The Creation Of The British Colonial Empire

There is an extensive history empirical power, repeatedly and successfully controlling another state or group of people in order to exploit it economically. In Southeast Asia there were 5 colonial powers; the United Kingdom, France, Dutch, America, and Japan, their primary motives for establishing colonies in the region was to get control of trade routes, to get access to the natural resources and raw materials, and the cheap labor, as well as to establish naval and military bases so that they could amass influence in the region. Prior to World War II, a third of the world 's area was colonized by European colonial powers between the 15th and 19th centuries, and another third of the world 's population were in colonies, dependencies, protectorates, or dominions. In this essay, I will focus on the British and French colonization in Southeast Asia. The British-controlled Burma, most of the Malayan peninsula, and Singapore, which was a strategic port and later became a naval base for the British. Meanwhile, the French controlled the adjoining countries of Vietnamese, Cambodia, and Laos, collectively known as French Indochina. This period of colonization in Southeast Asia brought many changes to the regions society, politics, and the economy. For instance, both colonial powers introduced political changes such as introducing a centralized form of government and changes to the justice systems in many of the colonized countries. There were also social impacts resulting from the

1. What is ‘imperialism’? How did 19th-century colonialism, empire building, high imperialism differ from those of earlier times: in particular from the colonialism of early- modern mercantilism (16th to18th centuries)?

Colonization can be looked on as both positive and negative, however it is mainly negative. The impact of British colonialism in India was ultimately negative because, it robbed India of freedom, left many jobless, and gave India no responsibility of their own government. First, India was robbed of its freedom. One way India was robbed of its freedom is India had no control over its resources where the resources went. “India became an agricultural colony of industrial England.”

Friedrich Fabri is in favor of the colonial expansion because he believes it will be quite beneficial for their economy and national development. His view on the motives for the imperialism is that it will be economic and political. Fabri states in his article, “Many things in the new nation are already made bitter through unproductive political quarreling, soured and poisoned, so that the notification of a new promising course of national development will produce a liberating effect, as the national spirit is stimulated in many ways. This would be delightful as well as a profit.” How I perceive this is that because of the debates between Europe and the other countries, the other countries became a mess and the ideas of Europe helping them on their feet was promising. This seems to be a trick as to get the countries to let Europe help them, but clearly it worked out for the better anyways. Fabri also mentions how England surpasses all other countries and how strong they are with their military.

Starting in 1754, the Seven Years’ war began and led up to a sequence of events involving the Parliament. The Parliament is the highest legislature in Great Britain and consisted of the House of Lords and House of Commons. The Parliament made three acts because of the Seven Years’ war, which affected the colonist greatly. The three acts made by the Parliament included the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and the Tea Act. The Parliament made the acts to resolve issues and to enforce more laws, however, some acts made the colonist very upset and led up to events of commotion. The colonist had mixed emotions towards the act because some were liked and others were not.

Although social and political controversies played a role, conflict between Great Britain and her Northern American colonies was mainly economic. After several wars across the world, Britain surfaced as the globes dominion. It had won against French and Spanish powers, which allowed them to receive a large part of the North American colonies. Consequently, they had also emerged with the most war debt. This had caused Britain to control the colonies from overseas. While British parliament created many laws and acts to pay the debt, the acts were not the only reason for conflict as there were also social and political controversies and differences between the Great Britain and her colonies.

We traveled to the Americas aboard your ships, bought your goods, and fought in the name of Great Britain; we battled and died alongside your men as equals. Tirelessly we have aided every whim of Parliament, fooling ourselves and our children, telling fairytales to delude ourselves into thinking that laws passed were for the best. In such dire times, when food and money was scarce, we tried to find hope in your name, but it has come to light that you offer no safe haven for us, and wish only for tax upon tax. In theses times, it is necessary for us to reflect back on better times in the relationship between Great Britain and the colonies. The days in which we were separate, yet united, and the affairs of the colonies lay in our own hands; days when we were in control of our own lives. With such a time in mind, it is in the best interest of the peoples of both nations, that we consider the acts which define a tyrant.

After 1765, growing philosophical and political differences strained the relationship between Britain and its colonies. Following the Stamp Act, Patriot protests against taxation without representation escalated into boycotts, which culminated in the Sons of Liberty destroying a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. Britain responded by closing Boston Harbor and passing a series of punitive measures against Massachusetts colony. Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, and they established a shadow government which wrested control of the countryside from the Crown. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, establishing committees and conventions that effectively seized power.[44]

There is always a difference between the ones that conquer and the ones that are conquered. In this case, Britain and the American colonies developed great gaps during time, not only religious, economical and finally cultural. The beginning of this separation between the colonists and Britain runs deep. The Britain crown didn’t invest directly in the search of colonies in the Americas and by doing so, it gave the colonist a lose rope to start developing a new vision.

The reason why the British and the Colonist had such different stories because each side wanted to look inoccent. The more the each side look like each wasn’t doing anything, each side thought it look like the other side it more guilty. Instead of making each side look more gulity, all it did was make them look more guilty to themselves. For example, the colonist said it all started with playing snowballs but the real story was throwing oysters and ice just like the British said. The british weren’t as innocent but that was just a fair example because it would risk the British being hanged so that became a big party.

Obtaining the colonies from their former rulers would not be enough, however, to keep them under the British Empire. They could easily revolt, or end up causing massive issues for the British once their backs were turned. The British needed to find a way to hold on to this power, which they did by “converting” the colonies from their former ideologies to a more English system, which makes sure that they would stay English for centuries. This helped to keep the British Empire strong, regardless of how far away the colony would be. By introducing more English customs, the colony would become a “child” of the parent country, England. One such custom would be the religion: Protestantism. One could see the results of this in modern day Britain, consisting of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland came to become British due to the Ulster Plantation. The Ulster Plantation was a method that the English used to send people from England to Ireland to, in part, develop a non-Catholic, more Protestant culture . By doing so, and developing the anti-Catholic sentiment, the British were able to create a Protestant base in Ireland, which is the modern day Northern Ireland. Areas far from England were also being influenced by the religious British. While North America was developed as an opportunity for the British to extract resources and money, North America was also an opportunity to develop religious change in the New World. The British colonies that were developed in

The British Empire was the largest empire in history covering a quarter of the globe. This lead to the term ‘the Sun never sets on the Empire’. The British had lots of land in the West Indies and Caribbean and most slaves were sent there.

First, the political status of a country during the nineteenth century was solely based on colonization. A country’s power could be maintained or even improved through imperial rule. An example of the British using imperial rule to improve their political status is seen when Britain establishes itself as the ruler of India. According to the text, India provided the British Empire with military and economic power, along with protection of commercial routes, which were the primary concern of the British imperial strategy. The domination motivated the British Empire to expand beyond India to

The British Empire was an empire on which the sun never set. Lasting for over three hundred years, Britain became the global hegemonic power of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the wilds of Australia, to the fertile lands of Africa, the British Empire ruled over a quarter of the world’s population. Spurred on by new economic, strategic, and “humanitarian” reasons, Britain embarked on an aggressive expansionist policy, quickly gaining spheres of influence in India, China, Africa and the Middle East. With the empire ever expanding, visual and material culture became increasingly relied upon to help consolidate the empire. Overall, whether an advertisement for Pears soap, the funeral of Dr. Livingstone, or a commemorative biscuit tin, visual and material culture was at the forefront of British imperialism.

The Second British Empire was once so large it was said that “The sun never sets on the British Empire”. The Second British Empire refers to British rule after 1783. Following World War I, the Empire was at its most powerful; the territories it held were almost one fourth of the earth’s surface, which consisted of 25 percent of the world’s population; approximately 448 million people (Dolan 1-2). However, following World War II to the late 20th century, the empire’s holdings had been severely dismantled. Despite being one of the, victors of World War II, the empire had been left in a weakened state. The war damaged the empire in terms of power and finances which set it on a path of decline. The fall of the Second British Empire was caused by economic burdens, diminished power and pride, and accelerated decolonization brought on by World War II.