British colony - the set of areas around the world that have been captured, taken under the protectorate or even some ways acquired between the 16th and 18th centuries one of the most powerful empires in the past - the British.
aim is its territorial development.During this period, there was strong competition for sources of resources and potential markets for producers between Britain and its continental rivals - Spain, France and Holland.During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I were set up trading companies in Turkey, Russia, East Indies, explored the coast of North America.
As historians believe, the territorial expansion of the country began with the moment when Elizabeth I granted the right to her favorite, Sir Walter Raleigh found a British colony in North America.
Initially the policy of the empire was based solely on the idea of mercantilism.When Stewart, James I and Charles I, Oliver Cromwell and the building of an empire based on trade patterns become more obvious.Good balance of trade (import-export) were thought to provide a wealth necessary for the expansion and maintenance of empire.
In 1707, after the unification of England and Scotland into one sovereign state, many British colonies (including the former Scottish) became the basis for the famous Empire.
first overseas British settlements were established in Ireland.The systematic capture of the country was carried out under Oliver Cromwell.After a successful war with the Dutch, the French and the Spanish in the seventeenth century, Britain was able to take control of most of the eastern coast of North America, the St. Lawrence River basin in Canada, Bermuda, the territory of the West Indies and Africa to purchase slaves and to gain a foothold in India.
Some historians argue that Wales should be generally regarded as the first British colony since the term does not necessarily mean a foreign territory.
At the end of the eighteenth century the British colonies in America were lost.Although the discovery of Australia has not served as a sort of compensation, as the distant lands served primarily as a place of exile for convicts people, but this loss has affected the so-called "swing to the East" - the acquisition of strategic bases along the trade routes between India and the Far East.By the end of the eighteenth century the British control of India extended to Afghanistan and Burma.
a result of the Napoleonic Wars - the last global wars between empires - Britain proved albeit in a very difficult situation, but certainly having a strong position.For example, it was acquired by the Dutch Cape Colony (South Africa).Despite the fact that the main concern of Victorian foreign policy is an extension of the Russian Empire, which threatened its interests in India, almost all traditional competitors to the period lost their importance and greatly reduced in size, so the position of imperial Britain was undisputed.She also became the leading industrial country in Europe, more and more areas in the world under the domination of concentrated its commercial, financial, naval power.
However, the situation could not be called stable.Empire is based on the ideas of mercantilism has been weakened in the late eighteenth - early nineteenth centuries a number of factors.In 1807 in England abolished slavery movement led by evangelists, demanded radical changes in other areas of the empire.Since 1833 the economic outlook for the (largely due to the influence of the ideas of Adam Smith), some British colonies began to move toward self-government and free trade, which is to minimize the influence of the old oligarchic and monopolistic trading corporations.And yet during the Victorian era continued acquisition of territories and further trade concessions promoted by strategic considerations and justified philanthropic motives.The peak of predatory policy of Great Britain reached when Queen Victoria, egged Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, proclaimed itself in 1876 by the Empress of India.
The Empire, however, continued to develop nationalistic movements, sooner or later, heralding its disintegration.The process accelerated after World War I, although in the post-war period of the empire to a period of increased in size when, under British protectorate were former German and Turkish territory.
British Colonies Canada and Australia have acquired dominion status in 1907.In 1931, the Commonwealth of Nations was formed, which included self-governing dominions of the United Kingdom and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State, the head of which recognized the monarch of Great Britain.Dominions actively supported Britain during the Second World War.Many historians today are wondering about whether it was possible to win this terrible war without the support of colonial troops allies.They participated in every theater of war.But the loss of the British in the Far East have made it clear that the UK no longer has that imperial power, capable of maintaining order in the classical world.In place of the English gradually came the Americans.
