I’ve noticed what I’d consider a substantial amount of hatred towards the British empire recently, and I’m not really sure why
The colonies we had were far better treated than most colonies of the era, or ever to be honest.
Almost every country has had empires that have treated their subjects terribly. But I’ve never seen anyone talking about the Roman, Mongolian, Persian, or Aztec empires with anything but being impressed. No one shits on the French, dutch or Spanish (who were notorisly cruel to their colonies).
The British empire was a huge part of ending the trans-atlanric slave trade. One of the first European countries to condemn it.
The British museum was set up to preserve artifacts which would have been looted or destroyed, not to mention it’s completely free to enter. Almost everything in there would have been lost (although I’ll admit the Greek stuff seems like it was probably not given)
Yet it seems we’re despised for by many people online, is it a fad?
legally purchased from whom?
some how I doubt the people that were looted see it as “legally”…
also, did I not recognize that it is not unique to the British Empire?
oh and the Mona Lisa was probably finished in France, and was purchased by the french crown after DaVinci’s death… and has remained in France more or less since. (for a time it was on Napolean’s bedroom wall; after the french revolution it moved to the Louvre where it remained.
this is compared to the Elgin collection, which were removed by Lord Elgin under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire… or the collection of human remains so vast that they don’t actually know how many they have.