Episode Description
This episode is the first of two taken from a CIHE event held in March 2025 with renowned historians Professor Nigel Biggar, recently appointed to the British House of Lords and author of the 2023 book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, and Professor Margaret MacMillan, Companion of the Order of Canada, and author of The Uses and Abuses of History, among many other books.
In the first of two parts, Lord Biggar presents key arguments from his book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, challenging one-sided narratives that portray the British Empire as purely destructive. He outlines both the harms and the contributions of empires — including the abolition of slavery, legal institutions, and protection for minority groups — and urges a more balanced, evidence-based view of history.