Role Of British Empire
Looking back at history, the answer begins with the British Empire. The largest Empire in the world. The year was 1922 when this Empire was at its peak. It was occupying a large chunk of the world, larger than ever before. Of all the land on Earth, 25% of the area was under the control of the British Empire at this time.
If you start at one corner New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the UAE, many African countries, then comes the UK and till Canada. All of these were under British Empire’s control. There was a saying that ‘The Sun never sets over the British Empire.’ And you can see why this was true. By the time Australia had sunset, it would’ve been morning in India.
And by the time India had the sunset, Canada’s morning would’ve begun. In total, a population of 450 million people were under this British Empire. The British Empire was colonising so many countries. And the people of the colonies, if they wanted to have a good career, if they wanted good jobs, then they had to learn the English language. That’s why in the colonised countries, English was considered the ‘Language of the Elite.’ If you were educated and had a good job, then, of course, you’d know English.
