HIST 445 - Looting and the British Empire

I found a very interesting source in my research in the form of an article from 2003 titled Looting and Empire.  It identifies the root of our english word loot from the Hindi word lut, which means "valuables pillaged in a time of war". (Mereweather, 87) This means that our English use of the word comes from a British Imperial context.
Another entertaining story that comes from this article refers to Captain Hart Dunne of the Wiltshire Regiment, who after taking the emperor's summer Palace in Yuanmingyuan, China and subsequent areas looted a little gift for Queen Victoria.  He brought back with him a Pekinese dog, which he had named "Lootie".(Mereweather, 88)

"Lootie", Queen Victoria's Pekinese

Source: bestinshowdaily.com

Also, while looking for images for this blog post, I came across a great blog titled Looting Matters, which is a blog dedicated to the discussion of the archeological ethics surrounding the collection of antiquities.  This is a source I intend on delving into more in the future.

Source: lootingmatters.blogspot.com

Bibliographical Sources

lootingmatters.blogspot.com


Merewether, Charles. “Looting and Empire.” Grand Street (Autumn 2003): 82-94.