Historiography of the British Empire the first British Empire" (2008); Piers Brendon, "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781–1997" (2008), and Phillip J. Smith, "The Rise And Fall Of The British Empire: Mercantilism, Diplomacy and the Colonies" (2015). There were also large-scale popular histories, such as those by Winston Churchill, "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" (4 vol. 1956–58) and Arthur Bryant, "The History of Britain and the British Peoples" (3 vols. 1984–90). Obviously from their titles a number of writers have been inspired by the famous "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (6 vols 1776–1781) by Edward
Kra–Dai-speaking peoples Kra–Dai-speaking peoples The Kra–Dai-speaking peoples refer collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to Northeast India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand and parts of Vietnam, which speak languages in the Kra–Dai language family and share some similar traditions. There are five established branches of the Kra–Dai languages, which may not correspond to ethnicity: The Lakkia people of Guangxi Autonomous Region of China ("Tai Lakka" in neighboring portions of Vietnam) are ethnically of Yao, but speak a Kra–Dai language called "Lakkia". These Yao were likely in an area dominated by Tai speakers