View source for British Empire

{{Short description|Territories ruled by the United Kingdom}}
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{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
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{{Infobox country
| name                   = '''British Empire'''
| image_flag             = Flag of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg
| image_flag2            = Flag of the United Kingdom (3-5).svg
| flag_caption           = Left: [[Flag of Great Britain]] ([[Acts of Union 1707|1707–1801]])<br/>Right: [[Flag of the United Kingdom]] ([[Acts of Union 1800|1801–present]])
| image_map              = [[File:The British Empire 5.png|300px]]
| map_caption            = Areas of the world that were part of the British Empire at various points in history, with current [[British Overseas Territories]] underlined in red. Mandates and protected states are shown in a lighter shade.
}}

The '''British Empire''' comprised the [[dominion]]s, [[Crown colony|colonies]], [[protectorate]]s, [[League of Nations mandate|mandates]], and other [[Dependent territory|territories]] ruled or administered by the [[United Kingdom]] and its predecessor states. It began with the [[English overseas possessions|overseas possessions]] and [[trading post]]s established by [[Kingdom of England|England]] in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and [[Scottish colonization of the Americas|colonisation attempts]] by [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] during the 17th century.<ref name="nms.ac.uk">{{cite web |title=Colonial histories and legacies in our museums |url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections/colonial-histories-and-legacies |website=National Museums Scotland |access-date=1 March 2025 |language=en |archive-date=16 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250216024428/https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections/colonial-histories-and-legacies/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it became the [[List of largest empires|largest empire in history]] and, for a century, was the foremost [[Power (international relations)|global power]].{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002}} By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412&nbsp;million people, {{Percentage|412,000,000|1,791,020,000|% = &nbsp;percent}} of the world population at the time,<ref>{{Harvnb|Maddison|2001|p=97|loc="The total population of the Empire was 412 million [in 1913]"}}; {{Harvnb|Maddison|2001|p=241|loc=""[World population in 1913 (in thousands):] 1&nbsp;791&nbsp;020".}}</ref> and by 1920, it covered {{Convert|35.5|e6km2|e6sqmi|1|abbr=unit}},{{Sfn|Taagepera|1997|p=502}} {{Percentage|35,500,000|148,940,000|% = &nbsp;per cent}} of the Earth's total land area. As a result, [[Westminster system|its constitutional]], [[Common law|legal]], [[English language|linguistic]], and [[Culture of the United Kingdom|cultural]] legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "[[the empire on which the sun never sets]]", as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.{{Sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=5–6}}

During the [[Age of Discovery]] in the 15th and 16th centuries, [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] and [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] pioneered European exploration of the world, and in the process established large overseas empires. Motivated by the great wealth these empires generated,{{Sfn|Russo|2012|p=15|loc=chapter 1 'Great Expectations': "The dramatic rise in Spanish fortunes sparked both envy and fear among northern, mostly Protestant, Europeans."}} [[England]], [[French colonial empire|France]], and the [[Dutch Empire|Netherlands]] began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the [[Americas]] and [[Asia]]. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] the dominant [[Colonialism|colonial power]] in [[North America]]. Britain became a major power in the [[Indian subcontinent]] after the [[East India Company]]'s [[Bengal Subah#British colonization|conquest]] of [[Mughal Bengal]] at the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757.

The [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] resulted in Britain losing some of its oldest and most populous colonies in North America by 1783. While retaining control of [[British North America]] (now [[Canada]]) and territories in and near the [[Caribbean]] in the [[British West Indies]], British colonial expansion turned towards Asia, [[Africa]], and the [[Oceania|Pacific]]. After the defeat of France in the [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1803–1815), Britain emerged as the principal [[Royal Navy|naval]] and imperial power of the 19th century and expanded its imperial holdings. It pursued trade concessions in China and Japan, and territory in [[Southeast Asia]]. The [[Great Game]] and [[Scramble for Africa]] also ensued. The period of relative peace (1815–1914) during which the British Empire became the global [[hegemon]] was later described as {{Lang|la|[[Pax Britannica]]}} (Latin for "British Peace"). Alongside the formal control that Britain exerted over its colonies, its dominance of much of world trade, and of its oceans, meant that it effectively [[Informal empire#United Kingdom|controlled the economies of, and readily enforced its interests in, many regions]], such as Asia and [[Latin America]].<ref name="Porter 1998 8">{{Harvnb|Porter|1998|p=8}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|1996|pp=156–157}}.</ref> It also came to dominate the [[Middle East]]. Increasing degrees of autonomy were granted to its white [[Settler colonialism|settler colonies]], some of which were formally reclassified as [[Dominion]]s by the 1920s. By the start of the 20th century, [[German Empire|Germany]] and the [[United States]] had begun to challenge Britain's economic lead. Military, economic and colonial tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the [[First World War]], during which Britain relied heavily on its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on its military, financial, and manpower resources. Although the empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after the [[World War I|First World War]], Britain was no longer the world's preeminent industrial or military power.

In the [[Second World War]], Britain's colonies in [[East Asia]] and [[Southeast Asia]] were occupied by the [[Empire of Japan]]. Despite the final victory of Britain and [[Allies of World War II|its allies]], the damage to British prestige and the [[Economy of the British Empire|British economy]] helped accelerate the decline of the empire. [[British Raj|India]], Britain's most valuable and populous possession, achieved [[Indian independence movement|independence]] in 1947 as part of a larger [[decolonisation]] movement, in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The [[Suez Crisis]] of 1956 confirmed Britain's decline as a global power, and the [[Handover of Hong Kong|handover of Hong Kong to China]] on 1 July 1997 symbolised for many the end of the British Empire,<ref>{{Harvnb|Brendon|2007|p=660}}; {{Harvnb|Brown|1998|p=594}}.</ref> though fourteen [[British Overseas Territories|overseas territories]] that are remnants of the empire remain under [[British sovereignty]]. After independence, many former British colonies, along with most of the dominions, joined the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], a free association of independent states. Fifteen of these, including the United Kingdom, [[Commonwealth realm|retain the same person as monarch]], currently {{Current UK monarch |King |Charles III}}.

== Origins (1497–1583) ==
[[File:Matthew-BristolHarbour-Aug2004.jpg|thumb|A replica of the ''[[Matthew (1497 ship)|Matthew]]'', [[John Cabot]]'s ship used for his second voyage to the [[New World]] in 1497]]
The foundations of the overseas British Empire were laid when [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] were separate kingdoms, and, at the time ruled by different monarchs. In 1496, King [[Henry VII of England]], following the successes of [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] in overseas exploration, commissioned [[John Cabot]] to lead an expedition to discover a [[Northwest Passage|northwest passage]] to Asia via the North Atlantic.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=3}} Cabot sailed in 1497, five years after the [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|first voyage of Christopher Columbus]], and made landfall on the coast of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]. He believed he had reached Asia,{{Sfn|Andrews|1984|p=45}} and there was no attempt to found a colony. [[John Cabot|Cabot]] led another voyage to the Americas the following year but did not return; it is unknown what happened to his ships.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=4}} There is "inferential evidence [that] suggests that Bristol mariners may already have known of that North American shore and had been harvesting its rich seas for a decade or more", but England made no formal claims.<ref>Meining, D.W. ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, Vol. 1, Atlantic America, 1492-1800''. New Haven: Yale University Press 1986, 24-25</ref>

No further attempts to establish English colonies in the Americas were made until well into the [[Elizabethan era|reign of Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;I]], during the last decades of the 16th century.{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=35}} In the meantime, [[Henry VIII]]'s 1533 [[Statute in Restraint of Appeals]] had declared "that this realm of England is an Empire".{{Sfn|Koebner|1953|pp=29–52}} The [[English Reformation|Protestant Reformation]] turned [[England]] and [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] Spain into implacable enemies.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=3}} In 1562, Elizabeth&nbsp;I encouraged the [[privateer]]s [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]] and [[Francis Drake]] to engage in [[Slave raiding|slave-raiding attacks]] against Spanish and Portuguese ships off the coast of [[West Africa]]{{Sfn|Thomas|1997|pp=155–158}} with the aim of establishing an [[Atlantic slave trade]]. This effort was rebuffed and later, as the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585)|Anglo-Spanish Wars]] intensified, [[Elizabeth I|Elizabeth&nbsp;I]] gave her blessing to further privateering raids against Spanish ports in the Americas and shipping that was returning across the Atlantic, [[Spanish treasure fleet|laden with treasure]] from the [[New World]].{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=7}} At the same time, influential writers such as [[Richard Hakluyt]] and [[John Dee]] (who was the first to use the term "British Empire"){{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=62}} were beginning to press for the establishment of England's own empire. By this time, Spain had become the dominant power in the Americas and was exploring the Pacific Ocean, Portugal had established trading posts and forts from the coasts of [[Africa]] and [[Brazil]] to [[China]], and France had begun to settle the [[Saint Lawrence River]] area, later to become [[New France]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=4–8}}

Although England tended to trail behind Portugal, Spain, and France in establishing overseas colonies, it carried out its first modern colonisation, in sixteenth-century Ireland, with [[plantations of Ireland|settlements]], known as "plantations", of English and Welsh Protestants. England had already colonised part of the country following the [[Norman invasion of Ireland]] in 1169,<ref>{{Harvnb|Canny|1998|p=7}}; {{Harvnb|Kenny|2006|p=5}}.</ref> but English authority had waned over the centuries. During the reign of Elizabeth I, a pattern of conquest and attempts at colonization was "contemporaneous with and parallel to the first effective of Englishmen in North America".<ref>Canny, Nicholas P. "The Ideology of English Colonization From Ireland to America". ''The William and Mary Quarterly''. Oct. 1973. Vol. 30. No. 4, p. 575</ref> Several men  who helped establish the Munster plantations in Ireland later played a part in the early colonisation of [[North America]], particularly a group known as the [[West Country Men]].{{Sfn|Taylor|2001|pp=119, 123}}

== English overseas possessions (1583–1707) ==
{{Main|English overseas possessions}}

In 1578, [[Elizabeth I]] granted a patent to [[Humphrey Gilbert]] for discovery and overseas exploration.<ref>{{Harvnb|Andrews|1984|p=187}}; {{Cite web |title=Letters Patent to Sir Humfrey Gylberte June 11, 1578 |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/16th_century/humfrey.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321194846/https://avalon.law.yale.edu/16th_century/humfrey.asp |archive-date=21 March 2021 |access-date=8 February 2021 |publisher=[[Avalon Project]]}}</ref> That year, Gilbert sailed for the [[Caribbean]] with the intention of engaging in [[piracy]] and establishing a colony in North America, but the expedition was aborted before it had crossed the Atlantic.<ref>{{Harvnb|Andrews|1984|p=188}}; {{Harvnb|Canny|1998|p=63}}.</ref> In 1583, he embarked on a second attempt. On this occasion, he formally claimed the harbour of the island of Newfoundland, although no settlers were left behind. Gilbert did not survive the return journey to England and was succeeded by his half-brother, [[Walter Raleigh]], who was granted his own patent by Elizabeth in 1584. Later that year, Raleigh founded the [[Roanoke Colony]] on the coast of present-day [[North Carolina]], but lack of supplies caused the colony to fail.{{Sfn|Canny|1998|pp=63–64}}

In 1603, [[James VI of Scotland]] ascended (as James I) to the English throne and in 1604 negotiated the [[Treaty of London (1604)|Treaty of London]], ending hostilities with Spain. Now at peace with its main rival, English attention shifted from preying on other nations' colonial infrastructures to the business of establishing its own overseas colonies.{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=70}} The British Empire began to take shape during the early 17th century, with the [[British colonization of the Americas|English settlement]] of North America and the smaller islands of the Caribbean, and the establishment of [[Joint-stock company|joint-stock companies]], most notably the [[East India Company]], to administer colonies and overseas trade. This period, until the loss of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] after the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] towards the end of the [[18th century]], has been referred to by some historians as the "First British Empire".{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=34}}

=== Americas, Africa and the slave trade ===
{{Main|British colonisation of the Americas|British America|Thirteen Colonies|British West Indies|Atlantic slave trade}}

[[File:Tobacco cultivation (Virginia, ca. 1670).jpg|thumb|A 1670 illustration of African slaves working in 17th-century [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]] in [[British America]]]]
England's early efforts at colonisation in the Americas met with mixed success. An attempt to establish a colony in [[British Guiana|Guiana]] in 1604 lasted only two years and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits.{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=71}} Colonies on the Caribbean islands of [[Saint Lucia|St Lucia]]&nbsp;(1605) and [[Grenada]]&nbsp;(1609) rapidly folded.{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=221}} The first permanent English settlement in the Americas was founded in 1607 in [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] by Captain [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]], and managed by the [[London Company|Virginia Company]]; the Crown took direct control of the venture in 1624, thereby founding the [[Colony of Virginia]].{{Sfn|Andrews|1984|pp=316, 324–326}} [[Bermuda]] was settled and claimed by England as a result of the 1609 shipwreck of the Virginia Company's [[Sea Venture|flagship]],{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=15–20}} while [[London and Bristol Company|attempts to settle Newfoundland]] were largely unsuccessful.{{Sfn|Andrews|1984|pp=20–22}} In 1620, [[Plymouth Colony|Plymouth]] was founded as a haven by [[Puritan]] religious separatists, later known as the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrim]]s.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=8}} Fleeing from [[religious persecution]] would become the motive for many English would-be colonists to risk the arduous [[Transatlantic crossing|trans-Atlantic voyage]]: [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]] was established by [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|English Roman Catholics]]&nbsp;(1634), [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]]&nbsp;(1636) as a colony [[Religious tolerance|tolerant of all religions]] and Connecticut&nbsp;(1639) for [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]]. England's North American holdings were further expanded by the annexation of the Dutch colony of [[New Netherland]] in 1664, following the capture of [[New Amsterdam]], which was renamed [[New York (state)|New York]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=40}} Although less financially successful than colonies in the Caribbean, these territories had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far greater numbers of English emigrants, who preferred their temperate climates.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|pp=72–73}}<!-- Insert some discussion of interaction with Native Indians here -->

The [[British West Indies]] initially provided England's most important and lucrative colonies.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=17}} Settlements were successfully established in [[Saint Kitts|St. Kitts]]&nbsp;(1624), [[Barbados]]&nbsp;(1627) and [[Nevis]]&nbsp;(1628),{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=221}} but struggled until the "Sugar Revolution" transformed the Caribbean economy in the mid-17th century.<ref name="BBC_Watson">{{Cite web |last=Watson |first=Karl |date=2 February 2011 |title=Slavery and Economy in Barbados |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/barbados_01.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212022845/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/barbados_01.shtml |archive-date=12 February 2012 |access-date=5 June 2022 |website=BBC History}}</ref> Large [[Sugar plantations in the Caribbean|sugarcane plantations]] were first established in the 1640s on Barbados, with assistance from Dutch merchants and [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jews]] fleeing [[Colonial Brazil|Portuguese Brazil]]. At first, sugar was grown primarily using white [[Indentured servitude in British America|indentured labour]], but rising costs soon led English traders to embrace the use of imported African slaves.<ref>{{Harvnb|Higman|2000|p=224}}; {{Harvnb|Richardson|2022|p=24}}.</ref> The enormous wealth generated by slave-produced sugar made Barbados the most successful colony in the Americas,{{Sfn|Higman|2000|pp=224–225}} and one of the most densely populated places in the world.<ref name="BBC_Watson"/> This boom led to the spread of sugar cultivation across the Caribbean, financed the development of non-plantation colonies in North America, and accelerated the growth of the [[Atlantic slave trade]], particularly the [[triangular trade]] of slaves, sugar and provisions between Africa, the West Indies and Europe.{{Sfn|Higman|2000|pp=225–226}}

To ensure that the increasingly healthy profits of colonial trade remained in English hands, Parliament [[Navigation Acts|decreed]] in 1651 that only English ships would be able to ply their trade in English colonies. This led to hostilities with the [[Dutch Republic|United Dutch Provinces]]—a series of [[Anglo-Dutch Wars]]—which would eventually strengthen England's position in the Americas at the expense of the Dutch.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=32}} In 1655, England annexed the island of [[Jamaica]] from the Spanish, and in 1666 succeeded in colonising the [[The Bahamas|Bahamas]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=33, 43}}
In 1670, [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] incorporated by royal charter the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC), granting it a monopoly on the [[North American fur trade|fur trade]] in the area known as [[Rupert's Land]], which would later form a large proportion of the [[Canada|Dominion of Canada]]. Forts and trading posts established by the HBC were frequently the subject of attacks by the French, who had established their own fur trading colony in adjacent [[New France]].{{Sfn|Buckner|2008|p=25}}

Two years later, the [[Royal African Company]] was granted a monopoly on the supply of slaves to the British colonies in the Caribbean.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=37}} The company would transport more slaves across the Atlantic than any other, and significantly grew England's share of the trade, from 33 per cent in 1673 to 74 per cent in 1683.{{Sfn|Pettigrew|2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8osqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 11]}} The removal of this monopoly between 1688 and 1712 allowed independent British slave traders to thrive, leading to a rapid escalation in the number of slaves transported.{{Sfn|Pettigrew|2007|pages=3–38}} British ships carried a third of all slaves shipped across the Atlantic—approximately 3.5&nbsp;million Africans{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=62}}—until the abolition of the trade by Parliament in 1807 (see {{Section link||Abolition of slavery}}).{{Sfn|Richardson|2022|p=23}} To facilitate the shipment of slaves, forts were established on the coast of West Africa, such as [[Kunta Kinteh Island|James Island]], [[Jamestown, Ghana|Accra]] and [[Bunce Island]]. In the British Caribbean, the percentage of the population of African descent rose from 25 per cent in 1650 to around 80 per cent in 1780, and in the Thirteen Colonies from 10 per cent to 40 per cent over the same period (the majority in the southern colonies).{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=228}} The transatlantic slave trade played a pervasive role in British economic life, and became a major economic mainstay for western port cities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Draper |first=N. |date=2008 |title=The City of London and Slavery: Evidence from the First Dock Companies, 1795–1800 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40057514 |url-status=live |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=432–433, 459–461 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00400.x |issn=0013-0117 |jstor=40057514 |s2cid=154280545 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608174235/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40057514 |archive-date=8 June 2022 |access-date=8 June 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Ships registered in [[Bristol]], [[Liverpool]] and [[London]] were responsible for the bulk of British slave trading.{{Sfn|Nellis|2013|p=30}} For the transported, harsh and unhygienic conditions on the slaving ships and poor diets meant that the average [[mortality rate]] during the [[Middle Passage]] was one in seven.{{Sfn|Marshall|1998|pp=440–464}}

=== Rivalry with other European empires ===
{{Main|East India Company}}

[[File:Fort St. George, Chennai.jpg|thumb|upright=1.58|[[Fort St. George, India|Fort St. George]] in [[Chennai|Madras]], India, was founded in 1639.]]
At the end of the 16th century, England and the [[Dutch Empire]] began to challenge the [[Portuguese Empire]]'s monopoly of trade with Asia, forming private joint-stock companies to finance the voyages—the English, later British, East India Company and the [[Dutch East India Company]], chartered in 1600 and 1602 respectively. The primary aim of these companies was to tap into the lucrative [[spice trade]], an effort focused mainly on two regions: the [[Malay Archipelago|East Indies archipelago]], and an important hub in the trade network, India. There, they competed for trade supremacy with Portugal and with each other.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=13}} Although England eclipsed the Netherlands as a colonial power, in the short term the Netherlands' more advanced financial system{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=19}} and the three [[Anglo-Dutch Wars]] of the 17th century left it with a stronger position in Asia. Hostilities ceased after the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688 when the Dutch [[William III of England|William of Orange]] ascended the English throne, bringing peace between the [[Dutch Republic]] and England. A deal between the two nations left the [[spice trade]] of the [[East Indies]] archipelago to the Netherlands and the [[Textile industry in India|textiles industry of India]] to England, but textiles soon overtook spices in terms of profitability.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=19}}

Peace between England and the Netherlands in 1688 meant the two countries entered the [[Nine Years' War]] as allies, but the conflict—waged in Europe and overseas between France, Spain and the Anglo-Dutch alliance—left the English a stronger colonial power than the Dutch, who were forced to devote a larger proportion of their [[military budget]] to the costly land war in Europe.{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=441}} The death of [[Charles II of Spain]] in 1700 and his bequeathal of Spain and its colonial empire to [[Philip V of Spain]], a grandson of the [[Louis XIV|King of France]], raised the prospect of the unification of France, Spain and their respective colonies, an unacceptable state of affairs for England and the other powers of Europe.{{Sfn|Shennan|1995|pp=11–17}} In 1701, England, Portugal and the Netherlands sided with the [[Holy Roman Empire]] against Spain and France in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], which lasted for thirteen years.{{Sfn|Shennan|1995|pp=11–17}}

== Colonies and territories of Scotland (1629–1707)==
{{Main|Scottish colonization of the Americas}}

Colonisation attempts by the [[Kingdom of Scotland]] predates the establishment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the British Empire. During the 17th century, the Kingdom of Scotland made attempts to establish trading schemes in [[Ireland]] and [[Canada]]. [[Nova Scotia]], today a province of Canada, was a short lived scheme in the [[Mi'kmaq people]] territory.<ref name="nms.ac.uk"/> Additionally, there was a high number of Scots in Ireland, particularly in the region of [[Ulster]], who settled there as planters.<ref>{{cite web |title=3.2 Colonialism and Empire {{!}} The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework |url=https://scarf.scot/national/scarf-modern-panel-report/3-global-localities/3-2-colonialism-and-empire/ |website=scarf.scot |access-date=1 March 2025 |date=17 April 2012 |archive-date=17 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250317132446/https://scarf.scot/national/scarf-modern-panel-report/3-global-localities/3-2-colonialism-and-empire/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===North America===

The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of [[Nova Scotia]] in 1629. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by [[James VI and I|James VI of Scotland]] to Sir [[William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling|William Alexander]].<ref>{{cite book| last =Fry| first=Michael|title=The Scottish Empire| publisher=Tuckwell Press| year =2001|isbn=1-84158-259-X|page=21}}</ref> Between 1622 and 1628, Sir William launched four attempts to send colonists to Nova Scotia; all failed for various reasons. A successful settlement of Nova Scotia was finally achieved in 1629. The colony's charter, in law, made Nova Scotia (defined as all land between [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] and [[New England]]; i.e., [[The Maritimes]]) a part of mainland Scotland; this was later used to get around the English [[navigation acts]].

As a country, Scotland engaged in two ventures in an attempt to establish colonies within English colonies during the 1680s in [[Carolinas|Carolina]] and [[East New Jersey]]. The attempt to establish themselves in Carolina was largely in part due to Scottish Presbyterians fleeing from the threat of religious persecution in Scotland, and were assisted in their efforts by Scottish merchants who were aiming to develop transatlantic trade which was not subjected to the English Navigation Acts. The Act restricted Scottish trade with English colonies. Scottish settlement attempts in Carolina began in 1682, and was eventually defeated by the dissolution of the Scottish settlement of Stewartstoun, which was established in 1684, by the Spanish in 1686.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Scottish Colonising Voyages to Carolina and East New Jersey in the 1680s |url=https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol30/tnm_30_155-166.pdf |website=cnrs-scrn.org |publisher=Joseph Wagner |access-date=1 March 2025 |archive-date=25 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241125055102/https://cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol30/tnm_30_155-166.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===South America===

In 1695, the [[Parliament of Scotland]] granted a charter to the [[Company of Scotland]], which established a settlement in 1698 on the [[Isthmus of Panama]]. Besieged by neighbouring [[Spanish empire|Spanish]] colonists of [[New Kingdom of Granada|New Granada]], and affected by [[malaria]], the colony was abandoned two years later. The [[Darien scheme]] was a financial disaster for Scotland: a quarter of Scottish capital was lost in the enterprise.{{Sfn|Magnusson|2003|p=531}} The episode had major political consequences, helping to persuade the government of the [[Kingdom of Scotland]] of the merits of turning the [[personal union]] with [[England]] into a political and economic one under the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] established by the [[Acts of Union 1707]].{{Sfn|Macaulay|1848|p=509}}

== Expansion and colonial conflict (1707–1783) ==
[[File:Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Clive]]'s victory at the [[Battle of Plassey]] established the [[East India Company]] as both a military and commercial power.]]
The 18th century saw the [[Acts of Union 1707|newly united]] Great Britain rise to be the world's dominant colonial power, with [[France]] becoming its main rival on the imperial stage.{{Sfn|Pagden|2003|p=90}} Great Britain, [[Portugal]], the [[Netherlands]], and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] continued the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted until 1714 and was concluded by the [[Treaty of Utrecht]]. [[Philip V of Spain]] renounced his and his descendants' claim to the French throne, and Spain lost its empire in Europe.{{Sfn|Shennan|1995|pp=11–17}} The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, Britain gained [[Newfoundland Colony|Newfoundland]] and [[Acadia]], and from Spain, [[Gibraltar]] and [[Menorca]]. Gibraltar became a [[Gibraltar Squadron|critical naval base]] and allowed Britain to control the [[Strait of Gibraltar|Atlantic entry and exit point]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. Spain ceded the rights to the lucrative ''[[asiento]]'' (permission to sell African slaves in [[Spanish America]]) to Britain.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=58}} With the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] in 1739, Spanish privateers attacked British merchant shipping along the [[Triangle Trade]] routes. In 1746, the Spanish and British began peace talks, with the King of Spain agreeing to stop all attacks on British shipping; however, in the [[Treaty of Madrid (5 October 1750)|1750 Treaty of Madrid]], Britain lost its slave-trading rights in [[Latin America]].{{Sfn|Anderson|Combe|1801|p=277}}

In the East Indies, British and Dutch merchants continued to compete in spices and textiles. With textiles becoming the larger trade, by 1720, in terms of sales, the British company had overtaken the Dutch.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=19}} During the middle decades of the 18th century, there were [[Carnatic Wars|several outbreaks of military conflict]] on the [[Indian subcontinent]], as the English East India Company and its [[French Indies Company|French counterpart]], struggled alongside local rulers to fill the vacuum that had been left by the decline of the [[Mughal Empire]]. The [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757, in which the British defeated the [[Nawab of Bengal]] and his French allies, left the British East India Company in control of [[Bengal]] and as a major military and political power in India.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=17}} France was left control of its [[French India|enclaves]] but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British [[client state]]s, ending French hopes of controlling India.{{Sfn|Bandyopādhyāẏa|2004|pp=49–52}} In the following decades the British East India Company gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or via local rulers under the threat of force from the [[Presidency Armies]], the vast majority of which was composed of Indian [[sepoy]]s, led by British officers.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=18–19}} The British and French struggles in India became but one theatre of the global [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–1763) involving France, Britain, and the other major European powers.{{Sfn|Buckner|2008|p=25}}

The signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris of 1763]] had important consequences for the future of the British Empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power effectively ended with the recognition of British claims to Rupert's Land,{{Sfn|Buckner|2008|p=25}} and the [[Conquest of New France (1758–1760)|ceding of New France to Britain]] (leaving a sizeable [[French Canadian|French-speaking population]] under British control) and [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] to Spain. Spain ceded [[the Floridas]] to Britain. Along with its victory over France in India, the Seven Years' War therefore left Britain as the world's most powerful [[maritime power]].{{Sfn|Pagden|2003|p=91}}

=== Loss of the Thirteen American Colonies ===
{{Main|American Revolution|American Revolutionary War|Decolonization of the Americas|British North America|History of Canada (1763–1867)|War of 1812|}}

{{See also|Timeline of the American Revolution}}
During the 1760s and early 1770s, relations between the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the [[British Parliament]]'s attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=84}} This was summarised at the time by the colonists' slogan "[[No taxation without representation]]", a perceived violation of the guaranteed [[Rights of Englishmen]]. The [[American Revolution]] began with a rejection of Parliamentary authority and moves towards self-government. In response, Britain sent troops to reimpose direct rule, leading to the outbreak of war in 1775. The following year, in 1776, the [[Second Continental Congress]] issued the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] proclaiming the colonies' sovereignty from the British Empire as the new [[United States of America]]. The entry of [[France in the American Revolutionary War|French]] and [[Spain and the American Revolutionary War|Spanish forces]] into the war tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in 1781, Britain began negotiating peace terms. American independence was acknowledged at the [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Peace of Paris]] in 1783.{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|pp=312–223}}

The loss of such a large portion of [[British America]], at the time Britain's most populous overseas possession, is seen by some historians as the event defining the transition between the first and second empires,{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=92}} in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa.<ref>For a review of the historiography of the concepts of the first and second British Empires, see: Robin Winks and Wm. Roger Louis (eds.), [https://academic.oup.com/book/7007 ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V: Historiography'' (Oxford Academic:  1999)], chapter 2 ([[P. J. Marshall]], "The First British Empire"), and chapter 3 ([[Christopher Bayly|C.A. Bayley]], "The Second British Empire").</ref> [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[The Wealth of Nations|Wealth of Nations]]'', published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that [[free trade]] should replace the old [[Mercantilism|mercantilist]] policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the [[protectionism]] of Spain and Portugal.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pagden|2003|p=91}}; {{Harvnb|James|2001|p=120}}.</ref> The growth of trade between the newly independent [[United States]] and Britain after 1783 seemed to confirm Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.<ref>{{Harvnb|James|2001|p=119}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|1998|p=585}}.</ref>

The war to the south influenced British policy in [[Canada]], where between 40,000 and 100,000{{Sfn|Zolberg|2006|p=496}} defeated [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] had migrated from the new United States following independence.{{Sfn|Games|2002|pp=46–48}} The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the [[Saint John River (New Brunswick)|Saint John]] and [[Saint Croix River (Maine – New Brunswick)|Saint Croix river]] valleys, then part of [[Nova Scotia]], felt too far removed from the provincial government in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], so London split off [[New Brunswick]] as a separate colony in 1784.{{Sfn|Kelley|Trebilcock|2010|p=43}} The [[Constitutional Act 1791]] created the provinces of [[Upper Canada]] (mainly [[English Canada|English speaking]]) and [[Lower Canada]] (mainly [[French Canadians|French-speaking]]) to defuse tensions between the French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=28}}

Tensions between Britain and the United States escalated again during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], as Britain tried to cut off American trade with France and boarded American ships to [[Impressment|impress]] men into the [[Royal Navy]]. The [[United States Congress]] declared war, the [[War of 1812]], and invaded Canadian territory. In response, Britain invaded the US, but the pre-war boundaries were reaffirmed by the 1814 [[Treaty of Ghent]], ensuring Canada's future would be separate from that of the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Latimer|2007|pp=8, 30–34, 389–392}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|1998|p=388}}.</ref>

== Consolidation and global dominance (1783–1815) ==
=== Exploration of the Pacific ===
{{Main|History of Australia (1788–1850)|History of New Zealand}}

[[File:Captainjamescookportrait.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of James Cook]]'' by [[Nathaniel Dance-Holland]], 1775. [[James Cook]]'s mission was to find the alleged southern continent ''[[Terra Australis]]''.]]
Since 1718, [[penal transportation|transportation]] to the American colonies had been a penalty for various offences in Britain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=20}} Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783, the British government looked for an alternative, eventually turning to [[Australia]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=20–21}} On his first of three voyages commissioned by the government, [[James Cook]] reached New Zealand in October 1769. He was the first European to circumnavigate and map the country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trove - Archived webpage |url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17691007.html |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110205071752/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17691007.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-02-05 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Trove |language=en}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, [[missionaries]], traders and adventurers but no attempt was made to settle the country or establish possession. The [[New Holland (Australia)|coast of Australia]] had been discovered for Europeans by the Dutch [[Janszoon voyage of 1605–06|in 1606]],{{Sfn|Mulligan|Hill|2001|pp=20–23}} but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770, after leaving New Zealand, [[James Cook]] charted the eastern coast, claimed the continent for Britain, and named it [[Colony of New South Wales|New South Wales]].{{Sfn|Peters|2006|pp=5–23}} In 1778, [[Joseph Banks]], Cook's [[botanist]] on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of [[Botany Bay]] for the establishment of a [[Penal colony|penal settlement]], and in 1787 the first shipment of [[Convicts in Australia|convicts]] set sail, arriving in 1788.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=142}} Unusually, Australia was claimed through proclamation. [[Indigenous Australians]] were considered too uncivilised to require treaties,<ref>{{Harvnb|Macintyre|2009|pp=33–34}}; {{Harvnb|Broome|2010|p=18}}.</ref> and colonisation brought disease and violence that together with the deliberate dispossession of land and culture were devastating to these peoples.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pascoe|2018}}{{Page needed|date=November 2022}}; {{Harvnb|McKenna|2002|pp=28–29}}.</ref> Britain continued to transport convicts to New South Wales until 1840, to [[Colony of Tasmania|Tasmania]] until 1853 and to [[Colony of Western Australia|Western Australia]] until 1868.{{Sfn|Brock|2011|p=159}} The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold,{{Sfn|Fieldhouse|1999|pp=145–149}} mainly because of the [[Victorian gold rush]], making its capital [[Melbourne]] for a time the richest city in the world.{{Sfn|Cervero|1998|p=320}}

The British also expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area, culminating in the [[Nootka Crisis]] in 1789. Both sides mobilised for war, but when France refused to support Spain, it was forced to back down, leading to the [[Nootka Convention]]. The outcome was a humiliation for Spain, which practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blackmar |first=Frank Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F11GAAAAYAAJ |title=Spanish Institutions of the Southwest Issue 10 of Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science |date=1891 |publisher=Hopkins Press |page=335 |access-date=5 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114125414/https://books.google.com/books?id=F11GAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=14 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> This opened the way to British expansion in the area, and a number of expeditions took place; firstly a [[Vancouver Expedition|naval expedition]] led by [[George Vancouver]] which explored the inlets around the Pacific North West, particularly around [[Vancouver Island]].<ref name="pethick0">{{Cite book |last=Pethick |first=Derek |url=https://archive.org/details/nootkaconnection0000peth |title=The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795 |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-8889-4279-1 |location=Vancouver |page=[https://archive.org/details/nootkaconnection0000peth/page/18 18] |url-access=registration}}</ref> On land, expeditions sought to discover a river route to the Pacific for the extension of the [[North American fur trade]]. [[Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)|Alexander Mackenzie]] of the [[North West Company]] led the first, starting out in 1792, and a year later he became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the [[Rio Grande]], reaching the ocean near present-day [[Bella Coola, British Columbia|Bella Coola]]. This preceded the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] by twelve years. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, [[John Finlay (fur trader)|John Finlay]], founded the first permanent European settlement in [[British Columbia]], [[Fort St. John, British Columbia|Fort St. John]]. The North West Company sought further exploration and backed expeditions by [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]], starting in 1797, and later by [[Simon Fraser (explorer)|Simon Fraser]]. These pushed into the wilderness territories of the [[Rocky Mountains]] and [[Interior Plateau]] to the [[Strait of Georgia]] on the Pacific Coast, expanding [[British North America]] westward.<ref name="innes">{{Cite book |last=Innis |first=Harold A |url={{Google books|eCgps70cHV4C|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History |date=2001 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8196-4 |edition=reprint |location=Toronto, Ontario |orig-year=1930}}</ref>

=== Continued conquest in India ===
{{Multiple image
| caption_align = center
| header_align  = center
| align         = right
| total_width   = 350
| direction     = horizontal
| image1        = India-ImperialGazetteer-1765.jpg
| footer        = Maps of the [[Indian subcontinent]] in 1765 (left) and 1858 (right) showing British expansion in the region.
| image2        = IGI1908India1857b.jpg
}}

The East India Company fought a series of [[Anglo-Mysore Wars|Anglo-Mysore wars]] in [[South India|Southern India]] with the [[Kingdom of Mysore|Sultanate of Mysore]] under [[Hyder Ali]] and then [[Tipu Sultan]]. Defeats in the [[First Anglo-Mysore War|First Anglo-Mysore war]] and stalemate in the [[Second Anglo-Mysore War|Second]] were followed by victories in the [[Third Anglo-Mysore War|Third]] and the [[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War|Fourth]].<ref name="Naravane3">{{Cite book |last=Naravane |first=M. S. |title=Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxsa3jtHoCEC&pg=PA172 |publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation |year=2014 |isbn=978-8-1313-0034-3 |location=New Delhi |pages=172–181 |archive-date=23 December 2024 |access-date=26 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241223021212/https://books.google.com/books?id=bxsa3jtHoCEC&pg=PA172 |url-status=live }}</ref> Following Tipu Sultan's death in the fourth war in the [[Siege of Seringapatam (1799)]], the kingdom became a protectorate of the company.<ref name="Naravane3"/>

The East India Company fought three Anglo-Maratha Wars with the [[Maratha Empire|Maratha Confederacy]]. The [[First Anglo-Maratha War]] ended in 1782 with a restoration of the pre-war ''status quo''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Battle of Wadgaon |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/battle-of-Wadgaon |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623110244/https://www.britannica.com/topic/battle-of-Wadgaon |archive-date=23 June 2022 |access-date=23 June 2022}}</ref> The [[Second Anglo-Maratha War|Second]] and [[Third Anglo-Maratha War|Third Anglo-Maratha]] wars resulted in British victories.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hunter|1907|p=203}}; {{Harvnb|Capper|1997|p=28}}.</ref> After the surrender of Peshwa [[Baji Rao II|Bajirao II]] in 1818, the East India Company acquired control of a large majority of the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Trivedi|Allen|2000|p=30}}; {{Harvnb|Nayar|2008|p=64}}.</ref>

=== Wars with France ===
{{Main|French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars}}

[[File:Battle of Waterloo 1815.PNG|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815 ended in the defeat of [[Napoleon]] and marked the beginning of ''[[Pax Britannica]]''.]]
Britain was challenged again by France under Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two nations.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=152}} It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was at risk: Napoleon threatened to invade Britain itself, just as his armies had overrun many countries of [[continental Europe]].{{Sfn|James|2001|p=151}}

The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the [[Royal Navy]], which won a decisive victory over a [[French Imperial Navy]]-[[Spanish Navy]] fleet at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of the Netherlands, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. France was finally defeated by a coalition of European armies in 1815.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=115–118}} Britain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: France ceded the [[United States of the Ionian Islands|Ionian Islands]], [[Malta Protectorate|Malta]] (which it had occupied in 1798), [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]], [[St Lucia]], the [[Seychelles]], and [[Tobago]]; Spain ceded [[Trinidad]]; the Netherlands ceded [[British Guiana|Guiana]], [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]] and the [[Cape Colony]], while the Danish ceded [[British Administration of Heligoland|Heligoland]]. Britain returned [[Guadeloupe]], [[Martinique]], [[French Guiana]], and [[Réunion]] to France; [[Menorca]] to Spain; [[Danish West Indies]] to Denmark and [[Java]] and [[Suriname]] to the Netherlands.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=165}}<!--Aruba and Curaçao were returned as well I think-->

=== Abolition of slavery ===
{{Main|Abolitionism in the United Kingdom}}

With the advent of the [[Industrial Revolution]], goods produced by slavery became less important to the [[British economy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why was Slavery finally abolished in the British Empire? |url=http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_111.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126120021/http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_111.html |archive-date=26 November 2016 |access-date=31 December 2016 |publisher=The Abolition Project}}</ref> Added to this was the cost of suppressing regular [[slave rebellion]]s. With support from the British [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolitionist]] movement, [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] enacted the [[Slave Trade Act 1807|Slave Trade Act]] in 1807, which abolished the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] in the empire. In 1808, [[Sierra Leone Colony]] was designated an official British colony for freed slaves.{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=14}} Parliamentary reform in 1832 saw the influence of the [[West India Committee]] decline. The [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|Slavery Abolition Act]], passed the following year, abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834, finally bringing the empire into line with the law in the UK (with the exception of the territories administered by the East India Company and Ceylon, where slavery was ended in 1844). Under the Act, slaves were granted full emancipation after a period of four to six years of "apprenticeship".{{Sfn|Hinks|2007|p=129}} Facing further opposition from abolitionists, the apprenticeship system was abolished in 1838.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slavery After 1807 |url=http://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/the-slave-trade-and-abolition/sites-of-memory/ending-slavery/slavery-after-1807 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132941/https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/the-slave-trade-and-abolition/sites-of-memory/ending-slavery/slavery-after-1807 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |access-date=24 November 2019 |publisher=Historic England |language=en |quote=As a result of public pressure apprenticeships were abolished early, in 1838.}}</ref> The British government compensated slave-owners.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 August 1833 |title=Slavery Abolition Act 1833; Section XXIV |url=http://www.pdavis.nl/Legis_07.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524010152/http://www.pdavis.nl/Legis_07.htm |archive-date=24 May 2008 |access-date=3 June 2008 |publisher=pdavis}}</ref><ref name="Manning">{{Cite news |last=Sanchez Manning |date=24 February 2013 |title=Britain's colonial shame: Slave-owners given huge payouts after |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-colonial-shame-slave-owners-given-huge-payouts-after-abolition-8508358.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212052103/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-colonial-shame-slave-owners-given-huge-payouts-after-abolition-8508358.html |archive-date=12 December 2019 |access-date=11 February 2018 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>

== Britain's imperial century (1815–1914) ==
{{See also|Timeline of British diplomatic history#1815–1860|Industrial Revolution|Political and diplomatic history of the Victorian era}}

During Britain's "imperial century" between 1815 and 1914,<ref>{{Harvnb|Hyam|2002|p=1}}; {{Harvnb|Smith|1998|p=71}}.</ref> around {{convert|10|e6sqmi|e6km2|abbr=unit}} of territory and roughly 400&nbsp;million people were added to the British Empire.{{Sfn|Parsons|1999|p=3}} Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than [[The Great Game|Russia in Central Asia]].{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=401}} Unchallenged at sea, Britain became the [[global policeman]], a state of affairs later known as the ''[[Pax Britannica]]'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Porter|1998|p=332}}; {{Harvnb|Johnston|Reisman|2008|pp=508–510}}; {{Harvnb|Sondhaus|2004|p=9}}.</ref> and a foreign policy of "[[splendid isolation]]".{{Sfn|Lee|1994|pp=254–257}} Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and [[Thailand|Siam]], which were seen as its "[[Informal Empire|informal empire]]".<ref name="Porter 1998 8"/>

[[File:Victoria Disraeli cartoon.jpg|thumb|upright|An 1876 political cartoon of [[Benjamin Disraeli]] making Queen Victoria [[Empress of India]]. The caption reads "New crowns for old ones!"]]
British imperial strength was underpinned by the [[steamship]] and the [[telegraph]], new technologies invented in the second half of the 19th century, allowing it to control and defend the empire. By 1902, the British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph cables, the [[All Red Line]].{{Sfn|Dalziel|2006|pp=88–91}}

=== East India Company rule and the British Raj in India ===
{{Main|Presidencies and provinces of British India}}

{{See also|Company rule in India|British Raj}}

The East India Company drove the expansion of the British Empire in Asia. The company's army had first joined forces with the [[Royal Navy]] during the [[Seven Years' War]], and the two continued to co-operate in arenas outside India: the eviction of the French from Egypt (1799),{{Sfn|Mori|2014|p=178}} the [[Invasion of Java (1811)|capture of Java]] from the Netherlands (1811), the [[Penang#Establishment and British rule|acquisition of Penang Island]] (1786), [[Founding years of modern Singapore|Singapore]] (1819) and [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824|Malacca]] (1824), and the [[First Anglo-Burmese War|defeat of Burma]] (1826).{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=401}}

From its base in India, the company had been engaged in an increasingly profitable opium export trade to [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] since the 1730s. This trade, illegal since it was outlawed by China in 1729, helped reverse the trade imbalances resulting from the British imports of tea, which saw large outflows of silver from Britain to China.{{Sfn|Martin|2007|pp=146–148}} In 1839, the confiscation by the Chinese authorities at [[Guangzhou|Canton]] of 20,000 chests of opium led Britain to attack China in the [[First Opium War]], and resulted in the seizure by Britain of [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong Island]], at that time a minor settlement, and other [[treaty ports]] including [[Shanghai International Settlement|Shanghai]].{{Sfn|Janin|1999|p=28}}

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British Crown began to assume an increasingly large role in the affairs of the company. A series of acts of Parliament were passed, including the [[Regulating Act 1773]], [[East India Company Act 1784]] and the [[Charter Act 1813]] which regulated the company's affairs and established the sovereignty of the Crown over the territories that it had acquired.{{Sfn|Keay|1991|p=393}} The company's eventual end was precipitated by the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]] in 1857, a conflict that had begun with the mutiny of sepoys, Indian troops under British officers and discipline.{{Sfn|Parsons|1999|pp=44–46}} The rebellion took six months to suppress, with heavy loss of life on both sides. The following year the British government dissolved the company and assumed direct control over India through the [[Government of India Act 1858]], establishing the [[British Raj]], where an appointed [[Governor-General of India|governor-general]] administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the [[Empress of India]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=50–57}} India became the empire's most valuable possession, "the Jewel in the Crown", and was the most important source of Britain's strength.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}}

A series of serious crop failures in the late 19th century led to [[Famine in India|widespread famines]] on the subcontinent in which it is estimated that over 15&nbsp;million people died. The East India Company had failed to implement any coordinated policy to deal with the famines during its period of rule. Later, under direct British rule, commissions were set up after each famine to investigate the causes and implement new policies, which took until the early 1900s to have an effect.{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|pp=133–134}}

===New Zealand===
{{main|Colony of New Zealand}}

On each of his three voyages to the Pacific between 1769 and 1777, James Cook visited [[New Zealand]]. He was followed by an assortment of Europeans and Americans which including whalers, sealers, escaped convicts from New South Wales, missionaries and adventurers. Initially, contact with the indigenous [[Māori people]] was limited to the trading of goods, although interaction increased during the early decades of the 19th century with many trading and missionary stations being set up, especially in the north. The first of several Church of England missionaries arrived in 1814 and as well as their missionary role, they soon become the only form of European authority in a land that was not subject to British jurisdiction: the closest authority being the New South Wales governor in Sydney. The sale of weapons to Māori resulted from 1818 on in the intertribal warfare of the [[Musket Wars]], with devastating consequences for the Māori population.<ref>{{cite web |title=Musket Wars |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/musket-wars/overview |website=NZ History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage) |access-date=2 November 2024 |date=2021 |archive-date=22 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722114643/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/musket-wars/overview |url-status=live }}</ref>

The UK government finally decided to act, dispatching Captain [[William Hobson]] with instructions to take formal possession after obtaining native consent. There was no central Māori authority able to represent all New Zealand so, on 6 February 1840, Hobson and many Māori chiefs signed the [[Treaty of Waitangi]] in the Bay of Islands; most other chiefs signing in stages over the following months.<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1998|p=45}}; {{Harvnb|Porter|1998|p=579}}; {{Harvnb|Mein Smith|2005|p=49}}; {{Cite web |title=Waitangi Day |url=http://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/waitangi-day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220020659/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/treaty/waitangi-day |archive-date=20 December 2008 |access-date=13 December 2008 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |publisher=[[New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage]]}}.</ref> William Hobson declared British sovereignty over all New Zealand on 21 May 1840, over the North Island by cession and over the South Island by discovery (the island was sparsely populated and deemed [[terra nullius]]). Hobson became Lieutenant-Governor, subject to Governor Sir [[George Gipps]] in Sydney,{{sfn|Moon|2007|p=48}} with British possession of New Zealand initially administered from Australia as a dependency of the New South Wales colony. From 16 June 1840 New South Wales laws applied in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Crown colony era |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/history-of-the-governor-general/crown-colony-era |website=NZ History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=2 November 2024 |archive-date=15 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915004506/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/history-of-the-governor-general/crown-colony-era |url-status=live }}</ref> This transitional arrangement ended with the Charter for Erecting the Colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1840. The Charter stated that New Zealand would be established as a separate [[Crown colony]] on 3 May 1841 with Hobson as its governor.{{sfn|Moon|2010|p=66}}

=== Rivalry with Russia ===
{{Main|The Great Game}}

[[File:Relief of the Light Brigade.png|thumb|British cavalry charging against Russian forces at [[Battle of Balaclava|Balaclava]] in 1854]]
During the 19th century, Britain and the [[Russian Empire]] vied to fill the power vacuums that had been left by the declining [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Qajar dynasty]] and [[Qing dynasty]]. This rivalry in Central Asia came to be known as the "Great Game".{{Sfn|Hopkirk|1992|pp=1–12}} As far as Britain was concerned, defeats inflicted by Russia on [[Russo-Persian War (1826–1828)|Persia]] and [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|Turkey]] demonstrated its imperial ambitions and capabilities and stoked fears in Britain of an overland invasion of India.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=181}} In 1839, Britain moved to pre-empt this by invading [[Afghanistan]], but the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] was a disaster for Britain.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=182}}

When Russia invaded the [[Rumelia|Ottoman Balkans]] in 1853, fears of Russian dominance in the Mediterranean and the Middle East led Britain and France to enter the war in support of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and invade the [[Crimean Peninsula]] to destroy Russian naval capabilities.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=182}} The ensuing [[Crimean War]] (1854–1856), which involved new techniques of [[modern warfare]],{{Sfn|Royle|2000|loc=preface}} was the only [[global war]] fought between Britain and another [[Imperialism|imperial power]] during the ''Pax Britannica'' and was a resounding defeat for Russia.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=182}} The situation remained unresolved in Central Asia for two more decades, with Britain annexing [[Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|Baluchistan]] in 1876 and Russia annexing [[Kirghizia]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Turkmenistan]]. For a while, it appeared that another war would be inevitable, but the two countries reached an agreement on their respective [[Sphere of influence|spheres of influence]] in the region in 1878 and on all outstanding matters in 1907 with the signing of the [[Anglo-Russian Entente]].{{Sfn|Williams|1966|pp=360–373}} The destruction of the [[Imperial Russian Navy]] by the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] at the [[Battle of Tsushima]] during the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905 limited its threat to the British.{{Sfn|Hodge|2007|p=47}}

=== Cape to Cairo ===
{{Main|History of South Africa (1815–1910)|History of Egypt under the British|Scramble for Africa}}

[[File:Punch Rhodes Colossus.png|thumb|''[[The Rhodes Colossus]]''—[[Cecil Rhodes]] spanning "Cape to Cairo"]]

The Dutch East India Company had founded the [[Dutch Cape Colony]] on the [[Cape of Good Hope|southern tip of Africa]] in 1652 as a way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the [[Indies|East Indies]]. Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large [[Afrikaner]] (or [[Boer]]) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands during the [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|Flanders Campaign]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=85}} British immigration to the [[Cape Colony]] began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of [[Boers]], resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived—[[Boer republics|independent republics]], during the [[Great Trek]] of the late 1830s and early 1840s.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=85–86}} In the process the [[Voortrekkers]] clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and to the various native African polities, including those of the [[Sotho people]] and the [[Zulu Kingdom]]. Eventually, the Boers established two republics that had a longer lifespan: the [[South African Republic]] or Transvaal Republic (1852–1877; 1881–1902) and the [[Orange Free State]] (1854–1902).{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=168, 186, 243}} In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two [[Boer Republics]] following the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902).{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=255}}

In 1869 the [[Suez Canal]] opened under [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]], [[Indo-Mediterranean|linking]] the [[Mediterranean Sea]] with the [[Indian Ocean]]. Initially the Canal was opposed by the British;{{Sfn|Tilby|2009|p=256}} but once opened, its strategic value was quickly recognised and became the "jugular vein of the Empire".{{Sfn|Louis|1986|p=718}} In 1875, the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government of [[Benjamin Disraeli]] bought the indebted Egyptian ruler [[Isma'il Pasha]]'s 44 per cent shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4&nbsp;million (equivalent to £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK|4000000|1875|r=-7}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=UK}}). Although this did not grant outright control of the strategic waterway, it did give Britain leverage. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|pp=230–233}} Although Britain controlled the [[Khedivate of Egypt]] into the 20th century, it was officially a [[Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire|vassal state of the Ottoman Empire]] and not part of the British Empire. The French were still majority shareholders and attempted to weaken the British position,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=274}} but a compromise was reached with the 1888 [[Convention of Constantinople]], which made the Canal officially neutral territory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Treaties |url=http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/Treaties/Convention+Respecting+the+Free+Navigation+of+the+Suez+Maritime+Canal.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915095412/http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/Treaties/CONVENTION%2BRESPECTING%2BTHE%2BFREE%2BNAVIGATION%2BOF%2BTHE%2BSUEZ%2BMARITIME%2BCANAL.htm |archive-date=15 September 2010 |access-date=20 October 2010 |publisher=Egypt Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref>

With competitive French, [[Belgian colonial empire|Belgian]] and Portuguese activity in the lower [[Congo River]] region undermining orderly colonisation of tropical Africa, the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884–85 was held to regulate the competition between the European powers in what was called the "[[Scramble for Africa]]" by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims.{{Sfn|Herbst|2000|pp=71–72}} The scramble continued into the 1890s, and caused Britain to reconsider its decision in 1885 to withdraw from [[Sudan]]. A joint force of British and Egyptian troops defeated the [[Mahdist War|Mahdist Army]] in 1896 and rebuffed an attempted French invasion [[Fashoda Incident|at Fashoda]] in 1898. Sudan was nominally made an [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan|Anglo-Egyptian condominium]], but a British colony in reality.{{Sfn|Vandervort|1998|pp=169–183}}

British gains in Southern and East Africa prompted [[Cecil Rhodes]], pioneer of British expansion in [[Southern Africa]], to urge a "[[Cape to Cairo Railway|Cape to Cairo]]" railway linking the strategically important Suez Canal to the mineral-rich south of the continent.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=298}} During the 1880s and 1890s, Rhodes, with his privately owned [[British South Africa Company]], [[company rule in Rhodesia|occupied and annexed]] territories named after him, [[Rhodesia (name)|Rhodesia]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=215}}

=== Changing status of the white colonies ===

{{Main|Dominions|Canadian Confederation|Federation of Australia|Irish Home Rule movement|Independence of New Zealand||}}

[[File:British Empire flag RMG L0088.tiff|thumb|A [[British Empire flag]] combining the arms of the dominions to represent their growing significance]]
The path to independence for the white colonies of the British Empire began with the 1839 [[Report on the Affairs of British North America|Durham Report]], which proposed unification and self-government for Upper and Lower Canada, as a solution to political unrest which had erupted in [[Rebellions of 1837|armed rebellions]] in 1837.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=28–29}} This began with the passing of the [[Act of Union 1840|Act of Union]] in 1840, which created the [[Province of Canada]]. [[Responsible government]] was first granted to Nova Scotia in 1848, and was soon extended to the other British North American colonies. With the passage of the [[British North America Act, 1867]] by the [[British Parliament]], the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were formed into Canada, a confederation enjoying full self-government with the exception of [[international relations]].{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=187}} Australia and New Zealand achieved similar levels of self-government after 1900, with the Australian colonies [[federation of Australia|federating in 1901]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=30}} The term "dominion status" was officially introduced at the [[1907 Imperial Conference]].{{Sfn|Rhodes|Wanna|Weller|2009|pp=5–15}} As the dominions gained greater autonomy, they would come to be recognised as distinct realms of the empire with unique customs and symbols of their own. Imperial identity, through imagery such as patriotic artworks and banners, began developing into a form that attempted to be more inclusive by showcasing the empire as a family of newly birthed nations with common roots.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Ralph |date=8 August 2017 |title=A Flag for the Empire |url=https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ICV27-B8-Kelly.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813214957/https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ICV27-B8-Kelly.pdf |archive-date=13 August 2023 |access-date=13 August 2023 |website=The Flag Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford |first=Lisa |title=The King's Peace: Law and Order in the British Empire |date=2021 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-6742-4907-3 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England}}</ref>

The last decades of the 19th century saw concerted [[political campaign]]s for Irish [[home rule]]. Ireland had been united with Britain into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with the [[Act of Union 1800]] after the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], and had suffered a severe [[Great Famine (Ireland)|famine]] between 1845 and 1852. Home rule was supported by the British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister]], [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]], who hoped that Ireland might follow in Canada's footsteps as a Dominion within the empire, but his 1886 [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886|Home Rule bill]] was defeated in Parliament. Although the bill, if passed, would have granted Ireland less autonomy within the UK than the Canadian provinces had within their own federation,{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=213}} many MPs feared that a partially independent Ireland might pose a security threat to Great Britain or mark the beginning of the break-up of the empire.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=315}} A [[Irish Government Bill 1893|second Home Rule bill]] was defeated for similar reasons.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=315}} A [[Home Rule Act 1914|third bill]] was passed by Parliament in 1914, but not implemented because of the outbreak of the [[First World War]] leading to the 1916 [[Easter Rising]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=92}}

== World wars (1914–1945) ==
[[File:The Empire Needs Men WWI.jpg|thumb|upright|A poster urging men from countries of the British Empire to enlist]]
By the turn of the 20th century, fears had begun to grow in Britain that it would no longer be able to defend the [[metropole]] and the entirety of the empire while at the same time maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation".{{Sfn|O'Brien|2004|p=1}} [[German Empire|Germany]] was rapidly rising as a military and industrial power and was now seen as the most likely opponent in any future war. Recognising that it was overstretched in the Pacific{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=667}} and threatened at home by the [[Imperial German Navy]], Britain [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance|formed an alliance with Japan]] in 1902 and with its old enemies [[Entente cordiale|France]] and Russia in 1904 and 1907, respectively.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=275}}

=== First World War ===
{{Main|History of the United Kingdom during the First World War}}

Britain's fears of war with Germany were realised in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. Britain quickly invaded and occupied most of Germany's overseas colonies in Africa. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand occupied [[German New Guinea]] and [[German Samoa]] respectively. Plans for a post-war division of the Ottoman Empire, which had joined the war on Germany's side, were secretly drawn up by Britain and France under the 1916 [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]]. This agreement was not divulged to the [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca|Sharif of Mecca]], who the British had been encouraging to launch an Arab revolt against their Ottoman rulers, giving the impression that Britain was supporting the creation of an independent Arab state.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|pp=494–495}}

The British declaration of war on Germany and its allies committed the colonies and Dominions, which provided invaluable military, financial and material support. Over 2.5&nbsp;million men served in the armies of the [[Dominion]]s, as well as many thousands of volunteers from the Crown colonies.{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|pp=78–79}} The contributions of Australian and New Zealand troops during the 1915 [[Gallipoli Campaign]] against the Ottoman Empire had a great impact on the national consciousness at home and marked a watershed in the transition of Australia and New Zealand from colonies to nations in their own right. The countries continue to commemorate this occasion on [[Anzac Day]]. Canadians viewed the [[Battle of Vimy Ridge]] in a similar light.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=277}} The important contribution of the Dominions to the [[war effort]] was recognised in 1917 by British prime minister [[David Lloyd George]] when he invited each of the Dominion prime ministers to join an [[Imperial War Cabinet]] to co-ordinate imperial policy.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=278}}

Under the terms of the concluding [[Treaty of Versailles]] signed in 1919, the empire reached its greatest extent with the addition of {{convert|1.8|e6sqmi|e6km2|abbr=unit}} and 13&nbsp;million new subjects.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=315}} The colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire were distributed to the Allied powers as [[League of Nations mandate]]s. Britain gained control of [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]], [[Kingdom of Iraq (Mandate administration)|Iraq]], parts of [[British Cameroons|Cameroon]] and [[British Togoland|Togoland]], and [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]]. The Dominions themselves acquired mandates of their own: the [[Union of South Africa]] gained South West Africa (modern-day [[Namibia]]), Australia gained [[Territory of New Guinea|New Guinea]], and New Zealand [[Western Samoa Trust Territory|Western Samoa]]. [[History of Nauru#World War I to World War II|Nauru]] was made a combined mandate of Britain and the two Pacific Dominions.{{Sfn|Fox|2008|pp=23–29, 35, 60}}

=== Inter-war period ===
{{Main|Interwar Britain|Irish revolutionary period|Indian independence movement|Partition of the Ottoman Empire|Commonwealth of Nations||}}

[[File:British Empire 1921.png|thumb|upright=1.8|The British Empire at its territorial peak in 1921]]
The changing world order that the war had brought about, in particular the growth of the United States and Japan as naval powers, and the rise of independence movements in India and Ireland, caused a major reassessment of British imperial policy.{{Sfn|Goldstein|1994|p=4}} Forced to choose between alignment with the United States or Japan, Britain opted not to renew its [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance]] and instead signed the 1922 [[Washington Naval Treaty]], where Britain accepted naval parity with the United States.{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=302}} This decision was the source of much debate in Britain during the 1930s{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=294}} as militaristic governments took hold in Germany and Japan helped in part by the [[Great Depression]], for it was feared that the empire could not survive a simultaneous attack by both nations.{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=303}} The issue of the empire's security was a serious concern in Britain, as it was vital to the [[Economy of the United Kingdom|British economy]].{{Sfn|Lee|1996|p=305}}

In 1919, the frustrations caused by delays to [[Irish Home Rule movement|Irish home rule]] led the MPs of [[Sinn Féin]], a pro-independence party that had won a majority of the Irish seats in the [[1918 United Kingdom general election in Ireland|1918 British general election]], to establish an [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic)|independent parliament]] in [[Dublin]], at which [[Irish Declaration of Independence|Irish independence was declared]]. The [[Irish Republican Army]] simultaneously began a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against the British administration.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=143}} The [[Irish War of Independence]] ended in 1921 with a stalemate and the signing of the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], creating the [[Irish Free State]], a Dominion within the British Empire, with effective internal independence but still constitutionally linked with the British Crown.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=95}} [[Northern Ireland]], consisting of six of the 32 [[Counties of Ireland|Irish counties]] which had been established as a devolved region under the 1920 [[Government of Ireland Act 1920|Government of Ireland Act]], immediately exercised its option under the treaty to retain its existing status within the United Kingdom.{{Sfn|Magee|1974|p=108}}

[[File:ImperialConference.jpg|thumb|right|[[George V]] (Seated front) with British and Dominion prime ministers at the [[1926 Imperial Conference]]. Standing (left to right): [[Walter Stanley Monroe|W.S. Monroe]] ([[Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]]), [[Gordon Coates]] ([[Prime Minister of New Zealand|New Zealand]]), [[Stanley Bruce]] ([[Prime Minister of Australia|Australia]]), [[J. B. M. Hertzog]] ([[Prime Minister of South Africa|Union of South Africa]]), [[W. T. Cosgrave]] ([[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Irish Free State]]). Seated left: [[Stanley Baldwin]] ([[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]]), seated right: [[William Lyon Mackenzie King|William Mackenzie King]] ([[Prime Minister of Canada|Canada]])]]
A similar struggle began in India when the [[Government of India Act 1919]] failed to satisfy the demand for independence.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=330}} Concerns over communist and foreign plots following the [[Ghadar conspiracy]] ensured that war-time strictures were renewed by the [[Rowlatt Act]]s. This led to tension,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=416}} particularly in the [[Punjab region]], where repressive measures culminated in the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre|Amritsar Massacre]]. In Britain, public opinion was divided over the morality of the massacre, between those who saw it as having saved India from anarchy, and those who viewed it with revulsion.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=416}} The [[Non-cooperation movement (1909–22)|non-cooperation movement]] was called off in March 1922 following the [[Chauri Chaura incident]], and discontent continued to simmer for the next 25 years.{{Sfn|Low|1966|pp=241–259}}

In 1922, Egypt, which had been declared a British [[protectorate]] at the outbreak of the First World War, was [[Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence|granted formal independence]], though it continued to be a British client state until 1954. [[British Army|British troops]] remained stationed in Egypt until the signing of the [[Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936|Anglo-Egyptian Treaty]] in 1936,{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=104}} under which it was agreed that the troops would withdraw but continue to occupy and defend the Suez Canal zone. In return, Egypt was assisted in joining the [[League of Nations]].{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=292}} Iraq, a British mandate since 1920, gained membership of the League in its own right after achieving independence from Britain in 1932.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=101}} In Palestine, Britain was presented with the problem of mediating between the Arabs and increasing numbers of Jews. The [[Balfour Declaration]], which had been incorporated into the terms of the mandate, stated that a national home for the Jewish people would be established in Palestine, and Jewish immigration allowed up to a limit that would be determined by the mandatory power.{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=271}} This led to increasing conflict with the Arab population, who openly [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine|revolted in 1936]]. As the threat of war with Germany increased during the 1930s, Britain judged the support of Arabs as more important than the establishment of a Jewish homeland, and shifted to a pro-Arab stance, limiting Jewish immigration and in turn triggering a [[Jewish insurgency in Palestine|Jewish insurgency]].{{Sfn|Brown|1998|pp=494–495}}

The right of the Dominions to set their own foreign policy, independent of Britain, was recognised at the [[1923 Imperial Conference]].{{Sfn|McIntyre|1977|p=187}} Britain's request for military assistance from the Dominions at the outbreak of the [[Chanak Crisis]] the previous year had been turned down by Canada and South Africa, and Canada had refused to be bound by the [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)|1923 Treaty of Lausanne]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|1998|p=68}}; {{Harvnb|McIntyre|1977|p=186}}.</ref> After pressure from the Irish Free State and South Africa, the [[1926 Imperial Conference]] issued the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926]], declaring Britain and the Dominions to be "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another" within a "British Commonwealth of Nations".{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=69}} This declaration was given legal substance under the 1931 [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]].{{Sfn|Rhodes|Wanna|Weller|2009|pp=5–15}} The parliaments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] were now independent of British legislative control, they could nullify [[Law of the United Kingdom|British laws]] and Britain could no longer pass laws for them without their consent.{{Sfn|Turpin|Tomkins|2007|p=48}} Newfoundland reverted to colonial status in 1933, suffering from financial difficulties during the Great Depression.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=300}} In 1937 the Irish Free State introduced a [[Constitution of Ireland|republican constitution]] renaming itself ''Ireland''.{{Sfn|Galligan|1995|p=122}}

=== Second World War ===
{{Main|British Empire in World War II}}

[[File:El Alamein 1942 - British infantry.jpg|thumb|During the [[Second World War]], the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]] was made up of units from many different countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth; it fought in the [[North African campaign|North African]] and [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian]] campaigns.]]

Britain's declaration of war against [[Nazi Germany]] in September 1939 included the Crown colonies and India but did not automatically commit the Dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland and South Africa. All soon declared war on Germany. While Britain continued to regard Ireland as still within the British Commonwealth, Ireland chose to remain [[Irish neutrality during World War II|legally neutral]] throughout [[The Emergency (Ireland)|the war]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=313–314}}

After the [[Fall of France]] in June 1940, Britain and the empire stood alone against Germany, until the [[German invasion of Greece]] on 7 April 1941. British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] successfully lobbied President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] for [[military aid]] from the United States, but Roosevelt was not yet ready to ask [[United States Congress|Congress]] to commit the country to war.{{Sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=234}} In August 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt met and signed the [[Atlantic Charter]], which included the statement that "the rights of all peoples to choose the [[form of government]] under which they live" should be respected. This wording was ambiguous as to whether it referred to European countries invaded by Germany and Italy, or the peoples colonised by European nations, and would later be interpreted differently by the British, Americans, and nationalist movements.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lloyd|1996|p=316}}; {{Harvnb|James|2001|p=513}}.</ref> Nevertheless, Churchill rejected its universal applicability when it came to the self-determination of subject nations including the [[British Raj|British Indian Empire]]. Churchill further added that he did not become Prime Minister to oversee the liquidation of the empire.<ref name="i203">{{cite book | last=Mehta | first=B.L.G.A. | title=A New Look at Modern Indian History : From 1707 to The Modern Times | publisher=S. Chand Publishing | isbn=978-93-5501-683-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yc64EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA319 | page=319 | archive-date=25 September 2024 | access-date=25 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925132309/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yc64EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA319 | url-status=live }}</ref>

For Churchill, the entry of the United States into the war was the "greatest joy".{{Sfn|Churchill|1950|p=539}} He felt that Britain was now assured of victory,{{Sfn|Gilbert|2005|p=244}} but failed to recognise that the "many disasters, immeasurable costs and tribulations [which he knew] lay ahead"{{Sfn|Churchill|1950|p=540}} in December 1941 would have permanent consequences for the future of the empire. The manner in which British forces were rapidly defeated in the Far East irreversibly harmed Britain's standing and prestige as an imperial power,<ref>{{Harvnb|Louis|2006|p=337}}; {{Harvnb|Brown|1998|p=319}}.</ref> including, particularly, the [[Battle of Singapore|Fall of Singapore]], which had previously been hailed as an impregnable fortress and the eastern equivalent of Gibraltar.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=460}} The realisation that Britain could not defend its entire empire pushed Australia and New Zealand, which now appeared threatened by Japanese forces, into closer ties with the United States and, ultimately, the 1951 [[ANZUS|ANZUS Pact]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=316}} The war weakened the empire in other ways: undermining Britain's control of politics in India, inflicting long-term economic damage, and irrevocably changing [[geopolitics]] by pushing the Soviet Union and the United States to the centre of the global stage.{{Sfn|Darwin|2012|p=340}}

== Decolonisation and decline (1945–1997) ==
{{Further|Decolonization}}
{{Anchor|Decolonisation|Decolonization|Decline}}
Though Britain and the empire emerged victorious from the Second World War, the effects of the conflict were profound, both at home and abroad. Much of Europe, a continent that had dominated the world for several centuries, was in ruins, and host to the armies of the United States and the Soviet Union, who now held the balance of global power.{{Sfn|Abernethy|2000|p=146}} Britain was left essentially bankrupt, with insolvency only averted in 1946 after the negotiation of [[Anglo-American loan|a US$3.75&nbsp;billion loan]] from the United States,{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=331}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosenson |first=Alex |date=1947 |title=The Terms of the Anglo-American Financial Agreement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1802868 |journal=The American Economic Review |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=178–187 |issn=0002-8282 |jstor=1802868 |archive-date=14 January 2024 |access-date=26 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114151544/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1802868 |url-status=live }}</ref> the last instalment of which was repaid in 2006.<ref name="GT-DEX-2006-33">{{Cite news |date=10 May 2006 |title=What's a little debt between friends? |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4757181.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610152357/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm |archive-date=10 June 2010 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> At the same time, anti-colonial movements were on the rise in the colonies of European nations. The situation was complicated further by the increasing [[Cold War]] rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union. In principle, both nations were opposed to European colonialism.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Kenneth C. |author-link=Kenneth C. Davis |title=Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-0600-8381-6 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=321, 341}}</ref> In practice, American [[anti-communism]] prevailed over [[anti-imperialism]], and therefore the United States supported the continued existence of the British Empire to keep Communist expansion in check.{{Sfn|Levine|2007|p=193}} At first, British politicians believed it would be possible to maintain Britain's role as a world power at the head of a re-imagined Commonwealth,{{Sfn|Darwin|2012|p=343}} but by 1960 they were forced to recognise that there was an irresistible "[[Wind of Change (speech)|wind of change]]" blowing. Their priorities changed to maintaining an extensive zone of British influence{{Sfn|Darwin|2012|p=366}} and ensuring that stable, non-Communist governments were established in former colonies.{{Sfn|Heinlein|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CLYHR196h-0C&pg=PA113 113ff]}} In this context, while other European powers such as France and Portugal waged costly and unsuccessful wars to keep their empires intact, Britain generally adopted a policy of peaceful disengagement from its colonies, although violence occurred in [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Kenya Colony|Kenya]] and [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]].{{Sfn|Abernethy|2000|pp=148–150}} Between 1945 and 1965, the number of people under British rule outside the UK itself fell from 700 million to 5 million, 3 million of whom were in Hong Kong.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=330}}

=== Initial disengagement ===
{{Main|Partition of India|1947–1949 Palestine war|Malayan Emergency}}

[[File:Emergency trains crowded with desperate refugees.jpg|thumb|right|About 14.5&nbsp;million people lost their homes as a result of the [[partition of India]] in 1947.]]
The pro-decolonisation [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, elected at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]] and led by [[Clement Attlee]], moved quickly to tackle the most pressing issue facing the empire: [[Indian independence movement|Indian independence]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=322}} India's major political party—the [[Indian National Congress]] (led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]]) — had been campaigning for independence for decades, but disagreed with [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] (led by [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]) as to how it should be implemented. Congress favoured a unified secular Indian state, whereas the League, fearing domination by the Hindu majority, desired a separate [[Islamic state]] for Muslim-majority regions. Increasing [[Civil disorder|civil unrest]] led Attlee to promise independence no later than 30 June 1948. When the urgency of the situation and risk of civil war became apparent, the newly appointed (and last) Viceroy, [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]], hastily brought forward the date to 15 August 1947.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=67}} The borders drawn by the British to broadly [[Partition of India|partition India]] into Hindu and Muslim areas left tens of millions as minorities in the newly independent states of India and [[Pakistan]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=325}} The [[princely states]] were provided with a choice to either remain independent or join India or Pakistan.<ref name="k567">{{cite book | last=Zeb | first=R. | title=Ethno-political Conflict in Pakistan: The Baloch Movement | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=ISSN | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-000-72992-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvrDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 | page=78 | archive-date=3 December 2024 | access-date=28 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203135614/https://books.google.com/books?id=NvrDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 | url-status=live }}</ref> Millions of Hindus & Sikhs crossed from Pakistan to India and Muslims vice versa, and violence between the two communities cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Burma, which had been administered as part of [[British India]] until 1937 gained independence the following year in 1948 along with [[Sri Lanka]] (formerly known as [[British Ceylon]]). India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka became members of the Commonwealth, while Burma chose not to join.{{Sfn|McIntyre|1977|pp=355–356}} That same year, the [[British Nationality Act 1948|British Nationality Act]] was enacted, in hopes of strengthening and unifying the Commonwealth: it provided British citizenship and right of entry to all those living within its jurisdiction.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Mycock |first=Andrew |date=2009 |title=British Citizenship and the Legacy of Empires |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsp035 |journal=Parliamentary Affairs |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=339–355 |doi=10.1093/pa/gsp035 |issn=0031-2290|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The British Mandate in Palestine, where an Arab majority lived alongside a Jewish minority, presented the British with a similar problem to that of India.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=327}} The matter was complicated by large numbers of [[Jewish refugees]] seeking to be admitted to Palestine following the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]], while Arabs were opposed to the creation of a Jewish state. Frustrated by the intractability of the problem, attacks by Jewish paramilitary organisations and the increasing cost of maintaining its military presence, Britain announced in 1947 that it would withdraw in 1948 and leave the matter to the United Nations to solve.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=328}} The [[United Nations General Assembly|UN General Assembly]] subsequently voted for a [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|plan to partition Palestine]] into a Jewish and an Arab state. It was immediately followed by the outbreak of a [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]] between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine, and British forces withdrew amid the fighting. The British Mandate for Palestine officially terminated at midnight on 15 May 1948 as the State of [[Israel]] declared independence and the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948 Arab-Israeli War]] broke out, during which the territory of the former Mandate became divided between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. Amid the fighting, British forces continued to withdraw from Israel, with the last British troops departing from [[Haifa]] on 30 June 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The British Army in Palestine |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/conflict-Palestine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629135915/https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/conflict-Palestine |archive-date=29 June 2019 |access-date=25 June 2019 |publisher=National Army Museum}}</ref>

Following the [[surrender of Japan]] in the Second World War, anti-Japanese [[resistance movement]]s in Malaya turned their attention towards the British, who had moved to quickly retake control of the colony, valuing it as a source of rubber and tin.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=335}} The fact that the guerrillas were primarily [[Malaysian Chinese]] Communists meant that the British attempt to quell the uprising was supported by the [[Islam in Malaysia|Muslim Malay]] majority, on the understanding that once the insurgency had been quelled, independence would be granted.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=335}} The [[Malayan Emergency]], as it was called, began in 1948 and lasted until 1960, but by 1957, Britain felt confident enough to grant independence to the [[Federation of Malaya]] within the Commonwealth. In 1963, the 11 states of the federation together with Singapore, Sarawak and [[Crown Colony of North Borneo|North Borneo]] joined to form [[Malaysia]], but in 1965 Chinese-majority [[Singapore]] was expelled from the union following tensions between the Malay and Chinese populations and became an independent city-state.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=364}} [[Brunei]], which had been a British protectorate since 1888, declined to join the union.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=396}}

=== Suez and its aftermath ===
{{Main|Suez Crisis}}

[[File:Anthony Eden (retouched).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Anthony Eden|Eden]]'s decision to invade [[Egypt]] in 1956 revealed Britain's post-war weaknesses.]]
In the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 general election]], the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] returned to power in Britain under the leadership of Winston Churchill. Churchill and the Conservatives believed that Britain's position as a world power relied on the continued existence of the empire, with the base at the Suez Canal allowing Britain to maintain its pre-eminent position in the Middle East in spite of the loss of India. Churchill could not ignore [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Gamal Abdul Nasser]]'s new revolutionary [[Politics of Egypt|government of Egypt]] that had [[Egyptian Revolution of 1952|taken power in 1952]], and the following year it was agreed that British troops would withdraw from the Suez Canal zone and that Sudan would be granted self-determination by 1955, with independence to follow{{Sfn|Brown|1998|pp=339–340}} Sudan was [[History of Sudan (1956–69)|granted independence]] on 1 January 1956.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=572}}

In July 1956, Nasser unilaterally nationalised the Suez Canal. The response of [[Anthony Eden]], who had succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, was to collude with France to engineer an Israeli attack on [[Republic of Egypt (1953–58)|Egypt]] that would give Britain and France an excuse to intervene militarily and retake the canal.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=581}} Eden infuriated US President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] by his lack of consultation, and Eisenhower refused to back the invasion.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=355}} Another of Eisenhower's concerns was the possibility of a wider war with the [[Soviet Union]] after it threatened to intervene on the Egyptian side. Eisenhower applied [[leverage (finance)|financial leverage]] by threatening to sell US reserves of the [[Pound sterling|British pound]] and thereby precipitate a collapse of the British currency.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=356}} Though the invasion force was militarily successful in its objectives,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=583}} UN intervention and US pressure forced Britain into a humiliating withdrawal of its forces, and Eden resigned.{{Sfn|Combs|2008|pp=161–163}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 July 2006 |title=Suez Crisis: Key players |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5195582.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203154135/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5195582.stm |archive-date=3 February 2012 |access-date=19 October 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

The [[Suez Crisis]] very publicly exposed Britain's limitations to the world and confirmed Britain's decline on the world stage and its end as a first-rate power,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Derek E. |date=14 March 2001 |title=1956: Suez and the end of empire |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219192810/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education1 |archive-date=19 December 2018 |access-date=19 December 2018 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Paul |date=24 July 2006 |title=Suez: End of empire |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5199392.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830213512/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5199392.stm |archive-date=30 August 2017 |access-date=19 December 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref> demonstrating that henceforth it could no longer act without at least the acquiescence, if not the full support, of the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|1998|pp=342}}; {{Harvnb|Smith|1998|p=105}}; {{Harvnb|Burk|2008|p=602}}.</ref> The events at Suez wounded British [[Patriotism|national pride]], leading one [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) to describe it as "Britain's [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]]"{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=343}} and another to suggest that the country had become an "American [[Satellite state|satellite]]".{{Sfn|James|2001|p=585}} [[Margaret Thatcher]] later described the mindset she believed had befallen Britain's political leaders after Suez where they "went from believing that Britain could do anything to an almost neurotic belief that Britain could do nothing", from which Britain did not recover until the successful recapture of the [[Falkland Islands]] from Argentina in 1982.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 July 2006 |title=An affair to remember |url=https://www.economist.com/special-report/2006/07/27/an-affair-to-remember |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508124844/http://www.economist.com/node/7218678 |archive-date=8 May 2016 |access-date=25 June 2016 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

While the Suez Crisis caused British power in the Middle East to weaken, it did not collapse.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=106}} Britain again deployed its armed forces to the region, intervening in [[Muscat and Oman|Oman]] ([[Jebel Akhdar War|1957]]), [[Jordan]] ([[United Nations Security Council Resolution 127|1958]]) and [[Sheikhdom of Kuwait|Kuwait]] ([[Operation Vantage|1961]]), though on these occasions with American approval,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=586}} as the new Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]]'s foreign policy was to remain firmly aligned with the United States.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=343}} Although Britain granted Kuwait independence in 1961, it continued to maintain a military presence in the Middle East for another decade. On 16 January 1968, a few weeks after the [[Pound sterling#Bretton Woods|devaluation of the pound]], Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] and his Defence Secretary [[Denis Healey]] announced that [[British Armed Forces]] troops would be withdrawn from major military bases [[East of Suez]], which included the ones in the Middle East, and primarily from Malaysia and Singapore by the end of 1971, instead of 1975 as earlier planned.{{Sfn|Pham|2010}} By that time over 50,000 British military personnel were still stationed in the Far East, including 30,000 in Singapore.{{Sfn|Gurtov|1970|p=42}} The British granted independence to the [[Maldives]] in 1965 but continued to station a garrison there until 1976, withdrew from [[South Yemen|Aden]] in 1967, and granted independence to [[Bahrain]], [[Qatar]], and the [[United Arab Emirates]] in 1971.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=370–371}}

=== Wind of change ===
{{Main|Decolonisation of Africa|Decolonization of Asia}}

{{Further|Wind of Change (speech)}}
[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|British decolonisation in Africa. By the end of the 1960s, all but [[Rhodesia]] (the future Zimbabwe) and the South African mandate of South West Africa (Namibia) had achieved recognised independence.]]

Macmillan gave a speech in [[Cape Town]], South Africa in February 1960 where he spoke of "the wind of change blowing through this continent".{{Sfn|James|2001|p=616}} Macmillan wished to avoid the same kind of [[Algerian War|colonial war]] that France was fighting in [[French Algeria|Algeria]], and under his premiership decolonisation proceeded rapidly.{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=46}} To the three colonies that had been granted independence in the 1950s—Sudan, the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] and Malaya—were added nearly ten times that number during the 1960s.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=427–433}} Owing to the rapid pace of decolonisation during this period, the cabinet post of [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] was abolished in 1966, along with the [[Colonial Office]], which merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office to form the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]]) in October 1968.<ref name="Dict_Br_Hist">{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of British History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-1917-5802-7 |editor-last=Cannon |editor-first=John |edition=3rd |publication-date=2015 |chapter=Colonial Office |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191758027.001.0001 |editor-last2=Crowcroft |editor-first2=Robert}}</ref>

Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for self-governing [[Southern Rhodesia]], were all granted independence by 1968. British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. From 1952 the [[Kenya Colony]] saw the eight-year long [[Mau Mau uprising|Mau Mau rebellion]], in which tens of thousands of suspected rebels were interned by the colonial government in detention camps to suppress the rebellion and over 1000 convicts executed, with records systematically destroyed.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zane |first=Damian |date=27 August 2019 |title=The Kenyan school that was once a British detention camp |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49363653 |website=BBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203072257/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49363653 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |access-date=24 November 2019 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Throughout the 1960s, the British government took a "[[No independence before majority rule|No independence until majority rule]]" policy towards decolonising the empire, leading the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia to enact the 1965 [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|Unilateral Declaration of Independence]] from Britain, resulting in a [[Rhodesian Bush War|civil war]] that lasted until the British-mediated [[Lancaster House Agreement]] of 1979.{{Sfn|James|2001|pp=618–621}} The agreement saw the British Empire temporarily re-establish the Colony of Southern Rhodesia from 1979 to 1980 as a transitionary government to a majority rule [[Zimbabwe|Republic of Zimbabwe]]. This was the last British possession in Africa.

In [[Cyprus]], a guerrilla war waged by the [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]] organisation [[EOKA]] against British rule, was ended in 1959 by the [[London and Zürich Agreements]], which resulted in Cyprus being granted independence in 1960. The UK retained the military bases of [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]] as sovereign base areas. The [[List of islands in the Mediterranean|Mediterranean]] colony of [[Malta (island)|Malta]] was amicably granted independence from the UK in 1964 and became the country of [[Malta]], though the idea had been raised in 1955 of [[1956 Maltese United Kingdom integration referendum|integration with Britain]].{{Sfn|Springhall|2001|pp=100–102}}

Most of the UK's Caribbean territories achieved independence after the departure in 1961 and 1962 of Jamaica and Trinidad from the [[West Indies Federation]], established in 1958 in an attempt to unite the British Caribbean colonies under one government, but which collapsed following the loss of its two largest members.{{Sfn|Knight|Palmer|1989|pp=14–15}} Jamaica attained independence in 1962, as did [[Trinidad and Tobago]]. Barbados achieved independence in 1966 and the remainder of the eastern Caribbean islands, including the [[Bahamas]], in the 1970s and 1980s,{{Sfn|Knight|Palmer|1989|pp=14–15}} but [[Anguilla]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] opted to revert to British rule after they had already started on the path to independence.{{Sfn|Clegg|2005|p=128}} The [[British Virgin Islands]],{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=428}} The [[Cayman Islands]] and [[Montserrat]] opted to retain ties with Britain,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=622}} while Guyana achieved independence in 1966. Britain's last colony on the American mainland, [[British Honduras]], became a self-governing colony in 1964 and was renamed [[Belize]] in 1973, achieving full independence in 1981. A [[Belizean-Guatemalan territorial dispute|dispute with Guatemala]] over claims to Belize was left unresolved.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=401, 427–429}}

[[British Overseas Territories]] in the Pacific acquired independence in the 1970s beginning with [[Fiji]] in 1970 and ending with [[Vanuatu]] in 1980. Vanuatu's independence was delayed because of political conflict between English and French-speaking communities, as the islands had been jointly administered as a [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] with France.{{Sfn|Macdonald|1994|pp=171–191}} Fiji, [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Solomon Islands]] and [[Tuvalu]] became [[Commonwealth realm]]s.{{Sfn|McIntyre|2016|p=35}}

=== End of empire<!-- This is a turn of phrase, please do not change to say "the" empire or add quotation marks around it to suggest it is a specific quote from a specific source--> ===
{{See also|Falklands War|Handover of Hong Kong|Patriation}}

By 1981, aside from a scattering of islands and outposts, the process of decolonisation that had begun after the Second World War was largely complete. In 1982, Britain's resolve in defending its remaining overseas territories was tested when [[1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands|Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands]], acting on a long-standing claim that dated back to the [[Spanish Empire]].{{Sfn|James|2001|pp=624–625}} Britain's successful military response to retake the [[Falkland Islands]] during the ensuing [[Falklands War]] contributed to reversing the downward trend in Britain's status as a world power.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=629}}

The 1980s saw Canada, Australia, and New Zealand sever their final constitutional links with Britain. Although granted legislative independence by the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]], vestigial constitutional links had remained in place. The British Parliament retained the power to amend key Canadian constitutional statutes, meaning that an act of the British Parliament was required to make certain changes to the [[Constitution of Canada|Canadian Constitution]].{{Sfn|Gérin-Lajoie|1951}} The British Parliament had the power to pass laws extending to Canada at Canadian request. Although no longer able to pass any laws that would apply to Australian Commonwealth law, the British Parliament retained the power to legislate for the individual [[States and territories of Australia|Australian states]]. With regard to New Zealand, the British Parliament retained the power to pass legislation applying to New Zealand with the [[New Zealand Parliament]]'s consent. In 1982, the last legal link between Canada and Britain was severed by the [[Canada Act 1982]], which was passed by the British parliament, formally [[patriation|patriating]] the Canadian Constitution. The act ended the need for British involvement in changes to the Canadian constitution.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=594}} Similarly, the [[Australia Act 1986]] (effective 3 March 1986) severed the constitutional link between Britain and the Australian states, while New Zealand's [[Constitution Act 1986]] (effective 1 January 1987) reformed the constitution of New Zealand to sever its constitutional link with Britain.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=689}}

On 1 January 1984, Brunei, Britain's last remaining Asian protectorate, was granted full independence.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Trumbull |first=Robert |date=1 January 1984 |title=Borneo Sultanate Now Independent |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/01/world/boreno-sultanate-now-independent.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715221145/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/01/world/boreno-sultanate-now-independent.html |archive-date=15 July 2020 |access-date=15 July 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Independence had been delayed due to the opposition of the [[List of sultans of Brunei|Sultan]], who had preferred British protection.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=202}}

In September 1982 the Prime Minister, [[Margaret Thatcher]], travelled to Beijing to negotiate with the Chinese Communist government, on the future of Britain's last major and most populous overseas territory, Hong Kong.{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|p=654}} Under the terms of the 1842 [[Treaty of Nanking]] and 1860 [[Convention of Peking]], [[Hong Kong Island]] and [[Kowloon Peninsula]] had been respectively ceded to Britain ''in perpetuity'', but the majority of the colony consisted of the [[New Territories]], which had been acquired under a [[Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory|99-year lease in 1898]], due to expire in 1997.<ref>{{Harvnb|Joseph|2010|p=355}}; {{Harvnb|Rothermund|2006|p=100}}.</ref> Thatcher, seeing parallels with the Falkland Islands, initially wished to hold Hong Kong and proposed British administration with Chinese sovereignty, though this was rejected by China.{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|pp=654–655}} A deal was reached in 1984—under the terms of the [[Sino-British Joint Declaration]], Hong Kong would become a [[special administrative region of the People's Republic of China]].{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|p=656}} The [[Hong Kong handover ceremony|handover ceremony]] in 1997 marked for many,{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|p=660}} including King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, who was in attendance, "the end of Empire", though many British territories that are remnants of the empire still remain.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=594}}

== Legacy ==
{{See also|Anglicisation}}
[[File:Location of the BOTs.svg|thumb|The fourteen [[British Overseas Territories]]]]
Britain retains sovereignty over 14 territories outside the British Isles. In 1983, the [[British Nationality Act 1981]] renamed the existing [[Crown colony|Crown Colonies]] as "British Dependent Territories",{{efn|Schedule 6 of the [[British Nationality Act 1981]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=British Nationality Act 1981, Schedule 6 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/schedule/6/enacted |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401094630/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/schedule/6/enacted |archive-date=1 April 2019 |access-date=18 March 2019 |publisher=legislation.gov.uk}}</ref> reclassified the remaining Crown colonies as "British Dependent Territories". The act entered into force on 1 January 1983<ref>{{Cite web |title=The British Nationality Act 1981 (Commencement) Order 1982 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/933/made |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401134239/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/933/made |archive-date=1 April 2019 |access-date=18 March 2019 |publisher=legislation.gov.uk}}</ref>}} and in 2002 they were renamed the [[British Overseas Territories]].{{Sfn|Gapes|2008|pp=145–147}} Most former British colonies and protectorates are members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], a [[voluntary association]] of equal members, comprising a population of around 2.2&nbsp;billion people.<ref>[http://thecommonwealth.org/about-us The Commonwealth – About Us] {{Webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927182840/http://thecommonwealth.org/about-us| date=27 September 2013}}; Online September 2014</ref> The United Kingdom and 14 other countries, all collectively known as the [[Commonwealth realm]]s, voluntarily continue to share the same person—{{Current UK monarch |King |Charles III}}—as their respective head of state. These 15 nations are distinct and equal legal entities: the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], [[Monarchy of Australia|Australia]], [[Monarchy of Canada|Canada]], [[Monarchy of New Zealand|New Zealand]], [[Monarchy of Antigua and Barbuda|Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Monarchy of the Bahamas|The Bahamas]], [[Monarchy of Belize|Belize]], [[Monarchy of Grenada|Grenada]], [[Monarchy of Jamaica|Jamaica]], [[Monarchy of Papua New Guinea|Papua New Guinea]], [[Monarchy of Saint Kitts and Nevis|Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Monarchy of Saint Lucia|Saint Lucia]], [[Monarchy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]], [[Monarchy of the Solomon Islands|Solomon Islands]] and [[Monarchy of Tuvalu|Tuvalu]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Head of the Commonwealth |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/150757/head_of_the_commonwealth |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706045334/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/150757/head_of_the_commonwealth |archive-date=6 July 2010 |access-date=9 October 2010 |publisher=Commonwealth Secretariat}}</ref>
[[File:English language.svg|left|thumb|American and British interactions shaped the British Empire's breakup and resulting world order<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paradis |first=Michel |date=2024-06-03 |title=On D-Day, the U.S. Conquered the British Empire |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/d-day-world-war-2-legacy-america-britain/678544/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>]]
During the colonial era, emphasis was given to study of the classical [[Greco-Roman|Greco-Roman heritage]] and their experience with empire, aiming to parse how that heritage could be applied to improve the future of the colonies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Krishan |date=2012 |title=Greece and Rome in the British Empire: Contrasting Role Models |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/abs/greece-and-rome-in-the-british-empire-contrasting-role-models/53EE7875D2AF38A9110CA21393CFA364 |journal=Journal of British Studies |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=76–101 |doi=10.1086/662545 |issn=1545-6986|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[American hegemony]], which throughout its early rise had challenged British claims of being the "[[Succession of the Roman Empire|New Rome]]",<ref>{{Citation |last=Malamud |first=Margaret |title=10 Translatio Imperii: America as the New Rome c.1900 |date=2010-10-07 |work=Classics and Imperialism in the British Empire |pages=0 |editor-last=Bradley |editor-first=Mark |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6414/chapter-abstract/150221978?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2025-01-08 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-958472-7 |archive-date=12 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250212041159/https://academic.oup.com/book/6414/chapter-abstract/150221978?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}</ref> became the successor to British dominance in the mid-20th century; the two countries' [[Special Relationship|historical ties]] and wartime collaboration supported a peaceful handoff of power after [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schake |first=Kori |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv24w62xt |title=Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony |date=2017 |publisher=Harvard University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv24w62xt |jstor=j.ctv24w62xt |isbn=978-0-674-97507-1}}</ref> As for the United Kingdom itself, British views of the former Empire are more positive than is the case with other post-imperial nations;<ref>{{Cite news |title=Britain misses its empire more than other major post-colonial powers, poll finds |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/british-empire-colonialism-slavery-yougov-poll-nationalism-brexit-a9393486.html |work=The Independent |archive-date=20 January 2025 |access-date=8 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120115105/https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/british-empire-colonialism-slavery-yougov-poll-nationalism-brexit-a9393486.html |url-status=live }}</ref> discourse around the former Empire has continued to impact the nation's present-day understanding of itself, as seen in the debate leading up to its decision to [[Brexit|leave the European Union]] in 2016.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Foley |first=James |date=2023-08-30 |title=Race, nation, empire? Historicising outward and inward-facing British nationalism |journal=International Relations |volume=39 |issue=4 |language=en |article-number=00471178231196073 |doi=10.1177/00471178231196073 |issn=0047-1178 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Decades, and in some cases centuries, of British rule and [[British diaspora|emigration]] have left their mark on the independent nations that rose from the British Empire. The empire established the use of the [[English language]] in [[English-speaking world|regions around the world]]. Today it is the primary language of up to 460&nbsp;million people and is spoken by about 1.5 billion as a first, second or foreign language.{{Sfn|Hogg|2008|p=424|loc=chapter 9 ''English Worldwide'' by [[David Crystal]]: "approximately one in four of the worlds population are capable of communicating to a useful level in English"}} It has also [[Englishisation|significantly influenced]] other languages.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bolton |first1=Kingsley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s6BYrnD1XPMC&pg=PA253 |title=World Englishes: Critical Concepts in Linguistics |last2=Kachru |first2=Braj B. |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-31509-8 |language=en}}</ref> Individual and team sports [[British sports|developed in Britain]], particularly [[association football|football]], [[cricket]], [[lawn tennis]], and [[golf]] were exported.{{Sfn|Torkildsen|2005|p=347}} Some sports were also invented or standardised in the former colonies, such as [[badminton]], [[polo]], and [[snooker]] in India (see also: [[Sport in British India]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imperialism |url=https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/the-sage-dictionary-of-sports-studies/chpt/imperialism |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=sso.sagepub.com}}</ref> British [[missionary|missionaries]] who travelled around the globe often in advance of soldiers and civil servants spread [[Protestantism]] (including [[Anglicanism]]) to all continents. The British Empire provided refuge for religiously persecuted continental Europeans for hundreds of years.{{Sfn|Pestan|2009|p=185}} British educational institutions also remain popular in the present day, in part due to the importance of the English language and similarity of British curriculums to those in the former colonies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=Nick |title=Why The World Loves A British Education |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2014/06/30/why-the-world-loves-a-british-education/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=21 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121131424/https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2014/06/30/why-the-world-loves-a-british-education/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:കുട്ടികൾ ക്രിക്കറ്റ് കളിക്കുന്നു.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Cricket]] being played in South Asia, where [[Cricket in South Asia|it is popular]]. Sports developed in Britain or the former empire continue to be viewed and played.]]
Political boundaries drawn by the British did not always reflect homogeneous ethnicities or religions, contributing to conflicts in formerly colonised areas. The British Empire was responsible for large migrations of peoples (see also: [[Commonwealth diaspora]]). Millions left the [[British Isles]], with the founding [[Settler colonialism|settler colonist]] populations of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand coming mainly from Britain and Ireland. Millions of people moved between British colonies, with large numbers of [[South Asian diaspora|South Asian people emigrating]] to other parts of the empire, such as Malaysia and Fiji, and [[Overseas Chinese]] people to Malaysia, Singapore and the Caribbean;{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|p=286}} about half of all modern immigration to the Commonwealth nations continues to occur between them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nurse |first=Keith |url=https://www.thecommonwealth-ilibrary.org/index.php/comsec/catalog/book/206 |title=The Diasporic Economy, Trade and Investment Linkages in the Commonwealth |date=2016-02-26 |publisher=Commonwealth iLibrary |series=International Trade Working Paper |language=en |doi=10.14217/5jm2jfg8c26c-en |archive-date=29 December 2024 |access-date=8 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241229025145/https://www.thecommonwealth-ilibrary.org/index.php/comsec/catalog/book/206 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[demographics of the United Kingdom]] changed after the Second World War owing to [[Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922#Post-war immigration (1945–1983)|immigration to Britain]] from its former colonies.{{Sfn|Dalziel|2006|p=135}}

In the 19th century, [[List of British innovations and discoveries|innovation in Britain]] led to revolutionary changes in manufacturing, the development of [[factory system]]s, and the growth of transportation by railway and steamship.{{Sfn|Walker|1993|pp=187–188}} Debate has also occurred as to what extent the [[Industrial Revolution]], originating from the United Kingdom, was facilitated by or dependent on imperialism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=When was the industrial revolution? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6kg3j6#zsqk4xs |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=BBC Bitesize |language=en-GB}}</ref> British colonial architecture, such as in churches, railway stations and government buildings, can be seen in many cities that were once part of the British Empire;{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|pp=238–240}} Western technologies and architecture had been globalised in part due to the Empire's military and administrative requirements.<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacKenzie |first=John M. |url=https://academic.oup.com/manchester-scholarship-online/book/31628 |title=The British Empire through buildings |date=2020-03-09 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-4597-0 |language=en |doi=10.7765/9781526145970}}</ref> Integration of former colonies into the global economy was also a major legacy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Martin |last2=Thompson |first2=Andrew |date=2014-01-01 |title=Empire and Globalisation: from 'High Imperialism' to Decolonisation |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2013.828643 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |volume=36 |pages=142–170 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2013.828643 |issn=0707-5332 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |access-date=8 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215072926/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2013.828643 |url-status=live }}</ref> The British choice of system of measurement, the [[Imperial units|imperial system]], continues to be used in some countries in various ways. The convention of [[Right- and left-hand traffic|driving on the left-hand side of the road]] has been retained in much of the former empire.{{Sfn|Parsons|1999|p=1}}

The [[Westminster system]] of [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary democracy]] has served as the template for the governments of many former colonies,{{Sfn|Go|2007|pp=92–94}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 December 2013 |title=How the Westminster Parliamentary System was exported around the World |url=http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/how-the-westminster-parliamentary-system-was-exported-around-the-world |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216190945/http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/how-the-westminster-parliamentary-system-was-exported-around-the-world |archive-date=16 December 2013 |access-date=16 December 2013 |publisher=University of Cambridge}}</ref> and [[English law|English common law]] for legal systems.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=307}} It has been observed that almost every former colony that emerged as an independent democratic state is a former British colony,<ref>{{Cite web |title=America's Lessons From the Legacy of British Empire |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/4/25/americas-lessons-from-the-legacy-of/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Harvard Crimson |date=April 25, 2003 |first1=Garrett M. |last1=Graff |archive-date=17 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250317144441/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/4/25/americas-lessons-from-the-legacy-of/ |url-status=live }}</ref> though this correlation greatly declines in strength after 30 years of an ex-colony's independence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Alexander |last2=Paine |first2=Jack |date=2019-09-01 |title=British colonialism and democracy: Divergent inheritances and diminishing legacies |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596718302142 |journal=Journal of Comparative Economics |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=487–503 |doi=10.1016/j.jce.2019.02.001 |issn=0147-5967|url-access=subscription }}</ref> International commercial contracts are often based on English common law.{{Sfn|Cuniberti|2014|p=455}} The British [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] still serves as the highest court of appeal for twelve former colonies.{{Sfn|Young|2020|p=20}}

=== Interpretations of Empire ===
Historians' [[historiography of the British Empire|approaches to understanding the British Empire]] are diverse and evolving.<ref name="winks">{{Cite book |last=Winks |first=Robin |author-link=Robin Winks |title=The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V: Historiography |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1982-0566-1 |editor-last=Winks |editor-first=Robin |location=Oxford |pages=40–42 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205661.001.0001}}</ref> Two key sites of debate over recent decades have been the impact of [[Postcolonialism|post-colonial studies]], which seek to [[Critical theory|critically]] re-evaluate the history of imperialism, and the continued relevance of historians [[Ronald Robinson]] and [[Jack Gallagher (historian)|John Gallagher]], whose work greatly influenced imperial historiography during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, differing assessments of the empire's legacy remain relevant to debates over recent history and politics, such as the Anglo-American [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasions of Iraq]] and [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], as well as Britain's role and identity in the contemporary world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Middleton |first=Alex |date=6 August 2019 |title=Review: The Imperial History Wars: Debating the British Empire, by Dane Kennedy |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=134 |issue=568 |pages=773–775 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cez128 |doi-access=free| issn=0013-8266 }}</ref><ref name="mitter">{{Cite news |last=Rana |first=Mitter |author-link=Rana Mitter |date=17 March 2022 |title=Legacy of Violence — the bloody ends of empire |url=https://www.ft.com/content/e7c4feac-7123-4e7c-8a7e-bf13107ee6f9 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/e7c4feac-7123-4e7c-8a7e-bf13107ee6f9 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |access-date=29 June 2022 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>

Historians such as [[Caroline Elkins]] have argued against perceptions of the British Empire as a primarily liberalising and modernising enterprise, criticising its widespread use of violence and [[emergency law]]s to maintain power.<ref name="mitter"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Elkins |first=Caroline |author-link=Caroline Elkins |title=Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-3072-7242-3 |pages=14–16, 680}}</ref> Common criticisms of the empire include the use of detention camps in its colonies, massacres of [[indigenous peoples]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Howe |first=Stephen |date=2010 |title=Colonising and Exterminating? Memories of Imperial Violence in Britain and France |journal=Histoire Politique |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=13–15 |doi=10.3917/hp.011.0012}}</ref> and famine-response policies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheldon |first=Richard |title=Empire, Development and Colonialism: The Past in the Present |date=2009 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1-8470-1011-7 |editor-last=Duffield |editor-first=Mark |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |pages=74–87 |chapter=Development, Poverty & Famines: The Case of British Empire |jstor=10.7722/j.ctt81pqr.10 |editor-last2=Hewitt |editor-first2=Vernon}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Jon |date=21 January 2016 |title=British people are proud of colonialism and the British Empire, poll finds |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-people-are-proud-of-colonialism-and-the-british-empire-poll-finds-a6821206.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628013502/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-people-are-proud-of-colonialism-and-the-british-empire-poll-finds-a6821206.html |archive-date=28 June 2022 |access-date=28 June 2022 |website=[[The Independent]] |language=en}}</ref> Some scholars, including [[Amartya Sen]], assert that British policies worsened the [[famine in India|famines in India]] that killed millions during British rule.<ref>[[Amartya Sen|Sen, Amartya]]. Development as Freedom. {{ISBN|978-0-3857-2027-4}} ch 7</ref> Conversely, historians such as [[Niall Ferguson]] say that the economic and institutional development the British Empire brought resulted in a net benefit to its colonies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |author-link=Niall Ferguson |date=3 June 2004 |title=Niall Ferguson: What the British Empire did for the world |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/niall-ferguson-what-the-british-empire-did-for-the-world-41252.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629225418/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/niall-ferguson-what-the-british-empire-did-for-the-world-41252.html |archive-date=29 June 2022 |access-date=29 June 2022 |work=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> Other historians treat its legacy as varied and ambiguous.<ref name="mitter"/> Public attitudes towards the empire within 21st-century Britain have been broadly positive although sentiment towards the Commonwealth has been one of apathy and decline.<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Booth |first=Robert |date=11 March 2020 |title=UK more nostalgic for empire than other ex-colonial powers |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/uk-more-nostalgic-for-empire-than-other-ex-colonial-powers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625170301/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/uk-more-nostalgic-for-empire-than-other-ex-colonial-powers |archive-date=25 June 2022 |access-date=29 June 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

== See also ==
{{Div col |colwidth = 20em }}
* [[List of British Empire–related topics]]
* [[Historiography of the British Empire]]
* [[Demographics of the British Empire]]
* [[Economy of the British Empire]]
* [[Territorial evolution of the British Empire]]
* [[History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom]]
* [[Historical flags of the British Empire and the overseas territories]]
* [[List of countries that have gained independence from the United Kingdom]]
* [[British overseas cities]]{{Div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
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* {{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC |title=The Nineteenth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1992-4678-6 |volume=III |access-date=22 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511045527/https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC |archive-date=11 May 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=R.A.W. |title=Comparing Westminster |last2=Wanna |first2=John |last3=Weller |first3=Patrick |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1995-6349-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=David |title=Principles and Agents: The British Slave Trade and Its Abolition |date=2022 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3002-5043-5 |location=New Haven |doi=10.2307/j.ctv240ddz3 |jstor=j.ctv240ddz3 |s2cid=244676008}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rothermund |first=Dietmar |title=The Routledge companion to decolonization |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4153-5632-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Russo |first=Jean |title=Planting an Empire: The Early Chesapeake in British North America |date=2012 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-0694-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Royle |first=Trevor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MrBnHQAACAAJ |title=Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854–1856 |date=2000 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4039-6416-8 |access-date=22 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816142609/https://books.google.com/books?id=MrBnHQAACAAJ |archive-date=16 August 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shennan |first=J.H. |title=International relations in Europe, 1689–1789 |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4150-7780-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Simon |url=https://archive.org/details/britishimperiali00smit |title=British Imperialism 1750–1970 |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-3-1258-0640-5 |access-date=22 July 2009 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sondhaus |first=L. |title=Navies in Modern World History |date=2004 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=1-8618-9202-0 |ol=8631395M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Springhall |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/decolonizationsi00john |title=Decolonization since 1945: the collapse of European overseas empires |date=2001 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=978-0-3337-4600-4 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Taagepera |first=Rein |author-link=Rein Taagepera |date=September 1997 |title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 |url-status=live |journal=[[International Studies Quarterly]] |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=475–504 |doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053 |jstor=2600793 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119114740/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 |archive-date=19 November 2018 |access-date=28 December 2018|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Taylor (historian) |title=American Colonies, The Settling of North America |date=2001 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-1420-0210-0 |ol=2443937W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Thomas (writer) |title=The Slave Trade: The History of The Atlantic Slave Trade |date=1997 |publisher=Picador, Phoenix/Orion |isbn=978-0-7538-2056-8 |ol=18114975M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tilby |first=A. Wyatt |author-link=A. Wyatt Tilby |title=British India 1600–1828 |date=2009 |publisher=BiblioLife |isbn=978-1-1131-4290-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Torkildsen |first=George |title=Leisure and recreation management |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4153-0995-0}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Trivedi |first1=Harish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9ufrUyISBsC&pg=PA30 |title=Literature and Nation |last2=Allen |first2=Richard |date=2000 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-4152-1207-6}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Turpin |first1=Colin |title=British government and the constitution |last2=Tomkins |first2=Adam |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5216-9029-4 |edition=6th}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vandervort |first=Bruce |title=Wars of imperial conquest in Africa, 1830–1914 |date=1998 |publisher=University College London Press |isbn=978-1-8572-8486-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Walker |first=William |title=National innovation systems: a comparative analysis |date=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-1950-7617-6 |editor-last=Nelson |editor-first=Richard R. |chapter=National Innovation Systems: Britain |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFDGjgxc2CYC&pg=PA187}}<!-- Author profile: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/intrel/people/index.php/wbw.html-->
* {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Beryl J. |date=1966 |title=The Strategic Background to the Anglo-Russian Entente of August 1907 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=360–373 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00026698 |jstor=2637986 |s2cid=162474899}}
* {{Cite book |last=Young |first=Harold A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jijxDwAAQBAJ |title=The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Caribbean Court of Justice: Navigating Independence and Changing Political Environments |date=2020 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-8695-5 |access-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324132207/https://books.google.com/books?id=jijxDwAAQBAJ |archive-date=24 March 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zolberg |first=Aristide R. |title=A nation by design: immigration policy in the fashioning of America |date=2006 |publisher=Russell Sage |isbn=978-0-6740-2218-8}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|3}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Derek E. |date=1 February 1984 |title=Brunei on the Morrow of Independence |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/as/article-abstract/24/2/201/22046/Brunei-on-the-Morrow-of-Independence |url-status=live |journal=Far Eastern Survey |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=201–208 |doi=10.2307/2644439 |jstor=2644439 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115063626/https://online.ucpress.edu/as/article-abstract/24/2/201/22046/Brunei-on-the-Morrow-of-Independence |archive-date=15 November 2020 |access-date=15 November 2011 |url-access=subscription |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=David |first=Saul |author-link=Saul David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2KOAAAACAAJ |title=The Indian Mutiny |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-6709-1137-0 |access-date=22 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103083707/http://books.google.com/books?id=H2KOAAAACAAJ |archive-date=3 January 2014 |url-status=live |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Elkins |first=Caroline |author-link=Caroline Elkins |title=Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya |date=2005 |publisher=Owl Books |isbn=978-0-8050-8001-8 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |author-link=Niall Ferguson |title=Colossus: The Price of America's Empire |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-5942-0013-7 |ol=17123297M |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Goodlad |first=Graham David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=clnBkEo7za4C |title=British foreign and imperial policy, 1865–1919 |date=2000 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-4152-0338-8 |access-date=18 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513025006/http://books.google.com/books?id=clnBkEo7za4C |archive-date=13 May 2011 |url-status=live |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Hendry |first1=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoNeDwAAQBAJ |title=British Overseas Territories Law |last2=Dickson |first2=Susan |date=14 June 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-5099-1871-3 |language=en |access-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132947/https://books.google.com/books?id=CoNeDwAAQBAJ |archive-date=15 August 2021 |url-status=live |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hollowell |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VxQxFMV_3IUC |title=Britain Since 1945 |date=1992 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=978-0-6312-0968-3 |access-date=11 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727141659/https://books.google.com/books?id=VxQxFMV_3IUC |archive-date=27 July 2020 |url-status=live |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=McLean |first=Iain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_O_ADWrESYQC |title=Rational Choice and British Politics: An Analysis of Rhetoric and Manipulation from Peel to Blair |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1982-9529-7 |access-date=22 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103095546/http://books.google.com/books?id=_O_ADWrESYQC |archive-date=3 January 2014 |url-status=live |ref=none}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-British Empire-article.oga|date=7 March 2014}}
{{Library resources box|onlinebooks=yes}}
* [https://www.britishempire.co.uk/ The British Empire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250804020356/https://www.britishempire.co.uk/ |date=4 August 2025 }}&nbsp;– a resource website by Stephen Luscombe
* [https://www.ualberta.ca/~janes/EMPIRE.html The British Empire: An Internet Gateway] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513162942/http://www.ualberta.ca/~janes/EMPIRE.html |date=13 May 2011 }} by Jane Samson
* [https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/british-empire British Empire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130023239/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/british-empire/ |date=30 January 2024 }} from the [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|National Archives]]
* [https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/empire-through-the-lens "Empire through the Lens"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031172403/https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/empire-through-the-lens/ |date=31 October 2023 }} from the [[Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery]]

{{Territories of the British Empire}}
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