The Commonwealth

THE COMMONWEALTH

Didac:

-Good morning everybody. Thank you for your attention. Well, al first of all, I’d like to tell you that if you have any question about de presentation, you can ask at the end of it.

Our group’s composed by Laura, Aina, and me, Dídac.

We will talk about the Commonwealth. You will think ‘’And what’s the Commonwealth?’’, okay, wait for it. I’m going to explain it and I’m going to talk about the Head of the Commonwealth. Laura is going to talk about ‘’why’’ it was created and the Commonwealth games. Aina is going to tell you what countries are part of it and the history of the Commonwealth.

Well, to begin with, the Commonwealth is a voluntary association of different countries around the world independent between them and the objective of this union is to make a better political, social and economic situation in these countries. Great Britain was the country which began this association.

Aina:

-With a funny video I’m going to explain all the countries that take part in the history of the Commonwealth and a little bit of history. Here it is, the world, and right there is England, a country with a big idea: to take over every where else and become very powerful. In 1583 Humphrey Gilbert landed over here and found a new land called Newfoundland. England conquered it so the empire began. Gilbert tried to return but he died on the way home, so it was not a brilliant trip. But, England tried again. They went across the Atlantic and this time conquered Canada, the Caribbean, and the most important, the east coast of America. Which means we finally have the British Empire and everything was going awfully well. Americans fought to be independent, and they won; it was a disaster. So England had to go and try luck somewhere else. Fortunately, Captain Hook found Australia, so England decided to conquer it -that would be the prison of the Empire- and also conquer a bit of Asia. There was a British business in Asia called the East Indian Company which traded with coffee and biscuits. Everybody loved it very much and the company became more and more powerful. Britain won the Napoleonic war against the French Empire and the added more countries. Wait a minute, it seems that Indian people didn’t like being wrapped by the Tea Company. They decided to rebel, but the British army stopped the rebellion and Queen Victoria took over the company as Indian Emperors. Look over here, this is south Africa. British had a couple of wars there, and also in some more countries along the way. The Africans of course were defeated by the British, so Britain won the war, and what happened? Added more countries. Look at the map and what the British Empire have. But they lost Australia, Canada, and India, recognized as independent countries out of the Empire. The Second World War happened. Britain won, but it completely broke poor, and an empire doesn’t work without money. So, people that don’t want to be there, just go out, like Indians. And then Ireland became independent; also Sudan, South Africa, Malta, Singapore, and Fiji, and the Empire lost the importance that had had.

Laura:

-The Commonwealth, as Didac said, is a voluntary association of independent countries but, why do they want to be together in an association? Easy, they have similar ideas to help the world population.

The Commonwealth has a lot of purposes, but they want to work in this one that you can see in the slide. It promotes the international peace and security. It supports Democracy. And it’s against racial discrimination, so it defends equal rights. But it’s main purpose is to look after the economical and social development.

Didac:

-The Head of the Commonwealth, as you can imagine, is the Queen of Great Britain, this is because Great Britain created the Commonwealth, so it’s logical that the British Queen is also the Commonwealth’s.

Every year she has some meetings with the leaders of the other countries to make a better cooperation between them.

Laura:

-The Commonwealth Games are a multi-sports event, which like the Olympic Games, are held every 4 years. In 2010 the games were in Delhi, India. The next ones are going to be in Glasgow, in 2014. Two years later than the Olympic Games London 2012. They are really similar, but in the Commonwealth Games Orly the countries which are inside it can take part. But the United Kingdom does not participate as 1 country, they participate as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In the games you can find some specific Sports typical of these countries like bowls, netball or rugby sevens.

All the people who live in the Commonwealth countries must drive on the right. Canada’s the only country which is in the Commonwealth where people drive on the left.

Didac:

-To finish, here you have some addresses where you can find more information, if you like to know more about the Commonwealth.

If you have any questions, we will answer them now.

Thank you for you attention.

Aina B, Laura R, Dídac C.

1st BAT.