Was the British Empire a good or a bad thing? P1

Was the British Empire a good or a bad thing? This question is still debated today and can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. On the positive side, the Empire brought many changes in the countries within it, roads were built, schools and hospitals introduced as well as railways. Trade was a positive thing as the Empire opened up new ways of cultivating crops; tea plants were brought from China to India because it was closer than China, and therefore easier to transport tea to Britain. Plantations still exist in India and to this day they supply Britain with its tea. Raw materials were shipped to Britain from all over the Empire to be turned into goods that could be sold. On the downside, people living in countries taken into the Empire often lost lands and suffered discrimination and prejudice. Countries in the Empire were also exploited for their raw materials. Slavery was another negative because despite the enormous profits made, the suffering of the slaves was terrible. But on a positive note, it was the British themselves who abolished slavery in the eighteen hundreds. There were other empires of course, France, Portugal and Germany had their own, so the British Empire was not the only one.