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The British Empire refers to the possessions, dominions, and dependencies under the control of the Crown.In addition to the areas formally under the sovereignty of the British monarch, various "foreign" territories were controlled as protectorates; territories transferred to British administration under the authority of the League of Nations or the United Nations; and miscellaneous other ...
In 1984 the British government signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with China and agreed to turn over Hong Kong and its dependencies in 1997. British rule ended on 30 June 1997, with China taking over at midnight, 1 July 1997 (at end of the 99-year lease over the New Territories , along with the ceded Hong Kong Island and Kowloon ).
The first English overseas colonies started in 1556 with the plantations of Ireland after the Tudor conquest of Ireland.One such overseas joint stock colony was established in the late 1560s, at Kerrycurrihy near Cork city [16] Several people who helped establish colonies in Ireland also later played a part in the early colonisation of North America, particularly a group known as the West ...
The following year, in 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence proclaiming the colonies' sovereignty from the British Empire as the new United States of America. The entry of French and Spanish forces into the war tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at Yorktown in ...
British Hong Kong; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Leeward Islands. Anguilla; British Virgin Islands; Montserrat; Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla; British Malaya. Federated Malay States; Straits Settlements; Unfederated Malay States; British Mauritius; British North America. Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) Colony of British ...
However, the British were saddled with huge debts following the French and Indian War. As much of the British debt had been generated by the defense of the colonies, British leaders felt that the colonies should contribute more funds, and they began imposing taxes such as the Sugar Act 1764. [96]
The British American colonies became part of the global British trading network, as the value tripled for exports from America to Britain between 1700 and 1754. The colonists were restricted in trading with other European powers, but they found profitable trade partners in the other British colonies, particularly in the Caribbean.
This is a timeline of British history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England, History of Wales, History of Scotland, History of Ireland, Formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and History of the United Kingdom