THE BRITISH EMPIRE

When Britain ruled the world

Why Britain?

ØBig population increase-

ØRising number of middle-
class consumers

ØSkilled sailors and greatest

navy in the world
(technology)

ØThe industrial revolution

TYPES OF COLONIAL CONTROL

• Royal colonies/ Crown colonies

• Protectorates

• Dominions

• Commonwealth countries
Crown colonies (or Royal Colonies)-
rule by a governor chosen by the
King or Queen.
The first phase (1603-1783) of British colonialism
was concentrated in the New World, west Africa,
and India and came to a close with the American
Revolution.
The Dominions

■ White ruled settler colonies:

American colonies, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
 THE 13 BRITISH
COLONIES IN NORTH
AMERICA
Sugar and
slaves
■ 1665, the
England captured
Jamaica from the
Spanish
Early British India
■ Surat (started 1613)
Phase II British
Colonialism

■ The question was: would the

world be French or British?
The French and
British clash

u But first big war starts in

America (Ohio River
Valley)= the
French
and Indian War
1754-63
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
SPREADS ALL OVER THE
WORLD AND BECOME THE 7
YEARS WAR: FRANCE LOSES

• North America
becomes British

• Indian fall to British

control
THE LOSS OF
BRITISH COLONIAL
AMERICA (1783
AMERICAN
REVOLUTION ENDS
WITH TREATY OF
PARIS)
The United States of
America gains
independence but Britain
loses her most valuable
colonies.
 After loss
z of
America
(1783), India
becomes
more
important
 The second period of British
colonialism (1783-1815) Britain
eventually controlled most of India,
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and large
portions of eastern and southern Africa.

.
z z

§ India was a
colony
governed by a
private
company: the
British East
Indian Co.
Indian was ruled by
only about 1,000
British civil servants,
but about 1,000,000
Indians working for
them.
BATTLE OF PLASSEY
The young Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ad-daula, had
taken Calcutta from the East India Company
with a huge army in June 1756
 ROBERT CLIVE COMES
TO THE RESCUE, TAKES
BACK CALCUTTA AND
WINS A BIG VICTORY AT
THE BATTLE OF
PLASSEY (1757)
THE NEW
PATTERN OF
CONTROL
• For the next
three years Clive
rules Bengal–
controlling local
rulers, ..making a
lot of money for
himself.
 Mercantilism
z

High tariffs to protect tea

merchants……keeps out
coffee

94% of coffee was re-

exported out of England
making it a nation of tea
drinkers.
England won the 7 Years
War with France (1763)

■ Superior
naval power
 INDIA CLEARLY
BECOMES A BRITISH
COLONY

• In the hands of HEIC

(The Honorable East
India Company)
Voyages of Discovery: the Pacific
Captain James
Cook

Born- 1728
Killed- 1779
Kealakekua Bay,
Hawaii
 SUPERIOR
BRITISH NAVAL
TECHNOLOGY
• 1768, Captain James
Cook sailed the Pacific
(discovering Australia,
New Zealand, Tahitian
Islands and Hawaii)

• He had on board the new

sea clock John Harrison (to
calculate longitude while
at sea)
British
Colonialism-
Phase III:
after 1815
The third and
final phase
included the scramble
for Africa and parts of
Asia, including China.
Africa: the British took control of South Africa (1815), and parts of West
Africa (Sierra Leonne, Gold Coast)

■ Cape Town, 1859

BRITISH COLONIAL
AFRICA:

THE GOLD COAST

Central
Africa
South
Africa
„Started out in South
Africa and became rich
in diamonds (DeBeers
in Kimberly) and then
gold (The Transvaal).

CECIL RHODES
1871-1891
1889 RHODES
STARTS THE BRITISH
SOUTH AFRICA
COMPANY

• Goal to expand north as far as

Lake Victoria

• This is the period when European

countries are in competition for
regions of Africa.
z
South Africa:
Diamonds and
Gold

Two European powers

compete – the Dutch (Boers)
were there first but displaced
by the British

- In the 20th century the

Afrikaners (Boers) would take
power from the British.
North East Africa:
š1881 Mohammed Ahmed,
living on the White Nile,
declares a Holy War to
create a strict Islamic state.

šHe was called the Mahdi, a

great religious prophet
British Africa: Egypt and the
Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
 THE MAHDI DEFEATS 3
EGYPTIAN ARMIES- SO THE
BRITISH ARE CALLED IN

• Gordon (the hero from the

Chinese wars) is sent to Khartoum,
capital of Sudan, which is being
attacked.
GORDON HOLDS OUT FOR TEN
MONTH WITH SMALL EGYPTIAN
FORCES

• The British rescue force arrives

just 2 days late to save him.
A Caliphate is formed in
Sudan, for 13 years
■ However, revenge for the death of
Gordon finally comes in 1898 with
Herbert: Battle of Omdurman.
■ The British thus regain control of the
Sudan….. And Anglo-Egyptian alliance
until 1956.
SOUTH AFRICA

THE FIRST BOER

WAR
1880-81
THE BOERS
DEFEAT THE
BRITISH BUT
GAIN LITTLE
FROM THEIR
VICTORY.
1886- GOLD HAD
BEEN
DISCOVERED IN
WITWATERSRAND
1890-95 Rhodes becomes Prime Minister of the Cape
Colony: his big goal is to bring the Boer areas under
control (Orange Free State and the Transvaal)

■ The Boer leader, Paul Kruger, is just as stubborn

and passionate
THE
SECOND
BOER WAR
1899-1902
In 1899, the second Boer
War brings the Transvaal
under British control
THE ANGLO-BOER
WAR: FIRST

CONCENTRATION
CAMPS
HERBERT KITCHENER CARRIES OUT
BRUTAL POLICY
HEAVY LOSSES OF LIFE ON BOTH SIDES

• The Boers gave up and a peace treaty

was negotiated (1902)- and were given
freedom.

• The war lost popularity in England

 TREATY OF WESTMINSTER 1931 APPLIED TO
THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA (AS WELL AS
CANADA AND THE IRISH FREE STATE).
• Gave legal independence
to the dominions