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This paper seeks to provide historical context for discussions of language planning in postcolonial societies by focusing on policies which have influenced language in three former British colonies. If we measure between the convenient markers of John Cabot's Newfoundland expedition of 1497 and the 1997 return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty, the British Empire spanned 500 years, and at its greatest extent in the 1920s covered a fifth of the world's land surface. Together with the economic and military emergence of the United States in the 20th century, British colonialism3 is widely regarded as the main reason for the global role played by English today. It is also an indispensable element of debates about imperialism in general and linguistic imperialism in particular.
