The British Empire didn’t just have a fleet that projected its hegemonic will across the planet; it possessed financial networks to consolidate global economic power, and system administrators to ensure the endless efficient flow of resources from distant lands back to London and into the pockets of England’s monied elite. It was a well-oiled machine, refined by centuries of experience.While every schoolchild learns about the British Empire, it seems a common modern-day political malady for adults to believe that reality is organized as their history books were in school — in neat, well-defined chapters. This leads to the common misconception that the age of imperialism is somehow a closed chapter in human history. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Imperialism did not go extinct. It simply evolved. →