"Stripped of its colonial power and property, it is hard to believe now that the British Empire could have wielded such authority. Yet, a second look – as PETER Mc MANUS had at one of Britain's stately homes – reveals evidence of those days of plenty, when control and plunder were the order of the day.
IT is more than 200 years since Tipu Sultan's mysterious death defending his fort at Shrirangapattana, near Mysore in India, but his legend, both in India and the West, is still going strong. His reputation in the annals of British history puts him in the same class as Ghenghis Khan, Attila the Hun and the Emperor Napoleon. He was a formidable and implacable enemy. The siege of Shrirangapattana was the final act in the Fourth Mysore War. As a mark of respect the British bestowed a full state funeral to their fallen tormentor. His body was laid next to that of his father, Hyder Ali, in the Gumbaz he himself had built some 15 years earlier. The funeral was notable for the violent thunderstorm that accompanied it. A bolt of lightning, as if in divine retribution, killed two of the British officers present, thus enhancing the legend.
Tourism, by definition, is a reactionary undertaking, for there is not much chance of making history if you are busy selling it. Much of Britain is spattered with remnants of better times, days of heraldry, empire, pomp and circumstance. These days, there are not many who have not joined the tourism bandwagon, if you have something worth seeing then charge admission. The tourism industry has gone into overdrive so that, in Britain at least, it would appear that history does have a future after all. This is the "role" model that other countries steeped in history, such as India, would do well to follow…."
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