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The Entire History of the British Empire
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- if you were to look at Britain on a map today you'd be forgiven for thinking that its borders only Encompass those of the British Isles
- but if you look at the world as a whole you will find that there are actually 14 overseas territories where the British government still holds power
- from Gibraltar at the entrance of the Mediterranean to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic these are the last remaining possessions of Britain's once
- Mighty Empire at the height of its territorial control a little over 100 years ago the British Empire covered one quarter of the
- globe's land mass and ruled almost a third of the world's population it was the Empire on which the Sun never set
- but how did such a small island nation become the largest and most powerful Empire the world has ever seen this is the history of the British
- Empire the foundations of the British Empire were laid long before the state of
- Britain even formally existed the dominant power in the British Isles throughout much of its history has been the kingdom of England with a
- well-developed economy and military force to match England during the medieval and early modern periods came to rule over the smaller independent
- Kingdoms in Wales and parts of Ireland although to the north the kingdom of Scotland remained a fiercely proud and independent nation who had bitterly and
- successfully resisted frequent invasions from its powerful Southern neighbor by the early 17th century Elizabeth the First of England had issued several
- trading and exploration commissions to English adventurers with the intention of exploring and colonizing new territories yet to be claimed by other
- European powers the likes of Sir Francis Drake and Sir Martin frobisher claimed many lands in the name of England but these were not
- followed up with settlements the first English colony established in North America at Roanoke Island in 1585 failed dramatically with the colonists
- mysteriously disappearing never to be seen or heard from again Elizabeth also granted several Royal Charters to joint stock companies who
- were established specifically for the purpose of developing overseas trade companies such as the Levant company founded in 1592 and the East India
- company founded in 1600 were granted monopolies on all English trade to and from these areas when Elizabeth the first died in 1603
- the Throne of England passed to James VI of Scotland upon his Ascension to the throne James became the king of both Scotland and
- England through the union of the crowns however the two kingdoms remained distinct and were ruled separately as King James looked to build further on
- the attempts of his predecessor to establish overseas colonies that were to be ruled and governed under one of the three types of colony structures
- a Crown Colony was directly ruled by the Monarch themselves but would typically be administered by a royally appointed governor and supported by a local
- Council a charter colony was similar to a Crown Colony but was ruled under a corporate charter rather than a governor these
- Charter colonies often granted colonists significantly more political Liberty compared to other colonies a proprietary colony was governed by an
- individual who was typically the head of a joint stock company these colonies were distinct from Crown colonies in that they were commercial Enterprises
- with responsibilities to shareholders proprietary Governors typically did not live in the colony and so appointed local Governors and councils to rule in
- their absence Over time however these proprietary colonies became increasingly difficult to manage and transitioned to Crown
- colonies instead an important yet often overlooked development in England's overseas expansion is that of the plantation of
- Ulster which saw Protestant settlers from Scotland and England transported to parts of the north of Ireland during the early years of King James's Reign this
- model of organized colonization would form the blueprint for future English Colonial expansion with many of the leaders of the Ulster Plantation later
- becoming involved in establishing other colonies in the New World throughout the 1600s the kingdom of England expanded its overseas colonies
- in North America and the Caribbean some were entirely new Ventures whereas others were annexed from rival foreign powers like New York which was seized
- from the Dutch in 1665. [Music] England also significantly developed its trading networks in Africa and the East
- Indies with the building of factories and fortified trading posts a critical component to this Mercantile success was the creation of the royal
- African company in 1660. who over the subsequent decades would become the leading participant in the brutal yet highly lucrative transatlantic slave
- trade during this period Scotland also began to establish overseas colonies of its own having looked on somewhat enviously
- at the successful Endeavors of the English unfortunately almost all these attempts ended in Failure with colonies in Nova
- Scotia Cape Breton and Carolina barely lasting a few years the most abject failure of Scotland's colonization attempts however came in
- 1698 with the Darion scheme this aims to establish a colony controlling the Overland trade route of the Isthmus of Panama between the Atlantic and Pacific
- Oceans to finance the Expedition an immense amount of capital was raised from the public which accounted for almost a
- fifth of the wealth in Scotland at that time when the ships arrived at the coast of Darien they named The Colony Caledonia
- and set about constructing a settlement called new Edinburgh the attempts of the colonists however were to ultimately prove futile as a
- settlement quickly succumbs to food shortages tropical disease and attacks from nearby Spanish forces despite a resupply in 1699 the
- settlement was abandoned and the survivors who totaled just a few hundred of the original two and a half thousand returns to Scotland in disgrace due to
- the total disaster the Darion scheme and the loss of public money that had been invested into it Scotland was plunged into a financial crisis many then
- considered that their best and only chance of being part of a major power would be to share in the benefits of England's Colonial Enterprise
- by the turn of the 18th century England and Scotland remained independent kingdoms although the Glorious Revolution of 1688 had dramatically
- shifted the political landscape within the British Isles the Catholic James II was deposed and replaced with his protestant's daughter Mary and her Dutch
- husband William who became King William III of England and Scotland legislation was passed in England so that only Protestants could inherit the
- throne but this law did not apply in Scotland and so under the reign of Queen Anne in the early 1700s efforts were made to unite the parliaments of both
- Nations and secure a Protestant line of succession for the monarchy when the acts of Union were passed in 1707 England and Scotland were then
- united into one Kingdom under the name of Great Britain over the following decades Britain became involved in several wars with other European powers
- which were fought not only on the continent but also wherever their overseas Colonial interests lay after the war of the Spanish succession
- concluded in 1714 with a victory for Britain and her allies peace negotiations granted territorial concessions from the defeated French and
- Spanish with Newfoundland and Acadia in North America passing into British control as well as the Strategic Mediterranean islands of Gibraltar and
- Menorca meanwhile the British East India Company which was not technically part of the Empire but nevertheless still pursued
- its Colonial interests was engaged in military operations against its French counterpart across the subcontinent the aftermath of the battle of classy in
- 1757 wrestled control of Bengal away from the local nawab ruler and his French allies leaving the British to become the leading military and
- political power in the region this acted as a springboard for the British East India Company to expand its territory further in later years either
- assuming direct rule themselves or via local rulers who were threatened with force from the company's private armies further conflicts of the 18th century
- namely the war of the Austrian succession and the Seven Years War in particular gifted Britain even further territorial concessions at the expense
- of her rivals in North America the British captured Quebec in 1759
- effectively ended French Colonial efforts on the continent with the annexation of New France by 1760. Florida passed into British control from
- Spain leaving virtually the entire Eastern Seaboard of North America in British hands the Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years War in 1763 also
- ceded the Caribbean islands of Dominica Granada Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Tobago to Britain which was now the most dominant Colonial and
- Maritime power of the age throughout its history the British Empire would be powered by two components that went hand in hand with
- one another firstly Mastery of the high seas through Naval Supremacy and secondly indomitable Mercantile trade that was free from
- foreign Russian this exponential increase in trade gained immense wealth for Britain through the taxation of goods that
- passed through its ports however the issue of Taxation itself would soon lead to Revolution and the first major Colonial loss for the empire
- although Britain considered its colonies to be Sovereign territory it did not afford them the same rights and privileges which were enjoyed on the
- British mainland throughout the 1760s and 1770s relations between Britain and its 13 colonies in America became increasingly strained due
- to parliaments taxing the colonies without their consent or representation many within the 13 colonies considered this a breach of their rights as
- Englishmen and formally renounced the authority of parliament in 1775 resulting in the outbreak of revolution Britain sent troops to quell the
- rebelling colonists but in the following year of 1776 the leading political figures of the colonies assembled to form the Second Continental Congress and
- declared their independence from Britain after a protracted war of eight years Britain's military forces in the colonies were finally defeated and the
- United States of America was recognized as an independent nation the loss of America marked a sea change for the British Empire
- after this British colonial efforts shifted towards Asia the Pacific and Africa where explorers had chartered many new lands yet to be colonized by
- Europeans one such explorer was Captain James Cook who mapped and claimed much of the Pacific Ocean including New Zealand and
- the eastern coast of Australia in the name of Britain although cook was killed on the island of Hawaii during his third voyage the
- discoveries he made during the 1770s would be instrumental to the further expansion of the empire Australia was to serve as a penal
- settlement for British convicts who would otherwise have been transported to the 13 colonies before they were lost the first shipment of convicts arrived
- in the colony of New South Wales in 1788 and this practice of sentencing criminals to Transportation continued into the middle of the 19th century
- Britain also expanded its Colonial interests into the North Pacific explorers such as George Vancouver and Alexander McKenzie surveyed the western
- coast of North America in the 1790s which subsequently opened up the territory to British Mercantile interests particularly that of the fur
- trade inroads were also made into the vast interior of the Rocky Mountains which expanded British North America westwards
- war with France in 1803 would once again challenge Britain's position as the dominant colonial power of the age with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in the
- aftermath of the French Revolution to protect itself and its colonies from Invasion Britain invested large sums of capital and resources into the war
- effort with the Royal Navy blockading French ports and attacking French overseas possessions a crucial victory was won at the Battle
- of Trafalgar in 1805 against the combined franco-spanish Navy albeit had the loss of Britain's Admiral Lord Nelson who was killed in action
- victory at Trafalgar not only eliminated the threat of invasion for Britain but it also secured the uncontested supremacy of the royal Navy for the next
- 140 years by the time the Napoleonic Wars are drawn to a close in 1815 the Victorious Allied Coalition of which Britain was a part of secured further
- territory from the defeated French Spanish and Dutch who had been part of Napoleon's French Empire the ionian islands Malta Mauritius St
- Lucia the Seychelles Trinidad and Tobago Guyana Ceylon and the cape Colony were added to Britain's already substantial number of colonies
- many of these Caribbean colonies contained countless plantations dedicated to the production of sugarcane which over the centuries had become
- exclusively reliant on slave labor although Britain had already profited tremendously from the transatlantic slave trade the Advent of the Industrial
- Revolution shifted the focus of merchants and capitalists to produce Goods at home in Britain rather than relying on slave produced goods from the
- colonies additionally growing political pressure from abolitionist groups eventually forced the hand of the British government to abolish the slave
- trade within the empire in 1807. it would be another 27 years however before the institution of slavery itself would be formally abolished in 1834.
- the period from 1815 to 1914 has often been described as Britain's Imperial Century after effectively seizing control over the Indian subcontinent the
- British East India Company looked to expand its interests further across Asia Singapore was founded as a Trading Post in 1819 and later incorporated as a
- colony in 1824 whereas in China the East India Company alongside the British government were able to seize control of Hong Kong and Shanghai in the aftermath
- of the first Opium War in 1842 the East India company's control over India itself however was challenged in 1857 when local troops rebelled against
- their British Commanders in what became known as the sepoy rebellion the East India Company fought against troops previously under its
- command and retook the territories that had been seized by the mutineers after the hostilities ended the following year the British government
- decided to dissolve the East India Company believing that it could no longer Rule and administer the country effectively
- India was then brought under direct British rule in 1858 and became the most valuable possession within the Empire colloquially named as the jewel in the
- crown an emerging threat to Britain's Imperial Ambitions during the 19th century came from the Russian Empire which wished to
- expand its territorial possessions and sphere of influence into Central Asia and the Mediterranean to fill the void of the collapsing Ottoman Empire
- when Russia invaded the ottoman-controlled Balkans in 1853 Britain alongside France entered the war in support of the Turks fearing that
- Russia could threaten their colonial interests in the Mediterranean and the Middle East the resulting Crimean War of
- 1854-1856 was a resounding defeat for Russia and a confidence boost for the British who remained the dominant Global Imperial power although the situation
- between Britain and Russia in Central Asia remained uncertain a partial settlement to the issue known as the great game was reached in 1878 which
- established respective spheres of influence the British also gained control of Cyprus from the Ottomans that year as a surety it would be used to
- defend against any further Russian expansion the continent of Africa also witnessed a consolidation of British colonial power during the 19th century
- British immigration to the recently acquired Cape Colony began to increase in the 1820s which pushed out thousands of Dutch descended settlers known as
- boers into the northern Hinterland resentful of British rule they established their own independent republics namely the transvaal and
- orange free state but these two eventually succumbed to British occupation with the conclusion of the second anglo-bore war in 1902.
- meanwhile in North Africa the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 which linked the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean proved of vital strategic importance for
- British trade routes although Britain could not take Direct Control of the canal it was able to militarily occupy Egypt in 1882 but did not consider it to
- be formally within the empire further territorial expansion in what became known as the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century saw Britain
- gain control of much of the Eastern and Southern parts of the continent efforts were also made to build a continental railway from the Cape to Cairo although
- this was never completed as the 20th century dawned Britain's position as the leader in World Trade and Adoption of the role of global
- policemen allowed it to also control the economies of Nations who were not part of the British Empire such as China Argentina and cyan an electrical
- Telegraph Network known as the all-red line was completed In 1902 which allowed Britain to communicate directly with all of its overseas colonies across the
- empire as Britain's predominantly white colonies developed economically and socially they sought to gain political
- independence from the mother country Canada was formed into a confederation in 1867 and granted the right of full self-governance with the exception to
- international relations Australia and New Zealand followed similar paths in 1900 becoming newly created dominions of the empire
- Ireland also hoped to gain some form of independence from Britain during this time multiple home rule bills were put before the British Parliament but these
- were all defeated on the grounds that partial Irish Independence would pose a threat to the unity of the empire the threats to the Empire however would
- ultimately come from Germany and the outbreak of the first world war in 1914. during the conflict Britain relied heavily on the empire for importing food
- resources and crucially Military Support over 2.5 million men from Britain's dominions and colonies served in the first world war with many from Canada
- India Australia and New Zealand making the ultimate sacrifice for king and country Britain was able to defeat Germany and its ottoman allies in the
- war and annexed much of their territory in the Middle East Africa and the Pacific Victory however came at a heavy price for Britain and signaled the
- beginning of the end for the empire although 1921 marked the peak of the British Empire's territorial possessions Ireland was granted Independence that
- same year and soon other nations within the Empire began to question when they may become independent also the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 put a
- temporary halt on this as Britain once again turned to the Empire for economic material and Military Support though ultimately Victorious Britain was
- bankrupted by the war and was no longer in a position to support its overstretched and questioning colonies gradually throughout the 1940s 50s 60s
- and 70s the colonies and dominions of the empire were granted their independence from Britain in what was recognized as the Wind of Change almost
- 400 years of British colonial history came to an end although almost all these newly independent nations did not sever ties with Britain completely and agreed
- to join the political Association named The Commonwealth with 14 of these nations also retaining the British monarch as their respective head of
- state perhaps what many see as the final and most symbolic representation of the end of the British Empire came in 1997 when
- Britain formally handed over Hong Kong to China the legacy of the Empire however remains with us to this day as the English
- language is the most widely spoken on Earth and British culture practices and Customs remain universally popular modern Britain itself can even be seen
- as a microcosm of the Empire with people of almost every race nationality religion and culture that were once under British rule now living on the
- very Island that began the Journey of Empire all those years ago
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