How did The British Empire rule the World?
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their landlord you to you Spanish ladies
and I do to you ladies
the British Empire ma
y not have
technically ruled the world but it was
in fact the largest empire to exist at
any point throughout history reaching
across the globe and carrying on over
multiple centuries the British Empire
owes its success and ability to expand
so widely the geographical position of
Great Britain served as a major
advantage to the growing Empire given
that the nation was an island the
likelihood of being invaded or conquered
was somewhat lower than a country that
was surrounded on all sides by foreign
powers although Britain was not
completely immune to incursions it
definitely benefitted geographically
both in terms of external threats and
when it came to any border disputes
Britain had a pretty clear and
straightforward border between itself
and any other nations while Scotland and
England split the land mass that was
bilaterally United with the Ascension of
Scotland's King James the 6th to the
throne of England in 1603 both states
would together make up the nation of
Great Britain by 1707 sharing their
outward borders with nothing but the
North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea
this open position with easy access for
maritime expeditions also gave Great
Britain an upper hand
when it came to reaching other countries
and continents needing only to cross
over foreign land when they wished to
reach countries more inward on their
continent the Brits were able to sail to
just about any coastal nation without
much resistance
still oceanic adventures would not have
been so effortless for the British
Empire without a strong naval fleet this
is where the size and power of the Royal
Navy became a center point of British
success while Great Britain did not
always control the world's oceans
the reason they began to skyrocket as an
unknowable maritime power by the 18th
century is largely due to the fact that
they invested more money and ships and
guns than other naval forces the
government and citizens of the British
Empire truly believed that the future of
their wealth was to be found through the
ocean recognising the importance of
overseas trade as well as a fleet that
could also defend their land if ever
required the Brits made sure to
adequately fund the Royal Navy the
Empire's focus on trade
additionally contributed vastly to its
triumphant transcontinental growth
intent more on gaining wealth and
increasing trade than on consolidating
power through conquest the Brits were
able to create a more desirable
environment for others to become a part
of after the successful colonization
attempts in North America and the West
Indies during the 1600s the British
Empire began to establish a commercial
system that allowed for exponential
success within Great Britain and its
overseas territories colonies were
granted monopolies for their products in
the British market and therefore were to
conduct trade via British ships in 1651
the navigation act would prompt the
development of a closed economy between
the Empire and its colonies thus
creating a system where all colonial
imports were required to come from Great
Britain and all colonial exports were to
be sent directly to the British market
by the way of British ships during the
same century the British East India
Company was established as a means of
trade between Great Britain East Asia
Southeast Asia and India initially
focused on the spice trade the East
India Company later incorp
rated other goods such as silk cotton
tea opium and more politics made its way
into the company later on
despite the origin being purely based on
establishing more trade opportunities
driven limitlessly by the concept of
controlling a global trade market the
British Empire continued to extend its
reach across the continents of Europe
Asia Africa Australia and the Americas
while the process of colonization varied
from territory to territory one thing
that remained consistent was the form in
which these expeditions began unlike
other empires who chose to expand
through the use of military might and
sovereign claims to power the British
facilitated most of their expansion
through the establishment of trading
posts and systems nonetheless the
British Empire was not a completely
nonviolent Authority on top of the
anglo-dutch and anglo-spanish wars near
the start of British expansion the
Empire also engaged in conflict with its
American colonies during the American
Revolutionary War later followed by the
dissension in India succeeding the
decline of the Mughal Empire and leaving
the British East India Company as a
prominent political power in the region
the presence of Britain in India was
also notably more forceful than some of
their other trade focused on claves
demonstrated by the expansion of the
East India Company's power through the
threat of violence against those who
protested the continued tensions between
the British and French were no longer
secluded in India either as the Seven
Years War erupted in 1756 lasting until
the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763
leaving Britain as the leading power
across India and the world's oceans when
the American Revolutionary War came in
1775 after the British Empire responded
to thee no taxation without
representation movement
of the Americans by sending troops to
try and subdue the colonies France and
Spain chose once again to go to war with
Britain now as allies of the newly
declared United States in 1783 at the
Peace of Paris the British Empire was
forced to acknowledge American
independence in turn relinquish
intraoral eni's devising a new strategy
after such a drastic loss of territory
Great Britain now turned its attention
toward the continents of Asia Africa and
Australia marketing what some historians
call the beginning of the second British
Empire though trade between the United
States and Great Britain actually
continued after the installation of
independence the Empire chose to utilize
the uncolonized coasts of Australia
which had been discovered by a Dutch
explorer Willem Janzen in 1606 and later
claimed for the British crown by James
Cook in 1770 under the name of New South
Wales still feeding their fresh craving
for expansion in South Asia the British
suddenly engaged in a series of
conflicts after the Battle of Plassey
which had occurred in 1757 by 1774 the
British Empire took on a chain of
attacks the anglo-mysore wars were
fought until 1799 followed by clashes
with the ponderous attacks on places
like Sindh and Burma also accelerated
the new consolidation efforts of the
British East India Company on top of
what was referred to as the doctrine
lapse where the Brits forbid the
ascension to the throne of any Hindu
ruler if they were not the natural heir
once the current Hindu leader either
died or was removed in some way the
British would occupy his state and gain
control these acts by the British Empire
combined with other forms of forced
westernization of the Hindus led to the
Sepoy mutiny of 1857 to 1815
tired of the current heavy-handed
British rule the Indian troops of Maru
sparked a rebellion that would spread
throughout the nation peace was finally
declared in July of 1859 and the British
East India Company was scrapped
although the Empire maintained a level
of control under the crown until 1947
during this span of time Great Britain's
set about making its presence better
known in Africa as well although the
Royal African company had been
established back in the 17th century
finding ample profit in the slave trade
until its abolition in 1807 it was not
until the 19th century that the Brits
realized the potential benefit of
forming a trade route across Africa with
its eyes set on establishing outposts
spanning from Egypt down to the southern
half of the continent the British Empire
found itself in a race against the other
growing European powers such as Italy
and Germany which eventually led to the
Berlin conference the conference which
occurred in 1884 was intended to create
some harmony between the competing
colonizers Great Britain was ultimately
awarded most of northeastern Africa and
all of southern Africa meaning that at
its peak in the continent the British
Empire ruled over approximately 30
percent of the African population
globally at the height of britain's
domination it controlled roughly 22 to
25 percent of the world's land surface
and by 1938 governed around 20% of the
world's population this remarkable
prosperity was accomplished through a
geographical advantage supreme naval
might and the strategic focus on trade
and wealth over bullish sovereign power
for the sake of an emperor
the dead man explodes head off paneer so
important and why
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