The British Empire expanded dramatically between the 16th and 20th centuries through exploration, trade, and conquest. At its peak in the early 20th century, it was the largest empire in world history, controlling nearly a quarter of the world's land and population. However, nationalist independence movements grew across its colonies in the aftermath of World War 2. Many former colonies, such as India and African nations, achieved independence in the mid-20th century, marking the decline of the British Empire. By 1997, only a few small overseas territories remained under British control.

1. It was once the biggest, the greatest and the largest Empire in the world
history

2. Origins
 There had been English voyages of exploration in the North
Atlantic around 1500, inspired by a hope of finding a route to the
Indian Ocean round the north of America and also by the
attractions of cod-fishing near Newfoundland. By 1550 English
merchants had set out to the north east and had found a trading
route round the North Cape which led them to Russia and on to
Persia, now Iran. A little later, explorers set out north west from
the Newfoundland fishing grounds to see if they could reach the
Indian Ocean by an Arctic route. Nothing came of it, and the
government did from time to time make it clear that
Newfoundland ought to be used for fishing rather than for
settlement. The idea of planting a settlement of new people in a
new country was already being considered. English monarchs
had for centuries had claims .They went for exploring because
they were an island and they thought that there future were to be
found through ocean.

3.  1578 Queen Elizabeth Grants Humphrey Gilbert a
patent to discover and explore overseas territory.
 Colonies in the Americas often folded with only
Barbados, St.Kitts and Nevis succeeding in the
Caribbean's.
 Acts of Union in 1707 Unite Scotland and England Into
the United Kingdom.

4.  American Colonies referred to as First British Empire
Until American.
 Struggle to Build Empire with Other European
Nations.
 India and Asian Colonies Established.

5.  Reasons for the British the Empire
 Discover : the reasons for or factors supporting the British Empire. Explorers: Britain was blessed with adventurous and
skillful sailors who helped open up new routes and explore new lands. For example Francis Drake helped with the settlement
of the New World in the 17th century while James Cook helped further exploration of New Zealand and Australia in the 18th
century. Trade: The opportunity for trade was a significant reason why the British wanted an Empire. By owning other lands
the British could buy and sell things throughout their Empire without having to pay taxes or tariffs to other countries. To
Civilise: Many people believed it was the ‘white man’s burden’ or duty to bring British values, technology and ideas to more
savage or backward people. For example, the British stopped the Hindu
 ritual of Sati in rural India ( women had to throw themselves onto their dead husbands funeral pyre ( fire ) . Protect Assets:
Control over other lands was important to protect overseas property, resources or favorable trade agreements. For example, in
India when the British East India Company came under threat after the Indian Mutiny in 1857, the British Army was sent over
to protect its control of the tea trade. Slavery: Britain was heavily involved with the trans Atlantic slave trade. This led to
increasing reason for involvement in West Africa where slaves were captured and also in the Caribbean and North America ,
due to the growth of control and investment in the tobacco, sugar and cotton plantations. Reputation: Nationalism grew
throughout Europe especially during the 1800’s. Songs such as ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ show this.
Starting and growing the empire was a source of great pride for many people in Britain. Manpower: Conquering or settling
new lands gave the British a greater source of manpower. These people could be used as workers in factories, sold as slaves or
taken to fight in the British Imperial army. Much of the British army during WW1 was made up of soldiers taken from all over
its Empire. Religion: Britain was a Christian country and it was believed that non-Christians would go to hell unless they were
converted to Christianity. Taking over their lands and their religion was a way to save their souls. Rivalry: In the 16th and
17th centuries Britain faced competition from Spain and France, particularly in terms of exploration and discovery of new
lands. During the 19th century Britain competed with Germany, Belgium and France in the ‘Scramble for Africa’. Britain
didn't want to get ‘left behind’ during these times. Chance: Britain never had a fixed plan to build an Empire. It happened
almost organically or in some places by accident. Weak People: Britain built an Empire because it was an easy thing to do,
Many of the people they conquered were technologically inferior, lacked weapons and or lived in tribal societies. They were
not unified or strong enough to stand up to Britain so taking their land was natural and easy. Greed: Britain was greedy. It
started and continued to build its empire because people could make a lot of money from doing this. Slave traders, merchants,
banks and companies all profited from exploiting overseas people and resources. In contrast, many native people did not
understand the idea of owning land. Resources : Britain could take resources ( such as cotton from the American Colonies )
and make it into clothes in English factories. Gold was found in South Africa, Canada had fish and wood and India had tea,
spices and coffee. Education: some people believed that building schools, universities and libraries would help educate people
across the globe and this would help improve lives and develop stronger more forward thinking communities. Navy: Britain is
an island and a sea faring nation. Following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588Britain began to ‘rule the waves’.
Increasing naval growth and confidence encouraged exploration and conquest.

6.  British expansion in India which was such an
important change during the period of the long wars
had very little to do with the misfortunes of the other
European powers.
 The battle of Plessey was one of the important was
that changed the empires future.by this the east India
company established themselves in India.

7. The British Empire at the Beginning of the
Nineteenth
Century
 Although Britain had lost thirteen of its North American colonies
in the early 1780s, it still retained a vast and varied collection of
colonies at the close of the eighteenth century. First, it had not
lost all of its colonies in North America, retaining Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec. It also had a
penal colony called New South Wales on the continent of Australia
that had been founded in 1788 to provide a "dumping-ground" for
British criminals. Britain moreover had several colonies in the
West Indies, including Barbados and Jamaica, a settlement at
Sierra Leone and various trading posts in West Africa. In 1795, in
the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, it had also seized the
Cape Colony from the Dutch for strategic reasons. Finally, British
territory in India was expanding during the second half of the
eighteenth century at the hand of the East India Company, which
had held a monopoly over trade with Asia since 1600.

8. The empire expanded and expanded, they were taking
lands from Dutch, French and they won and captured
the lands also. They continued their expansion till 1914
when the world war 1 started. The 1 war gave them more
land but after world war 2 the decolonization started.

9. India
India was a key and prestigious part of Britain's Empire
at the beginning of the nineteenth century and would
continue to hold this privileged position throughout the
century. Expansion in India continued by means of wars
and annexations, and by 1850 almost two-thirds of the
Indian subcontinent had been acquired, with the rest
mostly bound by treaties to Britain. During the second
half of the nineteenth century, Britain continued to
secure India's borders by annexing and acquiring
further territory.

10. West Indies
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, another
lucrative part of the British Empire was its colonies in the West Indies,
where coffee, cotton and particularly sugar were grown on large slave
plantations. However, this boom proved to be temporary. The
abolishment of slavery in 1834 and the ending of preferential tariffs on
sugar from the West Indies in 1846 dealt considerable blows to islands'
plantations. Costs and competitors (not inhibited from using slave
labor) increased, and labour was in shortage (with indentured laborers,
particularly from India, having to be recruited). By mid century, the
plantations were struggling. Moreover, the transition from slave to free
societies created many tensions, and colonial self-rule was eventually
replaced by direct rule throughout the West Indian colonies by the mid
1870s.

11. ASIA and AFRICA
During the late nineteenth century, dramatic extensions of British
territory were made in Africa and South East Asia. During the
1880s and 1890s, Britain added greatly to its territory in Africa
during the so-called European 'scramble for Africa'. Britain's gains
included Egypt (although it never became a formal colony), Kenya,
Uganda, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and eventually the
Afrikaner republics of southern Africa (the Orange Free State and
the Transvaal) as a result of winning the Boer War (1899-1902).
Some became Crown colonies, others became protectorates, and
others were administered by chartered companies. However, with
the exception of the Cape Colony and the Transvaal, these African
colonies were relatively insignificant economically. During the late-
nineteenth century, Britain also expanded its territory in South
East Asia, acquiring the whole of the Malay peninsula, North
Borneo, and the rest of Burma.

12. Economics and Empire
The British Empire was decentralized, non-mercantilist and built
on and around free trade. However, trade was never confined to
the Empire. Between 1850 and 1870, only around one-third of
British exports went to the Empire and only about one-fifth of
imports came from the Empire—figures which were never
exceeded. While some businessmen and investors profited,
especially those involved in colonial agriculture, public utilities
and mining, the British public at large saw few profits from the
Empire. The possession of an overseas empire thus did not
substantially improve (or weaken) Britain's economic position,
nor was the Empire paramount in British economic life.

13. World wars
WORLD WAR 1-2
 Between World War 1 and until World War 2 saw the
golden age of British Empire
 Treaty of Versailles gave Britain dominion over the
Conquered Axis lands

15. Ruled countries

16.  Before World War II it was stated fairly, “The sun never set on the British Empire.” For decades, this was true: the
British colonial Empire touched all corners of the globe. After the War concluded, however, a worldwide process of
decolonization commenced in which Britain granted independence to all of its major colonies, beginning notably
in India. The British decision to grant independence to India arose primarily out of necessity; however, Gandhi’s
successful social movements also inspired a fundamental change in the perceptions of colonial power that
eventually led to the collapse of the British Colonial Empire.
 In India there were numerous uprisings and conflicts that erupted over the course of the centuries long British
occupation, but it wasn’t until Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi’s social efforts, beginning in India from 1915-1920 and
onward, that a popular vision for India began to spread among ordinary Indians.1 At the time, Gandhi had only
recently returned from South Africa where he had stayed for more than twenty years, as the “voice and conscience
of thousands” of racially subjugated Indians.2 Upon his return to India, Gandhi advocated for Indians to boycott
British institutions and products in a non-violent way; this movement was ultimately known as “Swadeshi.”
Because of these efforts Gandhi became wildly popular; when Jawaharlal Nehru—the first Prime Minister of
independent India—gave his famous Independence speech in 1947, he called Gandhi “The Father of our Nation
who… held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us.”3 Gandhi’s momentum
reached a peak during World War II and consequently caused great strain on Britain, forcing them to recognize
the significance of the Swadeshi movement. Additionally, pressures from within India were complemented by two
major external factors: Britain’s economic and human resources were exasperated by the War effort; 4 and the
Japanese, who had invaded the British colony of Burma in 1943, were aggressively expanding in Southeast
Asia.5 Each of these factors was important in pushing Britain to the realization that it was no longer realistic for
them to prolong their control of India. In March 1946, shortly after the close of the War, Clement Attlee, the Prime
Minister of Great Britain, expressed these sentiments in a speech to the House of Commons:
 “India is today in a state of great tension and this is indeed a critical moment… It is a time emphatically for very
definite and clear action… Let us all realise that whatever the difficulties, whatever the divisions may be, there is this
underlying demand among all the Indian peoples… Is it any wonder that today she claims – as a nation of
400,000,000 people that has twice sent her sons to die for freedom – that she should herself have freedom to decide
her own destiny? My colleagues are going to India with the intention of using their utmost endeavours to help her to
attain that freedom as speedily and fully as possible.”6
 Attlee’s description of India as being in a “state of great tension” was a verbal affirmation of the ultimate
conclusion: the British had little choice but to help India “attain [her] freedom.”

17.  After India was finally granted freedom in 1947, as the separate states of India and Pakistan, it was apparent that
a change in the perceptions of colonial power was occurring. As early as 1931, Time Magazine featured Gandhi as
the “Man of the Year,” forgoing other noted possibilities that included, ironically, the Prime Minister of Great
Britain.7 In the article, Gandhi is described as being exalted by the people while the British colonizers are
condemned: "Cold English brains devised the system whereby bands of native police, especially in the rural
districts, set upon individual Indian men & women and beat them… Individual beatings are applied, in the main,
to extort from the victim his land tax.”8 Violence within the colonies was viewed as a reflection of the colonizers.
From 1935 to 1951, Time Magazine prepared monthly newsreels of world events that in 1942 depicted video
footage of British soldiers brutally attacking Indian protestors, while a commentator read, “The Indian people
have never ceased to defy British authority, whether enforced by Soldier’s bayonets or Policemen’s
batons.”9 Later, in June 1947, Gandhi graced the cover of Time magazine again, shortly after India had been
declared independent.10 The media therefore played a significant role in showing the brutal reality of
colonialism to the masses; in the end, increased media coverage was a catalyst in shifting public perceptions of
colonial power. It was nevertheless not only the perceptions of Europeans and Americans that were affected by
India’s independence movement. In Africa, nationalist leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah in the British colony of
the Gold Coast were inspired by Gandhi’s success. Nkrumah was a native of the Gold Coast territory but
nonetheless was highly educated in the United States. During his studies, he drew from the “Back to Africa”
vision devised by Marcus Garvey in the 1920’s and consequently later went on to become the most influential
proponent of Pan-Africanism in Africa.11 After returning home, Nkrumah became the leader of the Convention
Peoples’ Party (CPP) in 1950, which advocated the need for self-government, and began a campaign of “positive
action involving nonviolent protests, strikes, and noncooperation with the British colonial
authorities.”12Nkrumah’s campaign was strikingly similar to the one Gandhi had led in India, and likewise, he
was imprisoned for his efforts. The atmosphere regarding colonialism, however, had undergone significant
changes since India’s independence; after the British granted a new constitution to its colony in 1951, Nkrumah’s
party, the CPP, won a majority of votes and Nkrumah was released as the new Premier.13 Several years later, a
major turning point occurred that was reflective of the times: on May 9th, 1956, the population of British
citizens living in the British administered U.N. Trust Territory of British Togoland voted in a 58% majority to
integrate with an independent Gold Coast.14 Less than a year later, on March 6th, 1957, the independent state of
Ghana was created out of the merging of the former British territories of the Gold Coast and British Togoland;
Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister.15
 Ghana thus began the wave of British decolonization in Africa that resulted in nearly every British territory

18. End of Empire
 The Suez Crisis confirmed Britain's decline as a global power, and the transfer of
Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire.

19.  The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known
as United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are
fourteen territories all with a constitutional and historical
link with the United Kingdom.[1][2] They are remnants of
the British Empire and do not form part of the United
Kingdom itself. Some of the permanently inhabited
territories are internally self-governing, with the UK
retaining responsibility for defence and foreign relations. Ten
of the territories are listed by the UN Special Committee on
Decolonization as non-self-governing territories. Three are
inhabited only by a transitory population of military or
scientific personnel. They all have the British
monarch as head of state.

21. Sovereign state United Kingdom
Largest territory British Antarctic Territory
Official languages English
Demonym(s) •British
•Briton
Government Devolved administrations under
a constitutional monarchy
• Monarch Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson
• Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
• Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
European Neighbourhood and the Americas
Wendy Morton
• Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
the Overseas Territories and Sustainable
Development
Vacant (As of 25 November 2020)
Area
• Total 18,015
[a]
km
2
(6,956 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 estimate 272,256