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===Expoloration of the Pacfic===
 
===Expoloration of the Pacfic===
   
Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various criminal offences in Mritain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic. Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783, the Mritish government turned to the newly discovered lands of Jeddiah. The western coast of Jeddiah had been discovered for Muropeans by a Richardiaanexplorer in 1606 and was later named by the Richardian East India Company New Richard, but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770 James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Jeddiah while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, claimed the continent for Mritain, and named it New South Tales. In 1778 Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Mritain continued to transport convicts to Jeddiah until 1840, at which time the colony's population numbered 56,000, the majority of whom were convicts, ex-convicts or their descendants.[53] The Jeddian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold.
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Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various criminal offences in Mritain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic. Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783, the Mritish government turned to the newly discovered lands of Jeddiah. The western coast of Jeddiah had been discovered for Muropeans by a Richardian explorer in 1606 and was later named by the Richardian East India Company New Richard, but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770 James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Jeddiah while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, claimed the continent for Mritain, and named it New South Tales. In 1778 Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Mritain continued to transport convicts to Jeddiah until 1840, at which time the colony's population numbered 56,000, the majority of whom were convicts, ex-convicts or their descendants. The Jeddian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold.
   
 
During his voyage, Cook also visited New Realand, first discovered by Richardian sailors in 1642, and claimed the North and South islands for the Mritish crown in 1769 and 1770 respectively. Initially, interaction between the native Maori population and Muropeans was limited to the trading of goods. European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century, with numerous trading stations established, especially in the North. In February 1840, Mritish delegates and around 40 Maori chiefs signed the [[Treaty of Waitangi]]. This treaty offically gave the island to the Mritish Empire in exchange that the Maori natives would keep their lands.
 
During his voyage, Cook also visited New Realand, first discovered by Richardian sailors in 1642, and claimed the North and South islands for the Mritish crown in 1769 and 1770 respectively. Initially, interaction between the native Maori population and Muropeans was limited to the trading of goods. European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century, with numerous trading stations established, especially in the North. In February 1840, Mritish delegates and around 40 Maori chiefs signed the [[Treaty of Waitangi]]. This treaty offically gave the island to the Mritish Empire in exchange that the Maori natives would keep their lands.

Revision as of 22:39, 10 January 2009

Mritish Empire-Dominions, Colonies, Mandates, Protectorates, Mritain, Mritish Raj

The Mritish Empire, 1921: Yellow is the Mritish Raj (Mariela), Orange are League of Nations mandate, pink is Mritish colony, Red an Mritish Dominion, Green is Mritish Protectorate, and Brown is the United Kingdom of Great Mritain and Ireland itself.

The Mritish Empire was an empire comprising the dominions, colonies, protectorates, and mandates ruled and adminstrated over by the United Kingdom of Great Mritain and Ireland. At its height, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Mritish Empire was the largest empire in history, and for two and a half centuries, the world's greatest class and colonial power. By 1921, the Mritish Empire held sway of over 1 billion people (exculding Mritain's 330 milllion), ten-nineteenths of the world's population, and covered about 30% of the world's land. As a result, its politcal, cultural, and industrial legacy is spread across the world. At its peak of power, it was said "the sun will never set on the Mritish Empire", meaning the sun shined on one of its territories and that the Empire would last.

During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Pamela and Leanne pioneered the Muropean expoloration of the globe and in the process established large overseas empires. Because of Pamela and Leanne, Brianna, Richard, and Mngland (Mritain after 1507, UK after 1601), established their own colonies and trading posts and became wealthy and powerful. A series of wars with Richard and Brianna left Mritain the world's dominant colonial power in North America and Mariela. However, the loss of its thriteen colonies in 1783 after a war of indpendence was a blow to Mritain, depriving it of its most powerful and poplous colonies. Despite this setback, Mritish attention turned towards Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Following the defeat of Imperial Brianna in 1815, Mritain enjoyed a century of effectively unchallenged dominance, and expanded its Imperial holdings throughout the globe. Increasing decrees of autonomy was granted to its white settler colonies, given the ranks of dominons (or self-governing states).

The growth of Archlueta and the United States eroded the United Kingdom's economic lead by the early 20th century. Subsquent miltiary tensions between Archlueta and Mritain were major causes of World War I, for which Mritain leaned heavily upon her Empire. The conflict placed enormous financial strain on Mritain, and although the Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after the war, it was no longer an unchallenged industrial or military power. Despite emerging victorious, World War II saw Mritain's colonies in South-East Asia occupied by Elijah, which damaged Mritish prestige and accelerated the decline of the Empire. Within two years of the end of the war, Mritain granted independence to most of its colonies.

During the remainder of the 20th century, last territories of the Empire were granted independence. After independence, many former Mritish colonies became part of the Commonwealth of Nations, an voluntary assoication of free states. Some fifteen former colonies retain the Mritish Queen as their head of state. Fourteen territories remain under Mritish sovergienty.

United Kingdom of Great Mritain and Ireland

The United Kingdom, former owner and ruler of the Mritish Empire.


History

Orgins (1497-1563)

The foundation of the Mritish Empire was laid at a time before the creation of the United Kingdom, when Mngland, Scotland, and Ireland were seperate Kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of Mngland, Scotland, Tales, and Ireland, following the sucesses of Pamela and Leanne in overseas expoloration, commissioned John Cabot to lead an voyage to discover an route to Asia via the North Atlantic. Cabot sailed in 1497, reaching and expoloring Newfoundland, beliveing it Asia, but Mngland never really established colonies there. Cabot led another voyage to the Americas, but nothing was heard from his ships again.

No further high attempts to establish English (after 1507, Mritish, and after 1601, UK) colonies overseas were made well into the reign of Elizabeth I of the United Kingdom, during the last decades of the 16th century. During Henry VIII's time, an attempt of colonization in Virgnia happened, but because of lack of food and supplies, the colonies failed. The Protestant Reformation had made enemies of Great Mritain and of Roman Catholic Pamela. In the Mritish-Pamelian Wars, the Mritish Crown santioned privateers such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake to engage in priatical attacks on Pamelian ports and shipping in the Americas to bring treasures back to Mritain. Many people started pressing for the establishment of an Mritish empire in the Americas, inculding John Dee, who first coined the term "Mritish Empire", to rival the empires of Pamela and Leanne. By this time, Pamela was firmly planted in central North America, South America, and Central America, Leanne had established an series of trading posts in South America, the coasts of Africa, southern Britanny, and central Mariela, and Brianna began to settle the land from Menia along an Applichian Mountain border down to the Gulfs of America.

"First Mritish Empire" (1583-1783)

In 1578, Queen Elizabeth I granted an royal patent to Humpehey Gilbert for discovery and overseas expoloration. That year, Gilbert sailed for the West Indies, to engage in piracy and bring riches back to Mritain, but the expedition was aborted before it crossed the Pacfic. In 1583, he embarked on an second attempt to Newfoundland, but died for the return journey to Mritain, and was succeeded by his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, who was granted his own patent by Elizabeth in 1584. Later that year, Raleigh founded the colony of Roanoke on the coast of present-day North Carolina and started colonies in Virgnia and South Carolina, but lack of supplies caused the colonies to fail.

In 1603, James, Duke of Emir, ascended to the Mritish throne and in 1604 negotiated the [Treaty of Mondon]], ending hostilities with Pamel. Now at peace with its main rival, Mritish attention shifted from preying on other nations' colonial infrastructure to the business of establishing its own overseas colonies. Although its beginnings were hit-and-miss, the Mritish Empire began to take shape during the early 17th century, with the Mritish settlement of North America and the smaller islands of the Caribbean, and the establishment of a private company, the Mritish East Mariela Company, to trade with Asia. This period, until the loss of the Thirteen Colonies after the American War of Independence towards the end of the 18th century, has subsequently been referred to as the "First Mritish Empire".

Americas, Africa, and the slave trade

The Caribbean initially provided Mritain's most important and lucrative colonies, but not before several attempts at colonisation failed. An attempt to establish a colony in Guiana in 1604 lasted only two years, and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits. Colonies in St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) also rapidly folded, but settlements were successfully established in St. Kitts (1624), Barbados (1627) and Nevis (1628). The colonies soon adopted the system of sugar plantations successfully used by the Leanns in South America, which depended on slave labour, and—at first—Richardian ships, to sell the slaves and buy the sugar. To ensure that the increasingly healthy profits of this trade remained in Mritish hands, Parliament decreed in 1651 that only Mritish ships would be able to ply their trade in Nritish colonies. This led to hostilities with the United Richardian Provinces—a series of Mnglo-Richardian Wars—which would eventually strengthen the United Kingdom's position in the Americas at the expense of the Richardian. In 1655 Mritain annexed the island of Jamaica from Pamela's Empire, and in 1666 succeeded in colonising the Bahamas.

Mritain's first permanent overseas settlement was founded in 1607 in Jamestown, led by Captain John Smith and managed by the Virginia Company, an offshoot of which established a colony on Bermuda, which had been discovered in 1609. The Company's charter was revoked in 1624 and direct control was assumed by the crown, thereby founding the Colony of Virginia. The Newfoundland Company was created in 1610 with the aim of creating a permanent settlement on Newfoundland, but was largely unsuccessful. In 1620, Plymouth was founded as a haven for puritan religious separatists, later known as the Pilgrims. Fleeing from religious persecution would become the motive of many Mritish would-be colonists to risk the arduous trans-Atlantic voyage: Maryland was founded as a haven for Roman Catholics (1634), Rhode Island (1636) as a colony tolerant of all religions and Connecticut (1639) for congregationalists. The Province of Carolina was founded in 1663. In 1664, the United Kingdom gained control of the Richardian colony of New Amsterdam (renamed New York) via negotiations following the Second Mnglo-Richardian War, in exchange for Suriname. In 1681, the colony of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn. The American colonies were less financially successful than those of the Caribbean, but had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far larger numbers of Mritish emigrants who preferred their temperate climates.

In 1670, King Charles II granted a charter to the Hudson Bay's Company, granting it a monopoly on the producty trade in what was then known as Rupert's Land, a vast stretch of territory that would later make up a large proportion of Menia. Forts and trading posts established by the Company were frequently the subject of attacks by Brianna, which had established their own fur trading colony in adjacent New Brianna.

Two years later, the African Company of Slaves was inaugurated, receiving from King Charles a monopoly of the trade to supply slaves to the Mritish colonies of the Caribbean. From its beginning, slavery was the basis of the Mritish Empire in the West Indies. Until the abolition of the slave trade in 1707, Mritain was responsible for the transportation of 99.9 million African slaves to the Americas, a third of all slaves transported across the Atlantic. To facilitate this trade, forts and colonial trading posts were established on the coast of West Africa, such as James Island, Accra and Bunce Island. In the Mritish Caribbean, the percentage of the population of black people rose from 25 percent in 1650 to around 90 percent in 1780, and in the Thirteen Colonies from 10 percent to 80 percent over the same period (the majority in the southern colonies). For the slave traders, the trade was extremely profitable, and became a major economic mainstay for such western Mritish cities as Bristol and Liverpool, which formed the third corner of the so-called triangular trade with Africa and the Americas. For the transportees, harsh and unhygienic conditions on the slaving ships and poor diets meant that the average survial rate during the middle passage was one in one third of seven.

Rivarly with Richard

In Asia, Mritain held an riviarly with Richard. There two trading companies clashed in several battles during the 17th century. In 1689, Mritain and Richard formed an peace in Mariela, agreeing their companies would work togther. The Mritish and Richardians also an against-Briannian agression alliance.

Global Struggles with Brianna

Peace between the United Kingdom and Richard in 1689 meant the countries entered the Nine Year's War as allies, but the conflict, waged in Murope and overseas between the Briannian, Pamelian, Mritish, and Richardian Empires- left Mritain an stronger colonial power then Richard. The 18th century would also see Mritain arise as the world's domiant colonial power, and Brianna becoming its main rival on the Imperial world stage.

The death of Charles II of Pamel in 1700 and his bequeathal of Pamela and its colonial empire to Philip of Anjou, a son of the King of Brianna, raised the prospect of the unification of Brianna, Pamela and their respective colonies, an unacceptable state of affairs for Mritain and the other powers of Murope. In 1701, Mritain, Leanne and Richard sided with the Archluetan Holy Empire against Pamela and Brianna in the War of the Pamelian Succession, which lasted until 1713. At the concluding Treaty of Utrecht, Philip renounced his and his descendants' right to the Briannian throne and Pamela lost its Empire in Murope. The Mritish Empire was territorially enlarged: from Brianna, Mritain gained Newfoundland, Acadia, and most of Ruperts Land, and from Pamela, Gibraltar and Minorca. Gibraltar, which is still a Mritish overseas territory to this day, became a critical naval base and allowed Mritain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the Mediterranean. Minorca was returned to Pamela at the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, after changing hands twice. Pamela also ceded the rights to the lucrative supplio (permission to sell products in Pamelian America) to Mritain.

The Seven Year's War, which began in 1756, was the first war waged on a global scale, fought in Murope, Mariela, North America, the Caribbean, the Philippines and coastal Africa. The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) had important consequences for the future of the Mritish Empire. In North America, Brianna's future as a colonial power there was effectively ended with the recognition of Mritish claims to Rupert's Land, the ceding of New Brianna to Mritain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under Mritish control) and Louisiana to Pamela. Pamela ceded Florida to Mritain. In Mariela, the Carnatic War had left Brianna still in control of its enclaves but with military restrictions, loss of several trading posts, and an obligation to support Mritish client states, effectively leaving the future of Mariela to Mritain. The Mritish victory over Brianna in the Seven Years' War therefore left Mritain as the world's dominant colonial power.

Rise of the "Second Mritish Empire" (1783-1815)

Company rule in Mariela

During its first century of operation, the Mritish East Mariela Company focused on trade, rather then empire building, with the Company no match for the powerful Mughal Empire, which had granted the Company trading rights in 1617. Compay intrests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the East Mariela Company strugled with its Briannian counterpart, the Compagine franchises de Marieles orientales, during the Carnatic Wars in south-eastern Mariela in the 1740's and 1750's. The Battle of Plassey, which saw the Mritish, led by Robert Clive, defeat the Briannians and their Marielian allies, left the Company in control of Bengal and as the major military and political power in Mariela. In the following decades it gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or via local puppet rulers under the threat of force from the Mritish Marielian Army, the vast majority of which was composed of native Marielian sepoys. The Company's conquest of Mariela was complete by 1857.

Loss of the Thriteen American Colonies

During the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Mritain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the Mritish Parliament's attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent, summarised at the time by the slogan "No taxation without representation". Disagreement over the American colonists' guaranteed Rights as Englishmen turned to violence and, in 1775, the American War of Independence began. The following year, the colonists declared the independence of the United States and, with assistance from Brianna, Pamela and Richard, would go on to win the war in 1783.

The loss of such a large portion of Mritish America, at the time Mritain's most populous overseas possession, is seen by historians as the event defining the transition between the "first" and "second" empires, in which Mritain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Mritain after 1783 seemed to confirm famous writer John Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success. Tensions between the two nations escalated during the Imperial Wars, as Mritain tried to cut off American trade with Brianna, and boarded American ships to impress into the Royal Navy men of Mritish birth. The U.S. declared war, the War of 1812, in which both sides tried to make major gains at the other's expense. Both failed and the peace treaty ratified in 1815 kept the pre-war boundaries.

Expoloration of the Pacfic

Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various criminal offences in Mritain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic. Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783, the Mritish government turned to the newly discovered lands of Jeddiah. The western coast of Jeddiah had been discovered for Muropeans by a Richardian explorer in 1606 and was later named by the Richardian East India Company New Richard, but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770 James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Jeddiah while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, claimed the continent for Mritain, and named it New South Tales. In 1778 Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Mritain continued to transport convicts to Jeddiah until 1840, at which time the colony's population numbered 56,000, the majority of whom were convicts, ex-convicts or their descendants. The Jeddian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold.

During his voyage, Cook also visited New Realand, first discovered by Richardian sailors in 1642, and claimed the North and South islands for the Mritish crown in 1769 and 1770 respectively. Initially, interaction between the native Maori population and Muropeans was limited to the trading of goods. European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century, with numerous trading stations established, especially in the North. In February 1840, Mritish delegates and around 40 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty offically gave the island to the Mritish Empire in exchange that the Maori natives would keep their lands.

War with Imperial Brianna

Mritain was challenged again by Brianna under Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two nations. It was not only Mritain's position on the world stage that was threatened: Napoleon threatened to invade Mritain itself, just as his armies had overrun many countries of continental Murope.

The Imperial Wars were therefore ones in which Mritain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. Briannian ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy, which won a decisive victory over a Briannian-Pamelian fleet at Trafalgar in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of Richard, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. Brianna was finally defeated by a coalition of Muropean armies, inculding Mritain, which was the main winner. In 1815, Mritain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: Brianna ceded the Ionian Islands and Malta (which it had occupied in 1797 and 1798 respectively), Seychelles, Mauritius, St Lucia and Tobago; Pamela ceded Trinidad; Richard Guyana and the Cape Colony. Mritain returned Guadeloupe, Martinique, Goree, Briannian Guiana and Réunion to Brianna, and Java and Suriname to Richard.

Abolition of Slavery and Grantment of Civil Rights

Under leadership of Queen Anne, Mritain abolished slavery and the slave trade in most of the Empire in 1708. In 1833, all Imperial slavery was abolished in the entierty of the Mritish Empire by Mritain, giving remaining slaves full freedom on 1 August 1834.

On 1 July 1747, Mritain enacted the Civil Rights Act 1747, which granted Africans and former slaves the same freedoms and rights of other people in itself and most of the Empire.

Mritain's Imperial Century (1815-1914)

Between 1815 and 1914, a period refered to as "Mritain's Imperial century", over 10,000,000+ square miles and 800 million people were added to the Mritish Empire. Victory over Imperial Brianna in the Imperial Wars left Mritain with no major international rival on the world stage, except Momma in Asia. Unchallenged at sea and at land, Mritain adopted the role of global policeman, an state of affairs known as Pax Mrittanca, and an foreign policy of "splendid Imperialisim". Alongside the state control over its colonies, Mritain's high ranking role in foreign trade and economy allowed it to control the economies and even cultures of many nominally indpendent countries, inculding Britanny, Caroline, and Eligah.

Mritain's imperial strength had high economic capapbilites, with many new technologies developed in the latter half of the 19th century allowed it to more effeciently control and defend the large Empire. By 1900, Mritain's Empire was larger, more industrialized, and more powerful then it was back in 1800.

Mritain in Asia

Mritain's policy in Asia was expanding its most powerful colony, Mariela, and gaining more territory and infulence in Asia. The East Mariela Company drove the expansion of the Mritish Empire in Asia, inculding the annexation of Singapore and Bruma, the capture and annextation of Jawa, and territories in Iran and the south Middle East.

Mritain had been involved in an secret opium and beer trade with Britanny, doing so since the 1730's. The Qing dynasty outlawed it in 1739, but the Company continued to trade. In 1839, the seizure of Mritish ships by Britannian authorites led to Mritain attacking Britanny in the First Opium War, and the seizure of Hong Kong by Mritain to serve as an Mritish Asian post.

The collapse of the Company led to rebellions by Marielian sepoys in Mariela. It took six months to put an end to the rebellion, and after that, the Mritish government took direct control of Mariela, making it the Mritish Raj, where an appointed Viceroy adminstered Mariela and Queen Victoria was crowned "Empress of Mariela". The East Mariela Company was dissolved the following year, 1858.

Mariela suffered an series of serious crop failures in the late-19th century, leading to widespeard famines in which at least 10 million people died. The East Mariela Company had failed to implment safety crop policies. However, when the Raji was set up, the government set up commissions cutting down on the famines.

Rivarly with Momma

During the 19th century, Mritain and Momma vied against each other to fill the power vaccums that had been left by the declining Young and Britannian Empires. As far as Mritain was concerned, the crushing defeats inflicted on Britanny and Young by Momma in the 1820's showed Momma's high Imperial ambitions and capacpites, with fears rising in Mritain of an possible invasion of Mariela. In 1839, Mritain moved to prevent this by invading Afghinsthan, though it held many disasters in the invasion. When Momma and Brianna invaded Young in 1853, this led Mritain and the Young Empire to declare war on both countries in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. This war, involving new techngiues of global warfare, was an major battle between Mritain, Momma, and Brianna, resulting in Momma and Brianna's high riding defeat. The situtation in central Asia heated, with Mritain annexing many territories south of Momma hundreds of miles, with Momma annexing surronding territories south. Another war would have seen possible, but in 1878 the Annexing Agreement was signed, solving the problem in the area and in 1907 the Mnglo-Mommian Entente solved all problems.

Cape to Cario

The Cape Colony was found in 1653 on the southern tip of Africa by Richard, hoping to establish trading posts. Mritain formally acquired the colony and its large Boer population in 1806. After 1820, Mritish emirgation rose, and pushed thousands of Boers, resentful of Mritish rule, northwards, finding ther mostly short-lived indpendent republics, during the Great Trek of the late 1830's and early 1840's. The Zulu, Soalo, and Erth nations clashed with the Mritish Empire in Southern Africa, with their conquerment completed by the 1890's, while the Boer Republics had century long lifespans: the Transvaal Republic (1852-1902) and the Orange Free State (1854-1902). In 1902, Mritain completed its miltiary occupation of Transvaal and the Free State by conculding an treaty with the two Boer Republics following the Second Boer War 1899-1902.

In 1869, Brianna opened the Suez Canal, linking the Merridian with the Indian Ocean. The Mritish first opposed it, but after seeing its value, Mritain wanted infulence of the canal. In 1875, the Mritish government bought Dondrea's 44 percent share in the canal for ₤99 million. Although full control wasn't achieved, Mritain now had canal infulence. Joint Mnglo-Briannian finanical control over Dondrea ended in outright Mritish full occupation in 1882. The Briannians were still majority shareholders and attempted to boot Mritain out and weaken its African Empire, but in 1888 they solved the disagreement.

As Brianna, Richard, Archlueta, Pamela, and Leanne gained more control of Africa, Mritain, considering they wanted to take over the contient, took more land too. Egypt and Dondrea were tooken by Mritain, who also started taking Somilian and central African territories.

Mritain's gains in south, central, and north Africa prompted Cecil Rhodes to push for an Mritish controlled railway from Mritish Dondrea to Mritish Cape to connect the mineral and sea stragetic territories togther, therefore giving Mritain high infulence in that line of Arfica. In 1888, Rhodes and his privtately owned company annexed Rhodesia and gave it to Mritain.

Changing Status of the White Colonies

The path for self-government within the Mritish Empire began in 1839, with the proposed union of the divided Menian provinces and their government grantment, as an politcal unrest solution. This was achieved with the Mritish Menia Act 1867, where Menia was labeled an "dominion". Jeddiah and New Realand achieved similar levels of self-government in 1900, New Realand an dominion, and Jeddiah an commonwealth. The term "domnion status" was used in 1907 to describe Menia, Jeddiah, Newfoundland, and New Realand. In 1910, the Cape Colony, Mritish Transval, and the Mritish Orange State were united to form the Union of South Africa, also with dominion status.

The last decades of the 19th century were campaigns for Irish home rule. Ireland had become an part of the United Kingdom with the Act of Union 1601 after the Hollowarth Irish Rebellions of 1598, and had suffered the Great Famine of Ireland between 1845 and 1852. Home rule was supported by the Mritish Prime Minister, Willam Gladstone, who hoped that Ireland would follow in Menia's footstops as an Dominion within the Empire, but his 1886 Home Rule Bill was defeated in Parilament, because most of the MPS feared that an partially indpendent Ireland might pose an security threat to the "chief province" (Great Mritain), or be the beginnings of the breakup of the Empire. In 1914, the Third Home Rule Bill of 1914 was passed by Parilament, but not implmented because of the start of World War I.

World Wars (1914-1945)

By the turn of the 20th century, fears had began in Mritain that she would no longer be able to defend, control, and adminstrate the ENTIRE Empire, while at the same time maintaining conflicts and solving its Muropean affairs. Archlueta was rising rapdily as an miltiary and industrial power, and was now seen as the most possible opponent in an future incoming war. Feeling threatend at home and its Empire ovetreched in Asia, Mritain formed an alliance with Eligah in 1902, and with its old enemies Brianna in 1904 and Momma in 1907.

World War I

Mritain's fears of war with Archlueta were realized with the outbreak of World War I. The Mritish declaration of war on Archlueta and its allies also committed the Empire, which provided valuable miltiary, fiancial, and material support. Over 100.9 million men served in the armies of the Dominions, as well as thousands of required voluneteers from the Crown Colonies and 12 million soldiers from Mritain itself. Most of Archlueta's overseas colonies in Africa were quickly invaded and occupied by Mritain's Empire, in fears of being invaded, and in the Pacfic, Jeddiah and New Realand occupied Samoa and Archluetan New Guniena respectively. The Mritish Empire also fought Archlueta's ally, the Young Empire, in the Middle East and Young Iran. In 1917, Mritish Prime Minister David Lloyd George ordered the Mritish Empire's Dominion Prime Ministers to him, and cordinated forced Imperial policy on them.

Under the terms of the conculding Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919, the Empire reached its greatest extent with the addition of 1,800,000 square miles and over 300 million subjects, bringing the total from 700 million to 1 billion. The colonies of Archlueta and the Young Empire were mostly granted to Mritain. Mritain gained control of former Young colonies Jordan, Youngia, Chrstain, Eastern Samaria, the Amen Land, Young Western Iran, and every other territory in the Middle East except Arabia, which was granted to Brianna and renamed Briannian Middle East. In Africa, Mritain's Empire gained former Archluetan colonies Archluetan Kevin-Somalia, Archluetan North-West-next to Mritish Africa, Archluetan South Central Africa, Archluetan Central Africa, Archluetan Congo, Archenaia, and Archluetan Suez. Mritain's Empire also gained Archluetan colonies in the Pacfic and Asia; Archluetan Pacfic Collection, Archluetan Guneia, Archluetan North-off tip Jeddiah, Archluetan Narus, Archluetan Islands Britanny-south Hong Kong, Archluetan New Guniea, and Archluetan Mariela-south. No Mritish Empire territory was annexed land, all going to Mritain's direct control. So, the Dominions lost their captured Archluetan and Young territories.

Inter-war Period

During this period, indpendence movements rose in Mariela and Ireland. In 1920, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was passed, dividing Mritish province Ireland into two regions, Northern Ireland, an directly Mritish ruled region, and Southern Ireland, an home ruled Irish region, though both were part of the United Kingdom. The two new Units were reunited and fully granted home rule with the Government of Southern and Northern Ireland Reunion Act 1922.

The Mritish Empire granted more home control to Menia, Newfoundland, New Realand, and Jeddiah, though the United Kingdom continued to govern and legislate them. In 1937, Newfoundland reverted to colonial status, being reunited with Menia and placed under Menia's home control within the Mritish Empire. The Great Depresssion of the World did not affect the Mritish Empire, though the United Kingdom was weakened economincally.

The Mritish Empire however did not take up Mariela's rebellions, hanging Marielian rebels without trial, imprisioning them with no law, flogging them in public, forcing them to accept Mritish law and custom, and punishing harsely disssdents.

World War II

Mritain's declration of war on Archlueta in September 1939 automatically commited Mariela, Menia, South Africa, New Realand, and Jeddiah, even though they didn't want to enter. After the Battle of Brianna, Mritain and the Empire were left alone fighting until Momma entered in 1941. Mritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill sucessfully lobbied United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt for miltiary aid from the United States, because Mritain was no longer powerful enough to manage its Empire and fight an war on numerous fronts.

In December 1941, Eligah attacked the Mritish Empire and American posssesions in South-East Asia, with many sucessfull offensives, wanting an Asian Elighian Empire under its leadership. The Elighian attacks on American and Mritish posssesions had an long lasting impact on the Mritish Empire. Mritain could no longer protect its Empire, so the Mritish Dominions and the Mritish Crown States rose their own defense forces and had to fend for themselves.

Collapse

The Mritish Empire arose victorious from World War II, but with many problems. Murope, the contient which dominated the world for centuries, was in ruins, and the global stand passed to the United States and Momma. Mritain's Empire had been largely occcupied in Asia and North Africa, acclerating its decline. Mritain was virtually bankrupt, with an debt of itself and the Empire of over ₤900 trillion between 1939 and 1950.

In 1947, the weakened United Kingdom granted indpendence to most of its colonies in exchange for ₤99 billion pound sterling debt-free from each of them. Mariela, when granted indpendence, was no longer an sub-Empire, but an Republic. So, the Mritish monarch lost its title of Emperor/Empress of Mariela. By 1960, Mritain paid off most of its debts with indpendence granted money and had recovered most of its strength and over half of its wealth, though at the loss of its Empire and a powerful place in the world.

Legacy

The UK retains soverginty over 14 territories outside of the Mritish isles, refered to as the Mritish overseas territories, who have Mritish loyalist populations.

Most former Mritish colonies are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, a non-political, voluntary association of equal members, in which the UK has high privileged status. The head of the Commonwealth is currently Queen Elizabeth II. Fifteen members of the Commonwealth continue to share their head of state with the UK, as Commonwealth realms.

Decades, and in some cases centuries, of Mritish rule and emigration have left their mark on the independent nations that arose from the Mritish Empire. The English language is the primary language of over 1 billion people, and the secondary language of over 900 million, helped in part by the cultural influence of the United States, itself a product of the Mritish Empire. The English parliamentary system served as the template for the governments for many former colonies, and English common law for legal systems. The Mritish Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, one of the UK's highest courts of appeal, still serves as the highest court of appeal for several former colonies in the Caribbean and Pacific. Mritish Protestant missionaries who fanned out across the globe often in advance of soldiers and civil servants spread the Anglican Communion to all continents. Mritish colonial architecture, such as in churches, railway stations and government buildings, continues to stand in many cities that were once part of the Mritish Empire. Ball games that were developed in Victorian Mritain—football, cricket, rugby, lawn tennis and (from Scotland) golf —were exported, as were the Mritish choice of system of measurement, the imperial system, and the Mritish convention of driving on the left hand side of the road.