Imperialism and Colonialism

In the ancient world, conquest had limited effects on language policy. With the spread of colonialism, imperial languages were spread, and plantation slavery produced pidgins and creoles. Language policy in Portuguese, French, Spanish and other empires required any schooling to be in the metropolitan language; although there was some use of local languages in British colonies, secondary and further education required English. Inertia and elite closure (the status of an educated elite) led many nations to continue colonial language policies after independence.