British council

The British Council (Consejo Británico in Spanish) is a public cultural institute in the United Kingdom whose mission is to disseminate knowledge of the English language and its culture through training and other educational activities. In addition, this public entity fulfills an important function to improve the external relations of the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are in London.

History

It was created under the name British Committee for Relations with Other Countries in 1934, as a voluntary organization to promote British culture, education, science and technology. The following year, the name of Committee was changed to Council. In 1936, it was shortened to its current name. Its first offices were established in Egypt, Portugal, Romania and Poland, in 1938. Its office in Spain was opened in 1940.^{[citation required]}

Offices

• Brazil (1940 to date)
• Chile (1940 to date)
• Colombia (1939 to date)
• Spain (1940 to date)
• Venezuela (1940-1974, reopened in 1975)
• Italy (1941 to date)
• Bolivia (1941-1948, reopened in 1997)
• Argentina (1942-1982, reopened in 1991)
• Uruguay (1942-1974, reopened in 2013)
• Ecuador (1942-1948, reopened in 1978, closed again in 2001)
• Jamaica (1942-1967, reopened in 1989)
• Guatemala (1943-1947)
• Mexico (1943 to date)
• Trinidad and Tobago (1943-1967, reopened as the Caribbean Regional Office in 1989)
• Barbados (1944-1967)
• Guyana (1944-1974)
• Peru (1946 to 2006, reopened in 2016)
• Paraguay (1946-1948)
• Belize (1955-1974)
• Canada (1959 to date)
• Cuba (1969-1973, reopened in 2000)
• United States (1973)
• Costa Rica (1978-1979)

British Council in Madrid

Awards

The British Council is equivalent to the Spanish Cervantes Institute, the German Goethe-Institut, the Italian Dante Alighieri Society, the French Alliance and the Portuguese Camões Institute. All of them work to disseminate their respective cultures throughout the world, thus promoting knowledge of some of the main European languages, a fact for which they were jointly awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities on June 1, 2005..