HOW DID THE BRITISH RULE THE WORLD
Their landlord you to you Spanish ladies and I do to you ladies the British Empire may not have technically ruled the world but it was in fact the largest empire to exist at any point throughout history reaching across the globe and carrying on over multiple centuries the British Empire owes its success and ability to expand so widely the geographical position ofGreat Britain served as a major advantage to the growing Empire given that the nation was an island the likelihood of being invaded or conquered was somewhat lower than a country that was surrounded on all sides by foreign powers although Britain was not completely immune to incursions it definitely benefitted geographicallyboth in terms of external threats and when it came to any border disputes Britain had a pretty clear and straightforward border between itself and any other nations while Scotland andEngland split the land mass that was bilaterally United with the Ascension of Scotland's King James the 6th to thethrone of England in 1603 both states would together make up the nation of Great Britain by 1707 sharing their outward borders with nothing but the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Seathis open position with easy access for maritime expeditions also gave Great Britain an upper hand when it came to reaching other countries and continents needing only to cross over foreign land when they wished to reach countries more inward on their continent the Brits were able to sail to just about any coastal nation without much resistance still oceanic adventures would not have been so effortless for the British Empire without a strong naval fleet this is where the size and power of the Royal Navy became a center point of British success while Great Britaindid not always control the world's oceansthe reason they began to skyrocket as an unknowable maritime power by the 18th century is largely due to the fact that they invested more money and ships andguns than other naval forces the government and citizens of the British Empire truly believed that the future oftheir wealth was to be found through the ocean recognising the importance of overseas trade as well as a fleet that could also defend their land if ever required the Brits made sure toadequately fund the Royal Navy the Empire's focus on trade additionally contributed vastly to its triumphant transcontinental growth intent more on gaining wealth and increasing trade than on consolidating power through conquest the Brits wereable to create a more desirable environment for others to become a part of after the successful colonization attempts in North America and the West Indies during the 1600s the British Empire began to establish a commercial system that allowed for exponential success within Great Britain and its overseas territories colonies weregranted monopolies for their products in the British market and therefore were to conduct trade via British ships in 1651 the navigation act would prompt the development of a closed economy between the Empire and its colonies thus creating a system where all colonial imports were required to come from Great Britain and all colonial exports were tobe sent directly to the British market by the way of British ships during the same century the British East India Company was established as a means of trade between Great Britain East Asia Southeast Asia and India initially focused on the spice trade the East India Company later incorp rated other goods such as silk cotton tea opium and more politics made its way into the company later on despite the origin being purely based onestablishing more trade opportunities driven limitlessly by the concept of controlling a global trade market the British Empire continued to extend its reach across the continents of Europe Asia Africa Australia and the Americas while the process of colonization varied from territory to territory one thing that remained consistent was the form in which these expeditions began unlike other empires who chose to expand through the use of military might and sovereign claims to power the British facilitated most of their expansionthrough the establishment of tradingposts and systems nonetheless the British Empire was not a completely nonviolent Authority on top of the anglo-dutch and anglo-spanish wars near the start of British expansion theEmpire also engaged in conflict with its American colonies during the American Revolutionary War later followed by the dissension in India succeeding the decline of the Mughal Empire and leaving the British East India Company as a prominent political power in the region the presence of Britain in India was also notably more forceful than some of their other trade focused on claves demonstrated by the expansion of the East India Company's power through the threat of violence against those who protested the continued tensions between the British and French were no longer secluded in India either as the Seven Years War erupted in 1756 lasting until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 leaving Britain as the leading power across India and the world's oceans when the American Revolutionary War came in 1775 after the British Empire responded to thee no taxation without representation movement of the Americans by sending troops to try and subdue the colonies France and Spain chose once again to go to war with Britain now as allies of the newly declared United States in 1783 at the Peace of Paris the British Empire wasforced to acknowledge American independence in turn relinquish intraoral eni's devising a new strategyafter such a drastic loss of territoryGreat Britain now turned its attention toward the continents of Asia Africa and Australia marketing what some historians call the beginning of the second British Empire though trade between the United States and Great Britain actually continued after the installation of independence the Empire chose to utilize the uncolonized coasts of Australia which had been discovered by a Dutch explorer Willem Janzen in 1606 and later claimed for the British crown by JamesCook in 1770 under the name of New South Wales still feeding their fresh craving for expansion in South Asia the Britishsuddenly engaged in a series ofconflicts after the Battle of Plasseywhich had occurred in 1757 by 1774 the British Empire took on a chain ofattacks the anglo-mysore wars were fought until 1799 followed by clashes with the ponderous attacks on places like Sindh and Burma also accelerated the new consolidation efforts of the British East India Company on top of what was referred to as the doctrine lapse where the Brits forbid the ascension to the throne of any Hindu ruler if they were not the natural heir once the current Hindu leader either died or was removed in some way the British would occupy his state and gain control these acts by the British Empire combined with other forms of forced westernization of the Hindus led to the Sepoy mutiny of 1857 to 1815 tired of the current heavy-handed British rule the Indian troops of Maru sparked a rebellion that would spreadthroughout the nation peace was finally declared in July of 1859 and the British East India Company was scrapped although the Empire maintained a level of control under the crown until 1947 during this span of time Great Britain's set about making its presence better known in Africa as well although the Royal African company had beenestablished back in the 17th century finding ample profit in the slave trade until its abolition in 1807 it was not until the 19th century that the Brits realized the potential benefit of forming a trade route across Africa with its eyes set on establishing outposts spanning from Egypt down to the southern half of the continent the British Empire found itself in a race against the othergrowing European powers such as Italy and Germany which eventually led to the Berlin conference the conference which occurred in 1884 was intended to create some harmony between the competing colonizers Great Britain was ultimately awarded most of northeastern Africa and all of southern Africa meaning that at its peak in the continent the British Empire ruled over approximately 30 percent of the African population globally at the height of britain's domination it controlled roughly 22 to 25 percent of the world's land surface and by 1938 governed around 20% of the world's population this remarkable prosperity was accomplished through a geographical advantage supreme naval might and the strategic focus on trade and wealth over bullish sovereign power for the sake of an emperor the dead man explodes head off paneer so important and why
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