THE BRITISH EMPIRE

The largest formal empire in history
1. The ‘empire on which the sun never set’
2. Peak: Victorian Period
  1. It controlled ¼ of the world’s land area rulingover 400 million people.
Beginnings
1. 17 th Cent.
  1. 1600
    1. Formation of the East India Company.
      1. Set up: Network of trading posts
        Sale of goods: spices, silks and cotton to European customers.
        Importation of tea to Britain which became a popular beverage.
  2. 1664
    1. British control of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, renaming the settlement New York.
  3. 1668
    1. English East India Company takes over Bombay.
18th Cent.
1. 1775
  1. Beginning of the American Independence War until 1783.
2. 1783
  1. Britain
    1. Forced recognition of the independence of 13 colonies.
    2. Retained imperial control in the West Indies and Canada.
19th Cent.
1. India
  1. 1857
    1. The East India Company disbanded.
    2. Rebellion: The Indian Mutinity
      1. The British government took direct control of India.
    3. "The Jewel in the Crown"
  2. 1876
    1. Queen Victoria of Britain was proclaimed ‘Empress of India’.
      1. Official monarch of India.
  3. 1877
    1. British Influence on India
      1. Form of railways
        Enabling fast travel of goods and people.
    2. Indians had no influence in the central & local government
      1. DISCONTENT
        The Indian National Congress
        political party
        Formed by some middle-class Indians
        Object: argue for government reforms and independence from Britain.
2. Africa
  1. Late 1880s
    1. Competition for the expansion to Africa
      1. Britain & other European powers.
    2. 1884/5
      1. Berlin Conference
        Decide who would control the parts of Africa
        Africa was divided between the competing European powers.
        British Control
        Nigeria
        The Gold Coast
        Rhodesia
        South Africa
        Egypt
        British Beliefs
        Africa: resource rich area for selling goods.
        Duty
        to ‘uplift’ and ‘improve’ Africa.
        to bring ‘civilisation’ to Africa in the form of Christianity.
        No African presence
  2. 1881-1919
    1. “The Scramble for Africa”
  3. 1899-1902
    1. The Second Boer War
    2. The British conquered South Africa.
3. Egypt
  1. 1882
    1. Britain was the acknowledged ruling force in Egypt
  2. 1899 and so on
    1. Britain ruled Sudan.
4. Australia
  1. ‘terra nullis’
    1. no one’s land
  2. Displacement of Aboriginal people
    1. to set-up new British societies
5. Change on the administration system
  1. The Colonial Office
    1. Began in 1801
      1. It was an appendage of the Home Office and the Board of Trade
    2. 1850s
      1. it was a separate department with a growing staff and a continuing policy
      2. It exerted discipline & pressure on the colonial governments.
Attitudes of Empire
1. Its way of living was the right way.
2. Colonization would help the countries become like Britain and improve.
3. Colonization gained their global influence.
4. Local leaders were removed anytime by British soldiers.
5. It helped the colonised countries by opening up trade markets.
6. Extreme poverty and conflict in many countries ruled by Britain.
Nationalism and the commonweatlh
1. It developed rapidly after World War I and II
2. 1947
  1. India
    1. Claimed its independence
    2. Retained an association with Great Britain and other former dependencies in the Commonwealth of Nations.
3. After 1960
  1. British people were no longer actively imperial in its sentiments
    1. Accepted the idea of independence as a foregone conclusion.
    2. Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.
Decline
1. Following the end of World War Two in 1945
  1. Causes
    1. It drained Britain financially.
    2. It lowered its prestige in the eyes of its colonies.
    3. Independence movements
      1. expressed dissatisfaction with British rule.
  2. Results
    1. Britain granted independence to many of its major colonies
    2. Its legacy remains in the contemporary world.
    3. Spread of the English
      1. Language
      2. Technology
      3. People
      4. Ideas

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE

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