224. Empire in Your Garden

**Unlock the entire First British Indians series ad-free by joining the Empire Club at empirepoduk.com** During the rise of Hitler, how did a brown-skinned Indian princess survive living in Germany? Who was Catherine Duleep Singh, the ‘Indian Schindler’ who rescued Jewish familie ...  Show more

**Unlock the entire First British Indians series ad-free by joining the Empire Club at empirepoduk.com** Sophia Duleep Singh: heiress to the Sikh Empire, ward of Queen Victoria, suffragette and revolutionary. How did this Indian princess end up fighting alongside Emmeline Pankhur ...  Show more

People love to fill their homes with beautiful plants, but this is not a new phenomenon. The trade in wild plants and seeds has a complex history that stretches back into the past and across the world. Ahead of the Gardeners’ World Autumn Plant Fair at Audley End, Amy Matthews is ...  Show more

Over 400 years ago, a bold commercial venture was established to allow an ambitious group of English merchants to send ships halfway around the world in search of spices, skills, and profit. It was known as The East India Company. Over the next 250 years, the Company grew into on ...  Show more

At the end of the 17th century, a small clan - the Akan - in West Africa began growing into what would later become the powerful Ashanti Empire.  The state grew rapidly in both wealth and land until it spanned most of modern day Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Togo. 

Controversies surrounding the history of the British empire have become particularly intense in recent years, with academics, politicians and commentators all offering differing views about how we should understand the nation's imperial past. A new book, The Truth about Empire, d ...  Show more