L'empire britannique (document en anglais)

BRISTISH EMPIRE

INTRODUCTION

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time, and covered more than 33,700,000 km2 almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.

FIRST BRITISH EMPIRE

THIRTEEN COLONIES AND

The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496 King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, commissioned John Cabot to lead a voyage to discover a route to Asia via the North Atlantic Cabot sailed in 1497, five years after the discovery of America, and although he successfully made landfall on the coast of Newfoundland (mistakenly believing, like Christopher Columbus, that he had reached Asia), there was no attempt to found a settle colony even if there were fishermen and sailors along the coast.

However the Protestant Reformation had made enemies of England and Catholic Spain and it would be more than a century before British settlers arrived on the continent. In the meantime, English connections with the continent were little more than piratical escapades as privateers such as Sir Francis Drake were more than content to expend their energies attacking Spanish shipping and settlements in the Caribbean, Florida and environs. As long as war prevailed between these two maritime nations, the English were not interested in establishing colonies in this part of the world. They would be far too exposed and would divert resources that were being used to harry the Spanish.

In 1578, Queen Elizabeth I granted a patent to Humphrey Gilbert for discovery and overseas exploration. That year, Gilbert sailed for the West Indies 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. In 1583 he embarked on a second attempt, on this occasion to 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 colony of Roanoke on the coast of present-day North Carolina, but lack of supplies caused the colony to fail.

In 1603, King James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne and in 1604 negotiated the Treaty of London, ending hostilities with Spain. At a stroke, English energies, capital and ambition were released and could be directed at the North American continent. In 1606 America was divided into two by the English. The whole Atlantic sea-board was referred to as Virginia, North Virginia (soon to be New England) was reserved as a monopoly for merchants and fishermen from Plymouth in South West England. South Virginia, was set aside as a monopoly for investors and settlers from London. It was this second group that was to establish the first colony at Jamestown in 1607. The Plymouth group quietly continued to use their concession for fishing. Invariably they would return to England at the onset of the harsh winters. However, in 1620, a group of resolute Protestants had decided that they would take their chances in this wilderness. They had previously attempted to avoid religious persecution by fleeing to Holland and they arrived on the Mayflower. However, they were concerned that their children were losing their English roots. They therefore decided to take their chances in this new world: this group laid the foundations for the government of the Plymouth colony. And one by one thirteen colonies were created in the east cost of America. But Britain also colonized the Bahamas and all Caribbean and Canada. They were to undergo severe privations. It was only the discovery of Tobacco that saved South Virginia from economic disaster. This low weight, high value cash crop could help to pay ships bringing clothes and metal ware from England. However, the tobacco plant's tendency to exhaust the soil would introduce new problems as the settlers constantly had to search for new farmable land. This led to deterioration relations between the native Indian population and settlers and very quickly the native populations were slaughtered. However settlers needed for labor and African were transported from Africa to North America in order to become slaves. Until the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Britain was responsible for the transportation of 3.5 million African slaves to the Americas. In the British Caribbean, the percentage of the population of African descent rose from 25 percent in 1650 to around 80 percent in 1780, and in the 13 Colonies from 10 percent to 40 percent. For the slave traders, the trade was extremely profitable, and became a major economic mainstay for such western British cities as Bristol and Liverpool, which formed the third corner of the so-called triangular trade with Africa and the Americas.

During the 1760s and 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. The following year, the colonists declared the independence of the United States. With assistance from France, Spain, and the Netherlands the United States under the commandment of Cornwallis won the war in 1783 at Yorktown.

The First British Empire came to an end, but British interests would still remain in the continent as Canada received a huge influx of loyalists fleeing Revolutionary America which would allow it to consolidate and expand its own borders.

SECOND BRITISH EMPIRE and VICTORIAN ERA

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various criminal offences in Britain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic. Forced to find an alternative location after

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