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The Victorian Age
The Victorian Age
Queen Victoria
• Victoria became queen at the age of eighteen in 1837.
• The world’s first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, was inaugurated
in London in 1863
• The Independent Labour Party was founded in 1892, preparing the way for
the Modern British Labour Party (1900).
8. The Irish Potato Famine
1845 – 1847 a terrible famine hit Ireland
Causes
• Rise in population in 1845.
• Dependence on potato crops.
• Destruction of crops because of bad weather
and unknown plant disease.
• In the colonies of settlement, immigrants from Britain claimed the land and
pushed natives out.
• Canada obtained “dominion” (self-government) in 1867, Australia and New Zealand in 1907
• The Scramble for Africa is the European race to colonise the African
continent
• In 1875 Britain took control of the Suez Canal and extended its rule on the continent.
9. Foreign policy
In the mid-19th century England was involved in a series of wars to
protect its expansion of trade.
• The British government took rule over the East India Company
• Britain won the Boer War and gained supremacy over the independent South African
Republic and the Orange Free State.
10. The Victorian Compromise
• The Victorians were great moralisers they supported personal
duty, hard work, decorum, respectability, chastity.
Social Darwinism
• Applied the principles of natural selection to society
• Life seen as a struggle for existence, the poor and the oppressed
did not deserve compassion
Herbert Spencer,
• Theory used to justify capitalism and white supremacy. (1820-1903), philosopher