How England became one of the most powerful empire in tu world ?

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How England became one of the most powerful empire in tu world ?

Intro

At its peak in 1920, the British Empire covered 22% of the planet's landmass, and a quarter of the world's population was under its domination. Queen Victoria, the emblematic figure of this empire, left her mark on it through her prosperous reign. But English domination began long before Victoria. To trace its origins, we need to go back to the reign of the tudors.

In this presentation, we'll see how England, then Great Britain, became one of the world's most powerful empires.

1. To retrace the origins of the empire, we need to go back to the Middle Ages, to the reign of the Tudors, Henry VII then Henry VIII and Elizabeth 1er.

In 1496, the King Henry VII of England commissioned John Cabot to lead an expedition to discover a northwest passage to Asia via the North Atlantic. He sailed in 1497 (5 years afer Christopher Columbus). He belivied he had reached Asia and that there was no attempt to found a colony.

Years later, his son Henry VIII the king of England for 27 years at this time merged Wales and England by promulgating the Acts of Union in 1536. Following this, the Irish Parliament had to proclaim Henry as "King of Ireland", reuniting the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of England under the regime of personal union.

Even later on, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII who was still a young Queen at this time, was close to Phillipe II, son of Charles V and King of Spain. At the time, a number of European countries, including Spain, already had colonies in South America, including the Caribbean, Mexico and Peru.  Portugal, for its part, traded with Brazil for the East Indies and the African coast. And France was present in North America.

Not wanting to leave England out in the cold in this race for « near-colonization », Elizabeth missionne in 1578 Humphrey Gilbert, a British navigator and explorer to explore North America in order to establish a colony. But the expedition failed before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. But in 1583, he embarked on a second attempt. He takes this opportunity to claime the harbour of the island of Newfoudland. Unfortunaly Gilbert did not survive on his return journey to England and was succeded by his half brother Walter Raleigh in 1584. Few months later he founded the Roanoke Colony on the coast of the present day North Carolina but the lack of supplies cause the colony to fail.

PART II : THE WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SPAIN (1585-1604)

During the 1500s, Europe is crossed by a lot of wars, especially because of the birth of Protestantism and the new discoveries around the world.

A competition is created between Britain, ruled by a Protestant Queen, Elizabeth Ist and Spain, ruled by a Catholic King, Phillip II, that wants to get as many colonies as possible.

So alliances are created, at this time, Spain owned Netherland, however, a part of the country that wanted his independence was helped by England.

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