The British Empire
- The British Empire was made up of the colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom.
- The independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies.
- British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
- By 1922 the British Empire had power over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time.
- The empire covered more than 33,700,000 km, almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area.
- Although the people living in the British colonies were British citizens, they were often times viewed by the English as inferior, second-class citizens (lots of discrimination).
- In the Second World War, Britain's colonies in South-East Asia were occupied by Japan. Despite the eventual victory of Britain and its allies, this damaged British prestige and accelerated the decline of the empire.
- British India, Britain's most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence two years after the end of the war.
Countries Part of the British Empire
•Afghanistan
•Antigua
•Australia
•Bahamas
•Bahrain
•Barbados
•Belize
•Botswana
•Brunei
• Canada
•Cyprus
•Dominica
•Egypt
•Fiji
•The
Gambia
•Ghana
•Grenada
•Guyana
•India
•Iraq
•Ireland
•Jamaica
•Jordan
•Kenya
•Kiribati
•Kuwait
•Lesotho
•Malawi
•Malaysia
•Maldives
•Malta
•Mauritius
•Myanmar
•Nauru
•New Zealand
•Nigeria
•Pakistan
•Qatar
•Saint
Lucia
•Seychelles
•Sierra
Leone
•Solomon
Islands
•South
Africa
•Sri
Lanka
•Sudan
•Swaziland
•Tanzania
•Trinidad
and Tobago
•Tuvalu
•Uganda
•United
Arab Emirates
•United
States
•Vanuatu
•Yemen
•Zambia