Genis Cornellà, Mihai Lazar, Adrià Tremps




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British Empire

British Empire

Elena Soler , Júlia Ramírez and Anna Domènech

When did the British Empire happen?

In the 16th century, England started to conquer territories and started to become powerful. After the Second World War, England lost almost all of the territories that they had and as part of a larger de colonization movement by European powers, most of the territories of the British Empire were granted independence, ending with the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. 14 territories remain under British sovereignty, the British Overseas Territories. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states. 16 Commonwealth Nations share their head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, as Commonwealth realms.

Britain was a little country with a big idea: to expand and become really powerful.

How big was the British Empire?

At first the growth of the British Empire was for the competition for resources and markets which existed over a period of centuries between England and it continental rivals (Spain, France and Holland). After the wars against Dutch, French, and Spanish countries they managed to conquered eastern coast of North America, Caribbean and Africa. The excuse they used to conquer Africa was based in Darwin’s theory of the evolution, they thought black people were less important and with less rights than the white people so they could use them as slaves, it was a racist ideal.

Then, they claim Canada, the Caribbean and most importantly, the East Coast of America. After a while, the Americans declared the independence, they discovered Australia, they claimed it and also decided to claim India too, and India and the Caribbean were the countries that Britain was more interested to conquer.

The British Empire started to be weak after lose one of the most important battles, the Japanese saw that weakness and they attack them, the British Empire lost against Japan and most of the territories get their independence, so the British Empire was nearly  disappeared.

Curiosities

When the British Empire was powerful, it was said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire”. That was because the British Empire was extended all across the world and the sun was always shining on, at least one of the territories.

Tea is from India

Sugar is from the Caribbean

Cotton was picked by slaves in America.

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