History of the British Empire

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• published: 21 Mar 2014
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To fully appreciate the significance of the Commonwealth, Britain's global position, it is important to understand its origins from the British Empire. Technically, there have been three empires, the first in France, lost by 1558; the second in North America, which became the United States of America after 1776; and the third was global, which became the modern Commonwealth of Nations after 1949. Each one being larger than the one before. That's something of a distillation of the Britannic heritage of the Commonwealth. It is striking that when one looks around the world at the most successful countries, many of them have British colonial roots - Canada, United States, Australia, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, the various peaceable Caribbean islands. Given the diversity of cultures, histories and languages, it is the "commonwealth" values of peace, order and good government that have set those disparate nations on the path to success*. Quote from Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, 27 October 2011 The origins of the British Empire can be seen as going back to the Middle Ages with the beginning of the conquest of Ireland (1172) and conquest of much of France during the Hundred Years' War. However, the modern British Empire can be considered having started in 1497 with John Cabot's claim to Newfoundland. The British Empire was the largest Empire in history; At it's zenith, it held sway over a population of nearly 500 million people - roughly a quarter of the world's population - and covered about 14.3 million square miles (17.4 million including Antarctic claims), almost a third of the world's total land area. During the mid-19th century Britain was the sole developed hyper-power, enjoying unparalleled prosperity. Britain was "the work-shop of the world," and even by 1870 she still was producing well over 30% of the global industrial output, no other nation coming even close to her production superiority. In 1885 America and Germany can be considered as having become industrialised, but Britain was still the world's most developed nation until around 1913 when she was surpassed by America. Due to the supremacy of the Royal Navy, Britain truly did rule the waves for centuries. With territories scattered across every continent and ocean and in every time-zone, the "Empire Under Palm and Pine" was accurately described as "the empire on which the sun never sets." The Empire facilitated the spread of British technology, commerce, language, and government around much of the globe through Pax Britannica and British Imperial hegemony. The contributions the British Empire made to the world, the technology, philosophy, literature, medicine, investment, institutions, and plain advancements of mankind have left a profound legacy. The British Empire consisted of various territories all over the world conquered or colonized by Britain from about 1600. It was expanded by commerce, trade, colonisation, and sometimes conquest. Over all the Empire was built on commerce, not conquest. There were colonies conquered, but they were done for a reason. For instance, France hired the Mughal Empire to fight Britain. Britain then fought back and conquered the Mughal Empire which made up the Northwest corner of present day India. The 19th century saw the largest expansion of the Empire as the British took many former French possessions in the West Indies and began to settle in large numbers in Australia in the early part of the century and later competed fiercely with other European powers for territory in Africa. At the same time, there was serious expansion in Asia, notably the acquisition of Singapore (1824), Hong Kong (1841), and Burma (1886), and the South Pacific, particularly the settlement of New Zealand (1840). The final big expansion of the empire was following World War I, when former German and Turkish territories were mandated to Britain and the Dominions. The only serious loss of territory was the loss of the 13 American colonies in the American Revolution of 1776 -- 1783, which became the United States of America. The British Empire was at its largest territorial expansion after the First World War -- after 1918, until the 1940's, consisting of over 25% of the world's population and 30% of its area. Since 1949, the British Empire was replaced by the Commonwealth of Nations. Most colonies are now independent; today's Commonwealth is composed of former and remaining territories of the British Empire and a few non former British Empire countries which once belonged to other powers such as Portugal, France and Belgium. The Commonwealth is a loose, voluntary organisation dedicated to preserving human rights and democracy and is held together by a desire for membership and the English language as well as history.