The British Empire: Difference between revisions
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{{Useful Notes|wppage=British Empire}}
[[File:British_Empire.jpg|frame| The Sun Never Sets on The British Empire (red sections, circa 1897).]]
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''And guardian angels sang this strain:''
''"Rule, Britannia! Rule the waves:''
''"Britons never will be slaves."''
|'''James Thompson''' (1740) }}
Formerly the world's largest colonial empire, covering a quarter of the globe and roughly the same again of its population. Because of the rotation of the earth illuminating different areas of the globe, it was often stated, and technically true (even today), that the sun NEVER set on the British Empire <ref>
All that remains now are a few islands, [[
The British Empire was less brutal than most of the colonial empires and most of its former protectorates, dependencies and colonies are now democracies. Economically, it was a good thing for general economic development as it enforced a free-trade area over a quarter of the globe with no tariffs (zero) in or out of it. Though of course there were tolls and stamp taxes and such. This resulted in a lot of rather lopsided economic development, with some highly-developed areas right next to or in the middle of totally untouched ones. Profit margins, stability and ease of rule determined whether or not an area would be modernised and developed or not; in most cases, the British were content to rule by proxy rather than stirring things up too much by bringing people 'civilisation' in earnest - with the muddled exception of Missionaries, who had a habit of making these arrangements rather awkward.
Though
Many historians distinguish between the First and the Second British Empire, with the first being pre-[[American
Replaced by [[The Commonwealth]], where the locals get to make their own decisions, and aren't even ruled by the Queen if they don't want to be. This has caused some Britons to see the empire as their [[Glory Days]].
''Some'' Britons.
=== Particular sub-areas: ===
* [[Ireland]]: Although generally not counted as part of the British
* [[The Raj]]: What is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and the Oil Islands <ref> which are still British and consist of a Joint UK US Airbase and GPS ground station on Diego Garcia (the building of which required evicting and re-locating the locals, possibly unlawfully: the case is still in and out of the courts) and not much else</ref>. Called the "Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire"; [[Winston Churchill]] once noted, "The Indian empire was the finest achievement of the British people". Began after the Indian Mutiny, when Westminster woke up to the fact that [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|CorruptCorporateExecutives]] make for rather negligent rulers, and from then on steadily got better (famine and negligence would never go away, though) until a certain bespectacled lawyer articulated the view of many wealthy citizens - that said wealthy citizens should continue to rule India, without the British. The most populous, developed and invested-in of all Britain's overseas possessions, it was one of the few Crown possessions that ran at a surplus, hence "The Jewel".
* Bits and pieces of Southeast Asia, largely confined to Malaya, Singapore and Burma (which was in fact governed as part of the Raj until 1937). Sites of brutal battles against the Japanese during the [[Second World War]]. Burma gained independence in 1948 and has been renamed by the ruling Junta as Myanmar (though the BBC and most of the rest of the world still calls it Burma.) The others gained independence by the late-1960s, Malaya and Singapore becoming Malaysia then Malaysia and Singapore (which Malaysia still hasn't quite forgiven them for). Oil-rich Brunei is a special case, having remained a British protectorate until 1984.
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** The British had wide ranging concessions in other parts of China, predominantly along the Yangtze river. The British also leased Weihai on the coast of northern China between 1898 - 1930, mainly to keep an eye on German, Russian and Japanese designs in the region. These were all given up upon Britain's forced entry into the Second Sino-Japanese War, a.k.a. the Pacific Theatre of WWII.
* Bits and pieces of the Middle East: Aden on the southern coast of Yemen at the entrance to the Red Sea and the Gulf States, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and what became the United Arab Emirates.
** League of Nations Mandates: After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in [[World War
* Egypt: British troops occupied Egypt in 1882 and stayed on to guard the route to India via the Suez Canal. Egypt was given nominal independence in 1922 but British troops would remain until 1956.
* The Sudan: Britain's [[Darkest Africa]] setting. Notable for the Mahdist wars, in which Kitchener and a young Churchill fought against a fanatical Dervish army led by the Mahdi, an Islamic messiah-figure-thingy.
* British East Africa/[[Kenya]] Colony (then pronounced "Keen-yah" as opposed to the modern pronunciation "Ken-yah"). Older British people sometimes still use the former pronunciation.
* British Uganda: Had a railway, scorpions, and the young Idi Amin. It is, occasionally, [[Private Eye (magazine)|up for discussion.]]
* Bechuanaland Protectorate: Now [[Botswana]].
* Rhodesia: Now Zimbabwe and Zambia. Named for Cecil Rhodes, who colonised the region. A national hero in his day, he is occasionally perceived as a somewhat less pleasant individual [[Values Dissonance|by modern audiences]]. This area is still the cause of a whole lot of trouble.
** Was the subject of the autobiography, ''Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight''.
* Nyasaland: Now Malawi. Explored by Livingstone, we presume.
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** [[South Africa]] British South Africa is best remembered for the Boer War, which was the cause of South Africa and Scouting.
** [[Canada]] [[Canada, Eh?|eh?]], also kept the Union Flag until [[The Sixties]].
** Newfoundland went bankrupt during the Great Depression, voluntarily returned to direct British rule, and later voted to join the Canadian Confederation.
** [[Australia (
*** [[Nauru]], which split from Australia in 1968.
* [[New Zealand]] The other country what kept the Union Flag.
* [[Fiji]]
* [[The United States|A, um, certain country]] that started out as colonies and, uh, didn't like paying taxes so [[The American Revolution|they revolted]]. Bit of a shame really, but they seem to have done all right for themselves....
** An unusual case, The United States left the empire before the Conquest of India, which is why it's not often included in the empire ''classic.''
** Historians sometimes refer to North America, and occasionally specifically North America prior to Britain gaining the French colonies in it as the "First Empire
{{examples|Works set in The British Empire:}}▼
▲Works set in The British Empire:
▲* Many of the ''[[Sharpe]]'' stories.
* ''The [[Flashman]] Papers''.
* Some of the early ''[[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]]'' novels are set in Jamaica before independence.
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* ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (the novel, not the [[Michael Palin]] TV series).
* [[Pirates of the Caribbean]].
* The better part of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]],'' mainly due to the League being based in London.
* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has strips and arcs set here. Which isn't that surprising considering that England ''himself'' is running things.
* A few chapters of [[Gemma Doyle]] are set in [[The Raj]], and [[Star-Crossed Lovers|Gemma's]] [[Maligned Mixed Marriage|lover]] is Indian.
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[[Category:Hollywood History]]
[[Category:The British Empire]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Empire, The}}
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