The British Empire began establishing overseas colonies in the 16th century and by 1783 had a large empire with colonies in America and the West Indies. However, the American Revolution ended the "first British Empire". In the 19th century, Britain built a "second empire" based on its naval power and conquered many parts of Africa and India. By the early 20th century, the British Empire spanned a quarter of the world's land and population. However, after World War 1 independence movements emerged and most colonies gained independence in the late 1940s-1960s, bringing an end to the British Empire.

1. z
The British Empire
through time
Professor: Axel Huber Villegas
UGMEX Veracruz

2. z
What is the British Empire?
 An 'empire' is a group of countries ruled over by a single monarch or ruling power. An
empire doesn't need an 'emperor'. The British Empire comprised of Britain, the 'mother
country', and the colonies, countries ruled to some degree by and from Britain.
 The British began to establish overseas colonies in the 16th century. By 1783, Britain
had a large empire with colonies in America and the West Indies. This 'first British
Empire' came to an end after the American Revolution.
 However, in the 19th century, the British built a second worldwide empire, based on
British sea-power, made up of India and huge conquests in Africa.


3. z
Britain in the Middle Ages
 he British Empire did not exist in the Middle Ages. In the early Middle Ages, England
was part of other empires:
 In 1066, William of Normandy conquered England. Other lands conquered by the
Normans included parts of the south of Italy and during the Crusades the Holy Land.
 During the reign of Henry II, England was part of the Angevin Empire, which
included Ireland and most of western France.

4. zThe Norman and Angevin Empires were not overseas empires
and their rulers regarded them as single realms. They were not
'colonies'.
However, medieval kings sought to acquire ever-wider lands by
warfare or marriage and conquered lands, like Wales and Ireland,
were run by English administrators.

5. z During the Middle Ages, the kings of
England tried to conquer other countries:
 In 1169, Normans from south Wales invaded Ireland.
In 1171, Henry II went to Ireland to make sure that
their conquests were made part of his Angevin
Empire. In the years that followed, about half of the
island was over-run by Normans, English and Welsh.
 In 1277, Edward I invaded and conquered north
Wales.

6. z
 During the Hundred Years' War (1337‒1453),
Edward III and Henry V conquered large areas
of France, but by 1453 the only land still in
English hands was Calais (now in France),
which was later lost in 1558.
 By 1500 the kings of England had lost control
of all of Ireland except for coastal towns and an
area around Dublin known as the 'Pale'.

7. z
The first British Empire: 1497-1763
 Between 1497 and 1763,
English seamen
discovered new lands, set
up colonies and traded all
over the world.

8. z In 1497, only five years after Christopher
Columbus sailed to the West Indies, the Italian
explorer John Cabot, financed by English
merchants, discovered new lands in Canada.
 The first English colonies were formed in north
America - in 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh
organised a small settlement at Roanoke in
Virginia, but it failed and in 1607, Captain
John Smith founded a permanent colony at
Jamestown in Virginia.
 After 1612, the East India Company began to
build up a small empire of trading posts in
India.

9. z
 The first successful English colonies in the
West Indies were founded in the 1620s. The
settlers set up sugar and tobacco plantations
and used slave labour.

10. z
In 1664, the English took
over the Dutch colony of New
Netherland, which included
the state of New Amsterdam.
The English renamed this
New York. The English also
took over New Sweden
(which is now called
Delaware). Florida became a
British colony in 1763.

11. z
Fighting the French and gaining control
of India
 In the 18th century, Britain fought a number of wars against
France, taking over colonies established by the French:
 in 1713, the British took over the French colony of Acadia (New
France in northeastern North America)
 victories by Robert Clive, including the Battle of Plassey in 1757,
drove out the French and established British control in India
 during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) the British won
Canada from the French with a notable victory coming from
General James Wolfe's capture of Quebec in 1759

12. z The Seven Years’ War 1756-1763
 The Seven Years’ War lasted between 1756 and 1763 and showed just how far Britain
was prepared to go in order to protect its colonial interests.
 England and France had been involved in small conflicts over territories for many
years, going back to the British control of Calais in the Middle Ages. In 1756, Britain
declared war on France over a conflict over French expansion in America by the Ohio
River Valley. British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Older, funded the British colonies in
America to raise armies against the French.

13. z
 By 1783, at the Treaty of Paris, Britain gained a number of new
colonies in North and Central America: Canada, Dominica,
Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tobago.
 The British victory was significant as it resulted in an angry
France supporting America in the War of Independence just over
a decade later.

14. z
The American War of
Independence
1775-1783
 Because the lands in the Americas were new lands which
were settled by British people, the colonies were soon
granted some control over their own affairs. Gradually, the
British settlers built up a sense of independence and of
being American rather than British. They started to resent
having to pay tax to the king all the way back in England,
across the Atlantic Ocean. They did not feel that they
should have to pay taxes which were being spent
thousands of miles away.

15. z
 In 1776, thirteen American colonies joined together to form the United States
of America and declare themselves independent from Britain. They stopped
paying taxes to Britain and no longer recognised Britain as being in charge of
them. As a result, Britain sent troops to fight them in a war. France, Spain and
the Netherlands took sides with America and eventually Britain gave up at the
Battle of Yorktown in 1781. America was no longer ruled by the British King,
George III, and instead George Washington was chosen as its first president.

16. z
 The war of independence was significant in the
history of the British Empire because it showed that,
when a country is given some control over itself, it will
eventually want more and more, leading to appeals
for complete independence. Britain was to see this
happen in many other colonies over the next two
centuries.

17. z
The shape of the British Empire by 1783
 By 1783, Britain had established an empire which comprised of:
colonies in Canada, America and the West Indies including New Zealand after
Captain James Cook claimed it for the British crown in 1769
 Trading posts in India
 Naval bases in the Mediterranean - Gibraltar and Minorca
 But:
 Britain's defeat in the American War of Independence meant the loss of the
American colonies and the end of the 'first British Empire'.

18. z
The second British Empire: 1783-1924
 In the century 1815–1914,
10 million square miles of
territory and 400 million
people were added to the
British Empire. By the
British Empire Exhibition of
1924 Britain was the
'Mother Country' of a
worldwide empire which
covered a fifth of the land in
the world, and Britannia
'ruled the waves'.

19. z
Timeline leading up to the British Empire
Exhibition of 1924
 1787 - First shipment of transported prisoners to Australia.
 1839 - The Opium War forced China to allow British traders to sell the drug opium into
China.
 1857 - There was a rebellion in India (the Indian Mutiny). The government took over rule
of India from the East India Company.
 1867 - Canada was given 'dominion' (self-governing) status, followed by Australia and
New Zealand in 1907.
 1876 - Queen Victoria was declared 'Empress of India'.

20. z
 1881‒1919: The 'Scramble for Africa' – Britain acquired
colonies in Africa stretching from Cairo to Cape Town.
 1899‒1902: The Second Boer War – the British
conquered South Africa.
 1919: The Treaty of Versailles gave Germany's
colonies as 'mandates' for Britain and France to
administer.
 1924: The British Empire Exhibition at Wembley
Stadium. The Empire looked happy and strong.

21. z

22. z
Attitudes of Empire
 Britain regarded itself as 'ruler of the waves'. The songs 'Rule
Britannia' and 'Land of Hope and Glory' show this.
 Many British people at the time thought that they were doing the
right thing by taking the British government and Christianity to
the rest of the world, ending slavery and barbaric traditions and
bringing 'civilisation' and an international 'Pax Britannica', or
'British peace'. The British generally felt that the way they lived
their lives was the right way. They believed that colonising
various countries was a means of helping others to become like
Britain and therefore improve.

23. z
 The British Empire had clearly changed in this period. Whilst
owning territories around the world still gave Britain space,
power and global influence, the Empire was now more than just
about discovering new lands and building them up. Most of the
world was now known and belonged to someone. Therefore, the
British had to colonise established countries with populations
and leadership systems of their own. It is true that many of these
countries were disunited and in some form of chaos. Many were
also split between various tribes and tribal chiefs rather than
united by one common leader.

24. z
However, the British were now
repressing various groups and even
entire countries. In Africa, following the
‘Scramble’, British soldiers controlled
many villages that they saw as
disruptive and removed many local
leaders. The British helped these
countries by opening up trade markets
with them and developing them more
than they had ever been developed
before.

25. z
The British Empire after 1924
 After the World War One it became increasingly difficult for
Britain to hold on to her Empire. It became clear that:
 Britain could no longer afford an empire.
 Britain had no right to rule people who did not want to be ruled
by Britain.
 Britain realised that the Royal Navy was not strong enough to
protect all the Empire anywhere in the world.

26. z The right to rule yourself
The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
promoted 'self-determination',
or the right to rule yourself. It
was difficult for Britain to
support this principle for other
countries, but deny it to
countries in its Empire

27. z
 Ireland rebelled between 1919 and 1921. In
1920‒1921 it was divided into Northern
Ireland, which was part of the UK and the
Irish Free State, a dominion like Canada. In
1937, it became more independent as Éire.
In 1949, Éire became the completely
independent Republic of Ireland and left the
Commonwealth.

28. z There was a strong independence movement in India:
 The British government massacred a peaceful gathering at
Amritsar in 1919.
 Mohandas Gandhi led a non-cooperation movement which
refused to obey British laws, eg the Salt March, 1930.
 In 1935, the Government of India Act gave Indians control of
everything except foreign policy.

29. z
The struggle for independence and
decolonisation in Africa
 During the Second World War, Africa had made a significant
contribution to the war effort. The colonies of Britain helped greatly
by providing troops and local resources for the Allied soldiers. This
led to local industries being created and local towns and villages
became more developed and better educated. Many people even
joined trade unions, organisations which helped them to think about
their rights when they were working. As a result, many Africans
under colonial rule began to think about their rights as people and
felt that they deserved the chance to now rule themselves. They saw
that they had become important contributors to the war and had
developed enough to now have their own government.

30. z
 Britain faced economic problems because of the cost of the war and it was
becoming harder for them to run the Empire. They now had trade agreements
with other countries, such as those in Europe and the United States and so
did not rely so much on the markets provided by Africa. Therefore, the Empire
was beginning to cost more than it was making. What is more, President
Roosevelt was trying to encourage Britain to give freedom to its colonies in
Africa. Instead of granting them full freedom, Britain began to introduce
democracy to local areas within the colonies.

31. z Eventually, nationalists in the African colonies felt that enough
was enough and started protesting and rioting against the
British. Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya and Kwame Nkrumah in the
Gold Coast (now Ghana) led these protests. With all of their
money problems, Britain could simply not afford to deal with this
as well. Eventually, independence was granted to these colonies
and, between the 1950s and 1980s, Britain lost control of all of
its colonies in Africa.

32. z The Commonwealth and the
European Economic Community
 The British Empire was dismantled and replaced by a voluntary organisation of former
colonies called the Commonwealth:
 In 1926, the British government agreed the Balfour Declaration – that Canada, Australia,
New Zealand and South Africa were completely independent countries, "freely associated
as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations".
 In 1947, India and Pakistan were given independence.

33. z
 In 1960, British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan admitted
there was a "wind of change" in Africa. Most of Britain's
African and Caribbean colonies achieved independence in
the 1960s.
 In 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community
and became part of a trading community based on free
trade between the countries of Europe.
 In 1997, Britain formally handed Hong Kong back to
China.