British Empire

The British Empire comprised a vast assemblage of dominions, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandates, and other dependent territories governed or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. Its origins lay in the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as well as the colonisation attempts made by Scotland during the same period. At its height in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British Empire became the largest empire in history and, for over a century, the pre-eminent global power. By 1913 it governed more than 412 million people, and by 1920 it controlled extensive territories across the world. The spread of the Westminster system, common law, the English language, and many aspects of British culture reflects its enduring global legacy.

Early Development and Expansion

The Age of Discovery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw Portugal and Spain pioneer European exploration and establish large overseas empires. Motivated by the wealth produced by these ventures, England, France, and the Netherlands began to build their own colonial networks. England’s earliest involvement in exploration followed John Cabot’s voyage of 1497, commissioned by Henry VII in the hope of discovering a northwest route to Asia. Although Cabot reached Newfoundland, no permanent English colony was established at that time.
The English Reformation and growing rivalry with Catholic Spain intensified England’s interest in maritime ventures. Under Elizabeth I, privateers such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake attacked Spanish shipping and coastal settlements. Influential writers, including Richard Hakluyt and John Dee, encouraged the establishment of English colonies, with Dee being among the first to use the term “British Empire”.
While England lagged behind its rivals in early colonisation, it undertook the first modern plantations in Ireland during the sixteenth century, settling parts of the island with English and Welsh Protestants. Several of those involved later contributed to colonial efforts in North America.

English Overseas Possessions, 1583–1707

Elizabeth I granted Sir Humphrey Gilbert and later Sir Walter Raleigh patents to explore and colonise overseas territories. Gilbert claimed Newfoundland in 1583, though no settlement was established. Raleigh’s Roanoke Colony, founded in 1584, was an early but unsuccessful attempt at colonising the eastern coast of North America.
After James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, hostilities with Spain ended, enabling England to redirect its efforts towards establishing permanent colonies. Early ventures in the Caribbean and Guiana faltered, but in 1607 the first durable English settlement was founded at Jamestown, Virginia. Further settlements followed, including Bermuda in 1609 and Plymouth Colony in 1620. Later colonies were established for religious, commercial, and strategic reasons. Joint-stock companies, such as the East India Company, played a crucial role in administering early settlements and developing overseas trade.
This first phase of imperial expansion continued until the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolutionary War. Historians often refer to this period as the First British Empire.

Imperial Ascendancy and Global Influence

Despite the loss of its North American colonies, Britain retained Canada and several Caribbean territories and shifted its focus towards Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Following the East India Company’s victory at the Battle of Plassey (1757) and the subsequent expansion of its rule, Britain became a major power in the Indian subcontinent.
A succession of conflicts during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries against the Netherlands and France resulted in Britain becoming the dominant colonial power in North America and the Caribbean. After the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), Britain emerged as the leading naval and imperial power of the nineteenth century. Its dominance during the period from 1815 to 1914 is often described as Pax Britannica, a time when British naval strength and global trade influence contributed to relative stability.
British expansion during this century was accompanied by competition with other European states, manifested in the Scramble for Africa and the geopolitical rivalry of the Great Game in Central Asia. Britain also secured concessions in China and Japan and expanded its presence in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. At the same time, its settler colonies—such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa—were granted increasing self-government, leading to their recognition as Dominions by the early twentieth century.
Britain’s global influence was not limited to formal colonial control. Its dominance of international trade, finance, and maritime routes allowed it to maintain an “informal empire” in regions such as Asia and Latin America.

Challenges and Decline

By the start of the twentieth century Britain’s supremacy was increasingly challenged by rising industrial powers, including Germany and the United States. Tensions between Britain and Germany contributed to the outbreak of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily on its empire for manpower, resources, and strategic support.
Although the empire reached its greatest territorial size after the war, Britain’s relative industrial and military standing had diminished. During the Second World War, Japanese forces occupied British colonies across East and Southeast Asia, severely damaging British prestige. The enormous economic and human costs of the war accelerated the movement towards decolonisation.
India, Britain’s most populous and economically significant colony, gained independence in 1947, followed by many other territories in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. The Suez Crisis of 1956 starkly demonstrated Britain’s reduced global influence. The handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 is frequently viewed as the symbolic end of the British Empire, although fourteen British Overseas Territories remain under UK sovereignty.

Legacy and the Commonwealth

After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of sovereign states formed to maintain mutual cooperation and cultural ties. Fifteen of these states, including the United Kingdom, recognise the British monarch as their head of state and are known as Commonwealth realms.
The legacy of the British Empire is evident worldwide. Common law systems, parliamentary governance, widespread use of the English language, and numerous cultural, educational, and administrative institutions remain rooted in British influence. The empire also left profound political, economic, and social impacts—both positive and negative—across the regions it once governed.