r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Feb 21 '17

What do you know about... the UK?

This is the sixth part of our ongoing weekly series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The UK is the second most populous state in the EU. Famous for once being the worlds leading power, reigning over a large empire, it has recently taken the decision to exit the EU.

So, what do you know about the UK?

106 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17 edited Mar 06 '18

[deleted]

7

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

Of course, improvements could always be made, and at a certain point some countries just want to be independent. We just happened to be the first.

Speaking relative to others, Britain was the best colonizer. They built infrastructure, had the best political influence, and the fairest system. USA wouldn't have been as strong and prosperous as it was if it wasn't for the British way of colonizing and managing.

And I cannot in good faith say they were awful or that they sucked.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

What a load of nonsense. The only colonies in which infrastructure was barely ever built was in Africa, as far as I know. To complain that Spain didn't build infrastructure in the Americas is nonsense. You can see Spanish architecture widely in California for instance.
Not to mention we brought the first European cattle and horses to the Americas. Which allowed cities to prosper.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '17

In India too, but they only built it so they could transport tea and other stuff to the ports.