Rise and development of the British Empire

Our world is very old. There are many marks and scars on it, made and left from different people, civilizations, battles, wars, empires, nations and others.
We evolved very much in all aspects of human life. But some things are still the same. We, the people are always hungry for money, power and fame. This hunger comes from the past and continues its presence in our modern days. But these things are not only destructive, they are also creative and the end of one thing is the beginning of another. The people that created civilizations, nations, discoveries and empires, also were guided by that kind of feelings. There are many great nations and many great empires that are no longer present but left a big and still fresh, mark in the history and in the life of many people. Some of the great empires in our world were Ottoman Empire, Roman Empire and others. There is another empire that contributed to many kinds of things, like science, way of life and influenced the life and progress of several nations. That was one of the greatest empires in the world known as the British Empire.
The history of the British Empire is very long and flexible. That is an empire based on a powerful influence in the sea and in the trading. The British Empire influenced on a political, business, emigration and other levels. Many big and important colonies were part from that empire. It was the biggest ever empire in the world, with the most land and population. The empire included territories on all continents. It conquered almost a quarter of the land in the world and reached a population of 458 million people. One of the most important contributions of the British Empire was the spreading of the European ideas around the world. The history of the British Empire is divided in two parts, called First Empire and Second Empire.
The beginning of the First Empire started in the end of the 16th century. That start was given by the risks taken by the so called “chartered companies” in the sphere of trade. The “chartered companies” is an association for foreign trade, exploration and colonization. These companies had influence in politics and in some important areas in the world. The colonization started with establishing some trading post in certain areas of the world from where Britain gained important trading and industrial resources. The influence of Britain started to grow very fast in Asia, Africa and Canada. They were building many plantations from which they gained resources like sugar, tobacco, coffee and other things. But the many plantations required a big amount of people to work there. And Britain was forced to search for a cheaper working hand because the expenses were very big. After evading several uncivilized parts of the world, they colonized many people and formed very cheap workers by using the local population or transported people from other places like Africa to work in India and other places.
Basically the First Empire is a period in witch Britain is trying to establish monopole over the world trading and achieves that goal by conquering certain areas of the other continents and colonizes the population in that areas to use them as a working hand and to spread their ideas and ways of life and work. This is the moment when the British Empire is rising and it is assuming a big amount of power and influence on big land and sea areas. It becomes very strong politically and economically. The end of the First Empire is very interesting and it is marked with a revolution of certain colonies. This is a very important event in the British history. That event is the American Revolution.
Britain continued to invade new territories in Africa, Asia, America and Australia. In the 18th century the conquests of Captain James Cook and the victories in the Napoleonic Wars became a big factor in the expanding of the British Empire. They gained new and big territories on land and sea. But with the possession of big, large and different territories comes and other differences. Different cultures, different understandings, different people, were starting to be an issue. The clearly supremacy of the white over the black people was concerning humanitarian organizations. The slave market was something inhuman and some times very brutal. Later some changes that forbidden the slave market and slavery, were an effort to improve the life of the different populations. The British Empire started to progress in more political and social aspects. They established better communications and a regular civil service. They also developed and optimized a colonial administration. The Second Empire is also characterized with the “awakening” of the white English-speaking colonies and the birth of a national reorganization in the eyes of the British crown. At that point a person called Lord Durham stated that if Britain wants to keep their colonies it should give them more freedom and should let them to crate a self-government model.
The peak of the expansion of the British Empire was in a time of war. World War I gave Britain many victories and new territories like Palestine, Iraq and some former German territories in Africa and Asia. But with the more and new territories comes and the more responsibility and expectations. The events that happened later let to degradation of the British Empire and to the creation of the “Commonwealth of Nations”. After World War II the self-government model developed more and gain popularity among the British colonies. Almost all of the colonies gained independence and self-government and shortly after that they joined in the Commonwealth of Nations.
In present time the mark left from the British Empire is still fresh and many countries are feeling very much connected to Britain. There are still some dependencies that Britain is administering but that is more formally. The influence of the once great empire is still strong and powerful. The once powerful and mighty British crown that in the past ruled on several different continents now is just a symbol, but a strong symbol, of the British Empire and it always will remind us for the British domination and the big contributions to many aspects of our life and to the world. The British crown is an institution that will always receive the respect from other countries and it will be worshiped by the former colonies, and it will always make the feeling of connection to something so powerful and great like the British Empire.


References

http://www.factmonster.com
http://www.wikipedia.org
http:// www.britishempire.co.uk