Summary of Niall Ferguson's Empire

Everest Media,

Everest Media LLC

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The British Empire began with the theft of Spanish gold by Henry Morgan in 1663. It was not conceived by self-conscious imperialists, but by thieves who were trying to steal the proceeds of someone else’s Empire. #2 The British Empire was acquired by imitation. The English were late starters in the European race for empire, and they only acquired Jamaica in 1655. They had dreamt of finding an El Dorado of their own, in the hope that England could become rich on American metals. #3 The English sense of empire envy grew after the Reformation, when proponents began to argue that England had a religious duty to build a Protestant empire to match the Popish empires of the Spanish and Portuguese. The English crown was always limited by the country’s wealthy aristocracy and Parliament. #4 The first recorded voyage to find El Dorado was in 1480, when a shipload of optimists set sail from Bristol to look for the island of Brasylle in the west part of Ireland. The success of the endeavor is not recorded, but it seems doubtful.