Britain's empires: a history, 1600-2020

Part one : The old colonial system, 1600-1760. United Kingdom

Merchants

Navigators and pirates

Conquerors

The English fleet

The slave trade

Plantations

Britain's mercantile rivals

The limit of the mercantile system

The meaning of 'primitive accumulation'

Part two : Empire of free trade, 1760-1870. The 'great divergence'

Revolution and counter-revolution, 1776-1815

Combined and uneven development

White flight

Civilising mission

Indiafrom company to Raj

Opium wars

Fighting back

Part three : Modern imperialism, 1870-1947. 'The new imperialism'

Little England, exhausted

Scramble for Africa

Asia

The colonial labour question

High noon of the empire

The empire at war

Decline of 'white prestige'

From home rule to independence

Defeating nationalism

Part four : Commonwealth, 1947-89. Cold War

The challenge of colonial development

States of emergency

Britain in the Middle East

Decolonisation

White settler revolt

Post-war Britain

The rise and fall of third world nationalism

Cold War climax

Part five : Empire of human rights? 1990-2020. The new world order

Peace processes

Humanitarian intervention

Imperialism today.