arkwright is a saint. I think this because although factories forced people to live and work under terrible conditions, the factories were a more efficient way

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