Empire

For the Portuguese empire to rise, an old world had to give way. Rivals in Europe’s lucrative spice trade, how much did they know about the powerful Mamluk sultanate?

In Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World, Roger Crowley explains how Spain and Portugal turned up the heat in the age of imperialism.

With a line on a map, the Treaty of Tordesillas split the world between Spain and Portugal. Was it a grand refutation of papal authority or an extension of it?

The nabobs of the East India Company were considered violent, greedy and – worst of all in a time of Enlightenment – uneducated. Could their reputation as philistines be laundered?

In March 1824 the East India Company declared war on Burma, the opening salvo in a series of conflicts that would see one empire fall, another expand and leave divisive wounds still felt today.

On 17 January 1872, 49 Namdhari Sikhs – dubbed ‘Kukas’ by the British – were executed by cannon, supposedly for spreading insurrection.

One Fine Day: Britain’s Empire on the Brink by Matthew Parker and Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain by Charlotte Lydia Riley are filled with ambition.

On 20 November 1695, Zambi of Palmares – ruler of an ‘invincible’ community of former slaves in the Brazilian jungle – was killed by the Portuguese.

Empires of the Steppes: The Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation by Kenneth W. Harl is a rollercoaster of historical narration.

What historical topic have I changed my mind on? Colonialism. I now know that it had no redeeming features.