The British Empire is an empire from real-world history. They were major forces in colonialism and imperialism throughout the world, much of which inspired the Jungle Cruise or indirectly impacted its colonial themes.
Description[]
Mission[]
The British Empire is an international empire, ruled from the United Kingdom of Europe. The empire was established by and predominately run by England. The Empire's operations are historically oriented towards the conquering, subjugating and colonizing of other lands and peoples along with establishing capital in trading and furthering their own commercialized industrial goals, frequently harming native ecosystems and societies in the processs. The Empire has also been historically involved in slave labour including the Transatlantic Slave-Trade and penal-colonies such as those on the isle of Rura Penthe.
Divisions[]
- British Colonial Affairs: British Colonial Affairs was an organization based out of Delhi, India which was used to control the nation, presumably until its freedom in 1947.
- Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society: The Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society was an amoral, all-male guild of colonial explorers. During World War I, the society secretly commit treason and supported the German Empire.
Members[]
Assorted[]
- Captain Phillip James Blumburtt: Captain Blumburtt was captain of the Eleventh Poona Rifles in subjugated India by the 1930s. He may have been connected to or pseudonymous with one Colonel Blumbard of British Colonial Affairs.
- Colonel Critchlow Sunchbench: Colonel Critchlow Sunchbench was a British colonel who was also a globe-trotting member and gleemaster of the Adventurers Club during the 1930s.
- Colonel Nedley "Shrunken Ned" Lostmore: Colonel Nedley Lostmore was a British colonel and colonial explorer who traveled to the jungle where under unknown circumstances, he was decapitated (presumably by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest). Rather than dying, Lostmore was transformed into a sentient shrunken-head and was left in the jungle as a capitalist, self-proclaimed, "Witch-Doctor". Lostmore was also a notable member of the Jungle Expedition Skipper Training School which trained colonial, "Skippers".
- Governor General: The Governor General was one or multiple indivisuals who has control over the Wilds of Adventureland during the 1930s.
- Lord Henry Mystic: Lord Henry Mystic was an aristocratic colonial-explorer who was a member of the colonial organizations the Society of Explorers and Adventurers and Adventure Trading Company. He created and ruled over the British colony of Mystic Point in Papua New Guinea where he held a personal collection of artifacts taken from across the globe.
- Sir I.M. Wooly: Sir I.M. Wooly was an amoral knighted member of British Colonial Affairs where he worked as atache to the Consul General.
- Sir James Hobbs-Coddington: Sir James Hobbs-Coddington was a bigoted and treacherous knight who was high-ranking in the Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society. The knight betrayed the empire in 1916 when he knowingly sold the society's artifact the Arrowhead of Lukarina to the German kaiser's son Prince Joachim of Prussia in return for gold donations to the society.
- Sir Morton Stanley (1841-1904): Sir Morton Stanley, born John Rowlands, Bastard was a famous Welsh-American colonist, journalist, and author who was knighted by the British Empire. He was most famous for having tracked down the lost David Livingstone, having lead an expedition to map the Congo, attempted to persuade the Empire into conquering the Congo, and manipulated Indigenous peoples into handing over their land to the evil King Leopold II of Belgium.
History[]
Background[]
Golden Age of Piracy[]
Throughout the 16th-18th centuries, the British Empire was active in colonizing the Caribbean. The empire frequently worked closely with the East-India Trading Company, an international colonial trading company. Around the mid-late 1710s, then British King George II worked with East-India Trading Company chairman Lord Cutler Beckett to manipulate the Empire and Company into taking control of all the oceans while eradicating those who sought freedom from them as pirates in the process.
To go about this plan, Beckett sought after the heart of the ocean god Davy Jones which he used to control Jones and force him into becoming a pirate-hunter. George II also gave Beckett control of the Caribbean under martial-law where the lord had countless criminals and civilians executed with denied rights to legal council or right to a jury. This was arranged so that allies of their enemies in the Brethren Court would sing the supernatural song, "Hoist the Colours", resulting in the Brethren Court being signalled to assemble. With the Brethren Court assembled, Beckett could track them down and take their artifacts the Nine Pieces of Eight which were used to bind the sea-goddess Calypso, the Empire's only percieved threat on the side of the pirates.
Lord Cutler Beckett's plans did not work due to being outwitted by the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow and brethren pirate king Captain Elizabeth Swann along with Jones having manipulated his way out of their servitude. Calypso was freed in a ritual held by the Brethren Court which resulted in a maelstrom where the Brethren Court and East-India Trading Company fought, amidst the battle resulting in Swann's husband William Turner to become the new captain of Jones' ship The Flying Dutchman. Shortly after, Lord Cutler Beckett's ship The Endeavor was destroyed with cannonfire and Beckett aboard by the pirates of the Caribbean.
In 1730, King George arranged for a search for the legendary Fountain of Youth in the Caribbean. The British captain in charge of this expedition was Captain Jack Sparrow's long-time rival Captain Hector Barbossa, now a privateer in the king's navy. The British competed with Sparrow aboard the vessel The Queen Anne's Revenge under the pirate Blackbeard. Ultimately, the fountain was destroyed out of piousness by the Spanish Empire, Barbossa killed Blackbeard and later left the empire.
Victorian colonialism[]
In 1757, the Empire's allies in the East India Trading Company effectively conquered India to use as a trading outpost. In 1858, the trading company transferred its dominion over to the British who claimed India as part of their empire. Then ruler Queen Victoria declared herself the empress of India. Amongst the empire's actions in India were commiting genocide of non-Christian religions such as the Thuggee. A colonial presence established in India via the organization British Colonial Affairs.
In 1889, one Lord Henry Mystic took over a swathe of Papua New Guinea to turn into the British colony of Mystic Point. Mystic's nephews James and Edward Mystic assisted him in constructing his estate and personal museum of, "Mystic Manor" which would house a collection of 7,000 artifacts taken by Mystic from across the world. Mystic travelled the world in search of these artifacts alongside his pet monkey, "Albert" with the two having a history of purchasing, excavating, and grave-robbing various items for their collection.
By the Victorian era, the British Empire had also established itself within the East-African port of Harambe. It is likely that the British had an older influence in Harambe, given how the port was first colonized in the year 1420. Harambe was exploited for ivory trading, big-game hunting, metal trading while also being travelled to for white-safaris and colonial explorers.
A region similarly conquered and colonized by the British was the asian kingdom of Anandapur which they primarily exploited for tea.
World War I[]
Colonialism in Adventureland[]
The British Empire was a major force in the colonization of, "Adventureland", a mystical domain that was composed of various jungles from across the world. Adventureland already consisted of regions of India, the Caribbean and the Congo Basin which were colonized and allied with the British, including inhabitants of a Congo treehouse which flew Union Jacks. Around 1891, English colonial-explorer Dr. Albert Falls mapped the Rivers of Adventure composing Adventureland and would be a major player in colonizing the region.
From Adventureland and the British colonial Jungle Navigation Company founded by Falls in 1911, the Empire was expanded to regions such as the Amazon rainforest. A, "Governor General" was likewise referenced as being active in both the Indian and Amazonian regions of Adventureland by 1938. Another notable British colonist in the region was one Colonel Nedley Lostmore who under unknown circumstances was decapitated, turned into a sentient shrunken-head, and left in the jungles of Adventureland as a self-proclaimed, "Witch doctor" called, "Shrunken Ned". The British were also apparent enemies with Adventureland's Indigenous Umbala tribe of North Africa whom they deemed, "Headhunters" and frequently intruded on the territory of while being attacked by the tribe in defence.
In 1935, the Jungle Navigation Company, British Colonial Affairs and archaeologist Indiana Jones uncovered the Temple of the Forbidden Eye in the Lost Delta of India and Adventureland. British Colonial Affairs forced Jones and his affiliate Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir to conduct tours of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye for profit. British Colonial Affairs was largely negligent as the tous caused harm, damage to the excavations, and the disappearance of a group of tourists which sparked global outrage.
On the July 6 of 1936, Indy travelled into the temple to seek out the missing tourists and Mara's power-source, "The Jewel of Power". A week later, Jones was deemed missing after failing to return from the temple's inner sanctums. After contacting their archaeological affiliate Marcus Brody, Sallah was pressured into continuing the tours for profit and with hopes that one of the tours might find the missing Doctor Jones. One of these tours ran afoul of Mara and was saved by Jones before escaping together albeit with harm occurring to the temple. The archaeological expedition was ended by the July of that year.
The British Empire's presence in Adventureland would continue to at-least the winter of 1938. The Empire's further history in the realm is unknown.
World War II[]
Harambe Revolution[]
In 1961, the people of Harambe rebelled against the British Empire and gained freedom. The city would be ruled by the Harambe Town Council and also made work to preserve nature via founding the Harambe Wildlife Reserve.
Jungle Cruise appearances[]
Attractions[]
Bengal Barbecue[]
Shrunken Ned was a British colonial and has a Union Jack in his booth.
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye[]
Indiana Jones excavated the Temple of the Forbidden Eye with assistance from British Colonial Affairs.
Jungle Cruise[]
Union Jacks are flown over the bases of the Jungle Navigation Company, establishing the company as British colonists. Real-world British Empire affiliates Kenneth Annakin and Sir Morton Stanley are both referenced in Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise. There is a crate in the boathouse of the Lost Delta addressed from Indiana Jones to British Colonial Affairs and Nigel Greenwater mentions Marcus Brody giving a lecture to the Royal Anthropological Society. Greenwater also mentions a Prince Albert School, named for Albert, Prince Consort (1819-1861) who was a historic prince-consort of the British Empire. There are also various characters resembling British colonists throughout the attraction.
Kilimanjaro Safaris[]
The Harambe Wildlife Reserve is made from the former outpost of the Smythe-Wallis British East Africa Livestock Ltd..
Tusker House[]
This restaurant is themed to having been a British colonial adventurer's house in the East-African port of Harambe. It is known that Harambe was subjugated by the British Empire.
Film[]
Indiana Jones[]
British military officer Art Weber is a character in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The main-antagonist Mola Ram is motivated to summon Kali Ma and cast the British out of India due to their genocide and land-theft.
Jungle Cruise[]
Lily and MacGregor Houghton request assistance from the Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society in their search for the Tree of Life. When they denied this request, Lily robbed them of the stolen arrowhead needed for their expedition. Following the adventure, the society attempts to recruit the siblings only to be turned down for their pompousness and colonial crimes.
Other connections[]
Expedition Everest[]
The British Empire previously conquered and subjugated the kingdom of Anandapur.
Pirates of the Caribbean[]
The British Empire are recurring antagonists in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Mystic Manor[]
The aristocratic colonizer Lord Henry Mystic is a British lord who runs the colony of Mystic Point in Papua New Guinea.
Tarzan's Treehouse[]
Union Jack flags are hung from Tarzan's treehouse, likely a result of Jane Porter and her father's presence.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea[]
One of the defining characteristics of Captain Nemo is his utter hatred for colonialism and imperialism with the British throne in particular being referred to as, "The Hated Nation" and he uses the Nautilus to sink British ships. In the book, this was because he was an Indian prince whose family were killed by the British while in the film it is because the British enslaved him in the penal-colony of Rura Penthe.
Trivia[]
- Given the timeline of the Jungle Cruise attractions, certain events can be attributed to different leaders.
- King George V was king during the events of the Jungle Cruise film and The African Queen.
- King Edward VIII was king during the events of Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye and a past incarnation of Disneyland's Jungle Cruise.
- King George VI is king during the Jungle Cruise and Skipper Canteen's 1938 setting.
- The revolution of Harambe and virtually every part of Kilimanjaro Safaris' history following said revolution would occur under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
- In the Jungle Cruise, British imperialism and colonialism is romanticized and glamorized while in Kilimanjaro Safaris it is criticized and villified.