Akshay,+Konstatinos,+and+Artur's+Britain+ONLY+Project



**Geographical Location**

Due to the massive extension of the British Empire, the empire got the title of “The Empire on which the sun never sets”. Major countries in the empire include Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, most of the South and Central African countries and the Caribbean.

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**Origins**

After the success of Spain’s and Portugal’s overseas exploration, then-King Henry VII of England ordered John Cabot to start a voyage to Asia, but the trip was a failure. During Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, and after a reformation of Protestantism, England developed a major rivalry against Catholic Spain. During the Anglo-Spanish Wars, the Queen sent Humphrey Gilbert to go to an expedition to explore the New World. After a successful trip he found Newfoundland, which started Britain’s desire to explore further areas and expand their growing empire.



**Economy**

During the zenith of the empire, many trading companies supplied Britain with foreign supplies from the various locations they had conquered. Such products include tea and spices from India, cotton from the States, sugar from Jamaica, etc. After the rise of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th and 19th century, Britain became the leading country in the world in terms of technological advancement, an achievement that would not be surpassed until the United States years later.



**Social Systems**

During the empire rule, a lot of natives in the counties that Britain had conquered were being oppressed by the British colonialists. A lot of countries such as India, Australia, Canada and even the United States started a rebellion against the British, most of them unsuccessful. Natives were treated horribly, becoming slaves to do the heavy workload of the British such as gathering spices and cotton.



**Rise Of British Empire**

The British Empire was according to Desmond Kuah, of the National University of Singapore, writes that "By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British Empire was the ** largest and richest **empire in the world.". This is because due to the rise of money that the British Empire gained people of the empire knew what to do with it and where to spend it. It aloud merchants to expand and and trading became easier becuase of the territory the Brtish Empire had. The **Military strength ** was at its highest point because of the utilities they had at there disposal. With the money they had, they were able to have the best wepons and machinery to produce the maximum outcome. The source of their money started with **Slave Trade ** in Africa also the expansion of European ** capitalism ** to include huge colonial empires in **Asia and Africa. **

**Fall Of British Empire**

Britain was conqureing  1/600th area of World. They **could not sustain** all of the land that they conquered because of **World War 2** caused revolt in some countries. Governed was difficult due to the fact of the **civilians uprising.** The wealth was **"taken"** from Britain Empire because of the **debt** they were in to America due to the war.The US capitalized on its position of banker and forced the UK to abandon the empire by threat of economic collapse otherwise.

**Legacy Of British Empire**

Since Britain took control of so many countries during those years, many aspects were taken from them, such as products and materials as mentioned above, as well as many features were given to the British colonies. Sports such as football (soccer), cricket, and golf are still enjoyed to this day in the Commonwealth countries. There's even a multi-sport event known as the Commonwealth Games taking place every 4 years, in the same manner as the Olympic Games. Also, in the aftermath of World War II, many people from the colonies immigrated to Britain after countries such as India gained independence.



** Bibliography **


 * "America and the British Empire." //Academic American History//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2012.
 * "British Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.