WRITE BRIEF NOTS ON BRITISH EMPIRE
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The British Empire is a term used to describe all the places around the world that were once ruled by Britain. Built over many years, it grew to include large areas of North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Africa, as well as small parts of Central and South America, too
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“THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE BRITISH EMPIRE”
Phillipa Levine, ‘Empire was about making money, it was about visible forms of power, and it was about the high moral ground. The civilizing mission was also the money making mission, and both were trumpeted as elements of Britain’s heritage and history.’
Factors driving imperial expansion- economic, demographic, political, ideologicalWhat was distinctive about the British Empire- extent of territorial acquisition, scale of population transfer, distinctive nature of its settlement colonies.
To create Great Britain, the kingdoms were united- England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland. Relatively straight-forward process of internal colonialism for Wales (in 1536) and Scotland (Mary 1 of Scots executed, her sonJames was the heir to the English and Scottish throne) but not for Ireland. Settlement of Ireland is often regarded as Britain’s colonial laboratory.
Ireland ‘before the invasion’- English authority in Ireland established in the 12th century but gradually waned. By 1500 Gaelic Irish lived in Independent and autonomous communities, the ‘old English’ population centered around Dublin in ‘the pale’.English colonization- English efforts to re-establish effective control through the establishment of ‘plantations’ (middle English for colony) in the 1550’. English controlled most of lands of Ireland by the end of 1590’s wit significant population transfer from England and Scotland.What were their motives? – religion, profit, security. Establishment of effective control to stave off foreign intervention. Profit through acquisition of new territories, to spread Protestantism in a strongly-Catholic population, English settlers in Ireland regarded as a more effective and cheaper option than armies.Colonizers were a small elite of well-connected members of English royalty/nobility/aristocracy acting as private adventurers but with the blessing of the Crown. Called the ‘celebrity colonizers of the New World’.Age of Atlantic Domination- early British settlement in North AmericaVirginia (colony of Chesapeake) 1607, Newfoundland 1610, Plymouth colony 1620In search of gold and silver but found other resources instead. Newfoundland cod industry. Idaho potato farming.Early British settlement in the Caribbean-Barbados company established in 1630s. sugar plantations and tobacco plantations were main sources of revenue, early use of indentured labourers. Slavery became the dominant source of coerced labor.THE SLAVE TRADE:Britain the dominant slave trading nation in 18th century. Plantation sugar the most profitable commodity. 60,000 slaves shipped annually (1740-1807).Birth of consumerism at beginning of 18th century- one of the most important factor driving British imperialexpansion.Commodities produced especially tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco spurred the emergence of consumer society inBritain. Opposition to slavery grew in the late 18th and early 19th century.Abolition of slavery- in Britain slave trade were outlawed in 1807. Slavery itself outlawed in 1833. Caribbean diminishes n economic importance.
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