An Islander's Progress; being a song concerned with empire and imperialism, and their consequences, and reincarnation.

". . . the British empire was one of the major European powers leading the largest forced migration of any people group in history: the transatlantic slave trade."
― Teni Gogo; postgraduate student at the University of Oxford researching the British empire's role in the trade of enslaved people

“… for nearly all imperialists, the British race was an exclusively white one. The non-white peoples of the empire were its subjects . . . (in)capable of controlling their own destinies.”
― Abhijit Naskar; Neuroscientist, author: Making Britain Civilized: How to Gain Readmission to The Human Race

“Words such as 'gulag' and 'holocausts' and crass comparisons with the murderous despotisms of the 20th century are deployed to portray the British empire as a callous, depraved institution . . . An empire that lasted 300 years is judged solely on the misconduct or errors of a handful of its servants . . .”
― Lawrence James; British historian: The Lie of the Evil Empire, The Times

". . . false accounts of the role Britain played regarding colonisation not only misleads students but supplies them with a false sense of pride. This filter on reality may then be applied to view topics concerning race, discrimination and equality in their adulthood . . . (as a result) . . . racism is embedded in Britain’s history and society."
― Martin Greenwood: The Impact of the Past: How British Colonialism Affects the Modern World: May 4, 2021

Vocabulary:
Sepoys: The term sepoy came into common use in the forces of the British East India Company in the eighteenth century. It referred to all native soldiers in the service of the British East India Company's army. Sepoys played a crucial role in securing the subcontinent for the company. For a number of reasons, many sepoys were involved in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule. It's fair to say both sides committed atrocities during the Rebellion. It was repressed by the British and quite a few sepoys were executed as described in the song.

Mau-Mau: militant African nationalist movement that originated in the 1950s among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. The Mau Mau advocated violent resistance to British domination in Kenya. The British suppressed their rebellion by means of war with the Mau-Mau fighters and the use of detention camps for large swathes of the population.