A history of the many different British Empires ¿ the Old Colonial System (1600-1776), the Empire of Free Trade (1776-1870), the New Imperialism (1870-1945), Decolonisation (1945-1990) and the era of humanitarian intervention (1990-2020). Britain¿s Empires aims to tell the story of the colonial past as one marked by change and reinvention.