👑 Queen Victoria & The British Empire 🇬🇧 #history English in Context #english #englishstream

Hello, you are very welcome to this English vocabulary lesson where we will take a look at the Victorian era and focus on Queen Victoria herself and the British Empire. This is Learning English Pro and my name is Ger, I'll be narrating your lesson today. The vocabulary topics we will look at today are the monarchy, then we'll look at colonisation and empire. This lesson will take a little over 10 minutes so when you're ready sit back, relax and let's learn some English together. Our lesson begins with the young Queen Victoria. She was born on the 24th of May 1819 and her given name was Alexandrina Victoria. She was born in Kensington Palace in London and her parents were Prince Edward and Princess Victoria. Victoria became Queen when she was just 18 years of age. Her coronation was on the 28th of June 1838. A coronation is the ceremony of crowning a king or queen. Victoria became the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. We have lots of words in English for people in this kind of position like king or queen, empress or emperor or ruler, sovereign or monarch. And it is from the word monarch that we get the word monarchy. This noun describes the monarch and royal family of a country. An example in a sentence is The monarchy was very popular with the people. The word can also describe a form of government with the monarch at the head. Let's use this definition of the word in an example sentence. Britain has been a monarchy for centuries. When we discuss the Victorian era it is important to note that the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death in January 1901. Let's take a closer look at the highlighted word reign. This word is pronounced the same as rain as in water falling from the sky. As a verb it means to hold royal office, to rule as a monarch. An example sentence is Queen Victoria reigns over the people of her empire. As a noun reign means the period of rule of a monarch. So let's take a look at that in an example sentence. The reign of Queen Victoria was difficult for the people of Ireland. Ok let's move on. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert on the 10th February in 1840. They were known to be very much in love and she was very devoted to him. Together they had 9 children and 34 grandchildren who survived to adulthood. Queen Victoria is known as the Grandmother of Europe. Her children were married into other European royal houses and increased the influence of the British Empire. On screen you can see an old map of the British Empire. As you can see it had territory all around the world. When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 Britain already governed Canada, large areas of India, Australia and New Zealand and small parts of South America and Africa. The verb to govern means to conduct the business of a state, organisation or people with authority. An example in a sentence is the Empress governs the land. Around the world Britain was governing many places. New industries at home demanded huge amounts of raw material, much of which was taken from Britain's colonies around the world. And this happened without the local people seeing much of the riches that accumulated at the centre of the empire. Let's take a closer look at the highlighted word colonies. A colony is a noun which describes a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country. A sentence example is The British colony grew very quickly. Another word associated with colony is coloniser. This noun describes the country or person that sends settlers to a place and establishes political control over it. Our example is The British were successful colonisers by means of subjugation. Let's take a look at this word subjugation. It is a noun that describes the action of bringing someone or something under domination or control. An example sentence is The indigenous people were under the subjugation of the British Empire. It can also be used as a verb, to subjugate, and as a verb it means to bring someone or something under domination or control. A sentence example is The British subjugated many native people to benefit their empire. So we call this process of creating colonies, colonisation. Repeat after me, colonisation. And it wasn't just the British Empire. Many countries have a history of colonisation. The British are notable because their empire was so large. Let's take a look at some of the tactics of colonisation. British culture was forced onto native people, while their original culture was banned, ignored and forgotten. Native economies were also crippled because valuable raw materials and profits went back to Britain. And colonies had to provide soldiers who fought and died for Britain, causing needless death and suffering to men and their families. British missionaries sent with the empire forced Christianity onto native tribes, stopping the practice of other religions. And English language became dominant in many countries, further erasing native cultures and heritage. They also brought new diseases to their distant colonies, killing lots of native people who had no immunity. And the empire seized land and resources from the colonies, leading to the near extinction of many indigenous tribes. And although slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833, the empire had already gained vast wealth and power through its engagement with the trade for 300 years. The damage, pain and misery to African cultures, human lives and families are immeasurable. The consequences of this horrific brutality remain with all of us to this day. There are many examples of brutality against native peoples. Ones you may have heard of are the genocide of the indigenous Australian people between the years of 1788 to 1920. This led to approximately 200,000 people dead. And in my own country of Ireland, there was the famous Irish potato famine. Even though the British were exporting food from Ireland, approximately 1 million people died between the years of 1845 to 1849. The British were able to maintain their grip on power through several means. Their control of trade routes and association with trading companies. They had a world-leading navy which gave them great political power. They were hugely successful in their colonisation. And they controlled many commodities. Let's take a closer look at the word commodity. The word commodity is a noun which describes a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold. An example sentence is, the British Empire's wealth was built on the trade of commodities. Let's take a look at the different types of commodities the British Empire was interested in. Cotton, wool, wheat, sugar, butter, wood, tea, and silk. The empire continued to expand and on the 1st of May 1876, Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India. She famously called India the jewel in the crown. The empire continued to grow and between 1881 and 1914, the British Empire participated in the invasion, occupation, division and colonisation of African territory by a group of European states during a short period known as the Partition of Africa. If you are studying the Victorian era and the British Empire, you may come across the term Pax Britannica. This describes a period of relative peace between the great powers of the world during which the British Empire became the global power and adopted the role of global policeman. And as I mentioned earlier, the British Empire was the largest empire the world has ever seen. It covered 13.01 million square miles of land, that's more than 22% of the Earth's landmass. And at its high point, it ruled 458 million people, which was about 20% of the global population. Let's take a look at Victoria in her later years. The love of her life, Prince Albert died in 1861. Famously she wore black for the rest of her life in mourning for her dead husband and she stayed away from public sight. She died on Tuesday 22nd January 1901 at the age of 81. She had reigned for over 63 years and was the last monarch of the House of Hanover. Her successor was her son, King Edward VII. After building such a big empire, the British realised that maintaining defence of this empire and their homeland would be difficult, especially with the rising military power of neighbouring Germany. They created alliances with other nations and by 1914 became involved in World War I, after which nations such as the USA and Japan became very powerful. Also happening at the same time was the rise of independence movements in India and Ireland, which caused a major reassessment of British imperial policy and ultimately began its disintegration over the following century. And would you believe that's the end of our video? Thank you so much for watching, please slap a like on this video and why not subscribe while you're here. Coming up on screen are some video suggestions just for you and check out my social media, links are in the description below. Have a great day and remember, keep learning English like a pro.