ಬ್ರಿಟೀಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ

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The ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವು ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಇತಿಹಾಸದಲ್ಲಿ ಅತಿ ವಿಶಾಲ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ ವಾಗಿತ್ತು . ಒಂದು ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಅದು ಮುಂಚೂಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಶಕ್ತಿಯಾಗಿತ್ತು . ಅದು ೧೫ನೇ ಶತಮಾನದ ಅಂತ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಪೋರ್ತುಗಲ್ ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ಪೇನ್ ದೇಶಗಳ ಸಮುದ್ರಾನ್ವೇಷಣೆಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭವಾದ ಯುರೋಪಿಯನ್ ಅನ್ವೇಷಣಾಯುಗದ ಫಲಸ್ವರೂಪವಾಗಿತ್ತು .

೧೯೨೧ ರ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವು ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಜನಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯ ಸುಮಾರು ಕಾಲುಭಾಗ ಅಂದರೆ ೪೭ ಕೋಟಿಯಿಂದ ೫೭ ಕೋಟಿಯ ನಡುವಿನಷ್ಟು ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯ ಜನರ ಮೇಲೆ ಅಧಿಪತ್ಯ ಹೊಂದಿತ್ತು. ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಒಟ್ಟು ಭೂಪ್ರದೇಶದ ಕಾಲುಭಾಗ ಅಂದರೆ ಸುಮಾರು ೧೪.೩ ದಶಲಕ್ಷ ಚದರ ಮೈಲಿ ( ೩೭ ದಶಲಕ್ಷ ಚದರ ಕಿ.ಮೀ.) ಯಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರದೇಶವನ್ನು ಆವರಿಸಿತ್ತು . ಈಗ ಅದು ಕಾಮನ್ವೆಲ್ಥ ಒಕ್ಕೂಟವಾಗಿ ಬದಲಾಗಿರುವದಾದರೂ , ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ ಪ್ರಭಾವವು ಜಗತ್ತಿನಾದ್ಯಂತ ಬಲವಾಗಿ ಉಳಿದಿದೆ: in economic practice, legal and governmental systems, sports (such as cricket and football), and the English language itself.

ಒಂದು ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವು "ಸೂರ್ಯನೆಂದೂ ಮುಳುಗದ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ" ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತಿತ್ತು . ಆ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಒಂದಲ್ಲ ಒಂದು ವಸಾಹತಿನ ಮೇಲೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನು ಪ್ರಕಾಶಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವಷ್ಟು ಅದು ವಿಶಾಲವಾಗಿದ್ದುದು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ .

ಪರಿವಿಡಿ ೧ ಶಬ್ದ ವ್ಯುತ್ಪತ್ತಿ ೨ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ: ಆಂಗ್ಲರ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ ೨.೧ ಸಾಗರದಾಚಿನ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆ ೨.೨ Henry VIII and the rise of the Royal Navy ೨.೩ ಐರ್ಲ್ಯಾಂಡ್ ೨.೪ ಎಲಿಜಬೆತ್ ಕಾಲ ೨.೫ ಸ್ಟುಅರ್ಟ್ ಯುಗ ೨.೬ Scottish role ೩ ವಸಾಹತೀಕರಣ ೪ ಮುಕ್ತ ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು "ಅನೌಪಚಾರಿಕ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ" ೫ ಬ್ರಿಟೀಷ್ ಈಸ್ಟ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ ಕಂಪನಿ ೫.೧ ವಿಸ್ತರಣೆ ೫.೨ Collapse ೬ Breakdown of Pax Britannica ೭ ಬ್ರಿಟನ್ ಮತ್ತು ಹೊಸ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವಾದ ೭.೧ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ವಸಾಹತು ನೀತಿ ೮ Britain and the scramble for Africa ೯ Home rule in white-settler colonies ೧೦ ಮೊದಲ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಮಹಾಯುದ್ಧದ ಪರಿಣಾಮ ೧೦.೧ ಐರ್ಲೆಂಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಆಳಿಕೆಯ ಅಂತ್ಯ ೧೧ Decolonisation and decline ೧೨ References ೧೨.೧ Overviews ೧೨.೨ Popular ೧೨.೩ Specialized scholarly studies ೧೩ Notes ೧೪ See also ೧೫ External links

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಶಬ್ದ ವ್ಯುತ್ಪತ್ತಿ

"ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ" ಎಂಬ ಪದವನ್ನು ೧೮೬೫ ರ ನಂತರ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ, John Oldmixon, The British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and Present State of All the British Colonies, on the Continent and Islands of America (London, 1708) ^[೧]

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ: ಆಂಗ್ಲರ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಸಾಗರದಾಚಿನ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆ

The overseas British Empire (in the sense of British oceanic exploration and settlement outside of Europe and the British Isles) was rooted in the pioneering maritime policies of King Henry VII, who reigned from 1485 to 1509. Building on commercial links in the wool trade promoted during the reign of his predecessor King Richard III, Henry established the modern English merchant marine system, which greatly expanded English shipbuilding and seafaring. The merchant marine also supplied the basis for the mercantile institutions that would play such a crucial role in later British imperial ventures, such as the Massachusetts Bay Company and the British East India Company. Henry's financial reforms made the English Exchequer solvent, which helped to underwrite the development of the Merchant Marine. Henry also ordered construction of the first English dry dock, at Portsmouth, and made improvements to England's small navy. Additionally, Henry sponsored the voyages of the Italian mariner John Cabot in 1496 and 1497 that established England's first overseas colony - a fishing settlement - in Newfoundland, which Cabot claimed on behalf of Henry.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Henry VIII and the rise of the Royal Navy

The foundations of sea power, having been laid during Henry VII's reign, were gradually expanded to protect English trade and open up new routes. King Henry VIII founded the modern English navy (though the plans to do so were put into motion during his father's reign), more than tripling the number of warships and constructing the first large vessels with heavy, long-range guns. He initiated the Navy's formal, centralised administrative apparatus, built new docks, and constructed the network of beacons and lighthouses that greatly facilitated coastal navigation for English and foreign merchant sailors. Henry thus established the munitions-based Royal Navy that was able to hold off the Spanish Armada in 1588, and his innovations provided the seed for the imperial navy of later day.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಐರ್ಲ್ಯಾಂಡ್

The first substantial achievements of the colonial empire stem from the Act for Kingly Title, passed by the Irish parliament in 1541. This statute converted Ireland from a lordship under the authority of the English crown to a kingdom in its own right. It was the starting point for the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland.

By 1550 a committed policy of colonisation of the country had been adopted, which culminated in the Plantation of Ulster in 1610, following the Nine Years war (1595-1603). In the meantime, the plantations of Ireland formed the templates for the empire, and several people involved in these projects also had a hand in the early colonisation of north America e.g. Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake and Ralph Lane.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಎಲಿಜಬೆತ್ ಕಾಲ

ಟ್ಯೂಡರ್ ದ ರಾಣಿ ೧ನೇ ಎಲಿಜಬೆತ್ ಆಳ್ವಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಫ್ರಾನ್ಸಿಸ್ ಡ್ರೇಕ್ ಎಂಬುವನು ೧೫೭೭ರಿಂದ ೧೫೮೦ರ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಭೂಮಿಯನ್ನು ಸುತ್ತು ಹೊಡೆದು ಫರ್ಡಿನೆಂಡ್ ಮಗೆಲ್ಲನ್ ನ ನಂತರ ಈ ಸಾಹಸ ಮಾಡಿದ ಎರಡನೇ ಸಾಹಸಿಗನಾದನು. ೧೫೭೯ ರಲ್ಲಿ ಡ್ರೇಕನು ಉತ್ತರ ಕ್ಯಾಲಿಫೋರ್ನಿಯಾ ದಲ್ಲಿ ಇಳಿದು claimed for the English Crown what he named Nova Albion ("New Albion", Albion being an ancient name for England or Britain), though the claim was not followed by settlement. Subsequent maps spell out Nova Albion to the north of all New Spain. ಇದರ ನಂತರ ಇಂಗ್ಲೆಂಡಿನ ಹಿತಾಸಕ್ತಿಗಳು ಯುರೋಪ್ ನ ಹೊರಗೆ ಬೆಳೆಯಲಾರಂಭಿಸಿದವು. ಜಾನ್ ಡೀ ಎಂಬುವನು " ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ " ಎಂಬ ಪದವನ್ನು ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಾಕಿದನು. ಅನುಭವೀ ನಾವಿಕನಾಗಿದ್ದ ಈತನನ್ನು ಬಹಲಷ್ಟು ಆಂಗ್ಲ ನಾವಿಕರು ಭೇಟಿ ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಈತನ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯು ಡಾಂಟೆ ಕ್ರ್‍ತಿಯಾದ "ಮೊನಾರ್ಕಿಯಾ"ದಿಂದ ಸ್ಫೂರ್ತಿಗೊಂಡಿತ್ತಾದರೂ ಈತನು ವೇಲ್ಸ್ ದೇಶದವನಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಇವನ " ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ " ಎಂಬ ಪದವು ಎಲಿಜಬೆತಳ ಟ್ಯೂಡರ್ ವಂಶದ ವೇಲ್ಸ್ ಮೂಲಕ್ಕೆ ಸರಿ ಹೊಂದಿತು.

Humphrey Gilbert followed on Cabot's original claim when he sailed to Newfoundland in 1583 and declared it an English colony on August 5 at St John's. Sir Walter Raleigh organised the first colony in Virginia in 1587 at Roanoke Island. Both Gilbert's Newfoundland settlement and the Roanoke colony were short-lived, however, and had to be abandoned due to food shortages, severe weather, shipwrecks, and hostile encounters with indigenous tribes on the American continent.

The Elizabethan era built on the past century's imperial foundations by expanding Henry VIII's navy, promoting Atlantic exploration by English sailors, and further encouraging maritime trade especially with the Netherlands and the Hanseatic League. The nearly twenty year Anglo-Spanish War (1585 - 1604), which started well for England with the sack of Cadiz and the repulse of the Spanish Armada, soon turned Spain's way with a number of serious defeats which sent the Royal Navy into decline and allowed Spain to retain effective control of the Atlantic sea lanes, thwarting English hopes of establishing colonies in North America. However it did give English sailors and shipbuilders vital experience.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಸ್ಟುಅರ್ಟ್ ಯುಗ

In 1604, King James I of England negotiated the Treaty of London, ending hostilities with Spain, and the first permanent English settlement followed in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. During the next three centuries, England extended its influence overseas and consolidated its political development at home. In 1707, under the Acts of Union, the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland were united in Westminster, London, as the Parliament of Great Britain.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Scottish role

There were several pre-union attempts at creating a Scottish Overseas Empire, with various Scottish settlements in North and South America. The most famous of these was the disastrous Darién scheme which attempted to establish a settlement colony and trading post in Panama to foster trade between Scotland and the Far East.

After union many Scots, especially in Canada, Jamaica, India, Australia and New Zealand, took up posts as administrators, doctors, lawyers and teachers. Progressions in Scotland itself during the Scottish enlightenment led to advancements throughout the empire. Scots settled across the Empire as it developed and built up their own communities such as Dunedin in New Zealand.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ವಸಾಹತೀಕರಣ

In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the island of Newfoundland as England's for Elizabeth I, reinforcing John Cabot's prior claim to the island in 1497, for Henry VII, as England's first overseas colony. Gilbert's shipwreck prevented ensuing settlement in Newfoundland, other than the seasonal cod fishermen who had frequented the island since 1497. However, the Jamestown colonists, led by Captain John Smith, overcame the severe privations of the winter in 1607 to found England's first permanent overseas settlement. The empire thus took shape during the early 17th century, with the English settlement of the eastern colonies of North America, which would later become the original United States as well as Canada's Atlantic provinces, and the colonisation of the smaller islands of the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Barbados.

The sugar-producing colonies of the Caribbean, where slavery became central to the economy, were at first England's most important and lucrative colonies. The American colonies provided tobacco, cotton, and rice in the south and naval materiel and furs in the north were less financially successful, but had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far larger numbers of English emigrants.

England's American empire was slowly expanded by war and colonisation, England gaining control of New Amsterdam (later New York) via negotiations following the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The growing American colonies pressed ever westward in search of new agricultural lands.

During the Seven Years' War the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham and captured all of New France in 1760, giving Britain control over the greater part of North America.

Later, settlement of Australia (starting with penal colonies from 1788) and New Zealand (under the crown from 1840) created a major zone of British migration. The entire Australian continent was claimed for Britain when Matthew Flinders proved New Holland and New South Wales to be a single land mass by completing a circumnavigation of it in 1803. The colonies later became self-governing colonies and became profitable exporters of wool and gold.

See also British colonisation of the Americas, Colonial history of America

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಮುಕ್ತ ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು "ಅನೌಪಚಾರಿಕ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ"

See also: Pax Britannica

The old British colonial system began to decline in the 18th century. During the long period of unbroken Whig dominance of domestic political life (1714–62), the Empire became less important and less well-regarded, until an ill-fated attempt (largely involving taxes, monopolies, and zoning) to reverse the resulting "salutary neglect" (or "benign neglect") provoked the American War of Independence (1775–83), depriving Britain of her most populous colonies.

The period is sometimes referred to as the end of the "first British Empire", indicating the shift of British expansion from the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries to the "second British Empire" in Asia and later also Africa from the 18th century. The loss of the Thirteen Colonies showed that colonies were not necessarily particularly beneficial in economic terms, since Britain could still profit from trade with the ex-colonies without having to pay for their defence and administration.

Mercantilism, the economic doctrine of competition between nations for a finite amount of wealth which had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, now gave way in Britain and elsewhere to the laissez-faire economic liberalism of Adam Smith and successors like Richard Cobden.

The lesson of Britain's North American loss — that trade might be profitable in the absence of colonial rule — contributed to the extension in the 1840s and 1850s of self-governing colony status to white settler colonies in Canada and Australasia whose British or European inhabitants were seen as outposts of the "mother country". Ireland was treated differently because of its geographic proximity, and incorporated into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801; due largely to the impact of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 against British rule.

During this period, Britain also outlawed the slave trade (1807) and soon began enforcing this principle on other nations. By the mid-19th century Britain had largely eradicated the world slave trade. Slavery itself was abolished in the British colonies in 1834, though the phenomenon of indentured labour retained much of its oppressive character until 1920.

The end of the old colonial and slave systems was accompanied by the adoption of free trade, culminating in the repeal of the Corn Laws and Navigation Acts in the 1840s. Free trade opened the British market to unfettered competition, stimulating reciprocal action by other countries during the middle quarters of the 19th century.

Some argue that the rise of free trade merely reflected Britain's economic position and was unconnected with any true philosophical conviction. Despite the earlier loss of 13 of Britain's North American colonies, the final defeat in Europe of Napoleonic France in 1815 left Britain the most successful international power. While the Industrial Revolution at home gave her an unrivalled economic leadership, the Royal Navy dominated the seas. The distraction of rival powers by European matters enabled Britain to pursue a phase of expansion of her economic and political influence through "informal empire" underpinned by free trade and strategic pre-eminence.

Between the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Britain was the world's sole industrialised power, with over 30% of the global industrial output in 1870. As the "workshop of the world", Britain could produce finished manufactures so efficiently and cheaply that they could undersell comparable locally produced goods in foreign markets. Given stable political conditions in particular overseas markets, Britain could prosper through free trade alone without having to resort to formal rule. In the Americas the informal British trade empire was backed by the shared interests of Britain in the tenets of the United States' Monroe Doctrine, which declared that the New World was no longer open to colonization or political interference by Europeans. As the United States did not yet have the military strength to enforce this doctrine, the British were largely left with a free hand to enter the new markets in Latin America created after independence from Spain and Portugal, and British commercial supremacy lasted until the outbreak of World War I. ^[೨]

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಬ್ರಿಟೀಷ್ ಈಸ್ಟ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ ಕಂಪನಿ

The British East India Company was probably the most successful chapter in the British Empire's history as it was responsible for the annexation of the Indian subcontinent, which would become the British Empire's largest source of revenue, along with the conquest of Hong Kong, Singapore, Ceylon, Malaya (which was also one of the largest sources of revenue) and other surrounding Asian countries, and was thus responsible for establishing Britain's Asian empire, the most important component of the British Empire.

The British East India Company originally began as a joint-stock company of traders and investors based in Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, which was granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I in 1600, with the intent to favour trade privileges in India. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created Honourable East India Company a monopoly on all trade with the East Indies. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, along with a very large private army consisting of local Indian sepoys, who were loyal to their British commanders and were an important factor in Britain's Asian conquest. The British East India Company is regarded by some as the world's first multinational corporation. Its territorial holdings were subsumed by the British crown in 1858, in the aftermath of the events variously referred to as the Sepoy Rebellion or the Indian Mutiny. [1]

At that time there was no political entity called India. The Indian subcontinent was a patchwork of many kingdoms, and unlike in Europe, there was no concept of the State as a political institution anywhere in this expanse of land. It was indeed with the absorption of British and western ideas that the concept of India as a single nation arose, much later in time. Thus, until the establishment of a single administrative and gubernatorial entity by the British, the word India must be taken to represent nothing more than a catchall term for the peninsula south of the Himalayas.

The Company also had interests along the routes to India from Great Britain. As early as 1620, the company attempted to lay claim to the Table Mountain region in South Africa, later it occupied and ruled St Helena. The Company also established Hong Kong and Singapore; employed Captain Kidd to combat piracy; and cultivated the production of tea in India. Other notable events in the Company's history were that it held Napoleon captive on Saint Helena, and made the fortune of Elihu Yale. Its products were the basis of the Boston Tea Party in Colonial America.

In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe was instructed by James I to visit the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (who ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent at the time, along with parts of Afghanistan). The purpose of this mission was to arrange for a commercial treaty which would give the Company exclusive rights to reside and build factories in Surat and other areas. In return, the Company offered to provide to the emperor goods and rarities from the European market. This mission was highly successful and Jahangir sent a letter to the King through Sir Thomas. The British East India Company found itself completely dominant over the French, Dutch and Portuguese trading companies in the Indian subcontinent as a result. In 1634, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan extended his hospitality to the English traders to the region of Bengal, which had the world's largest textile industry at the time. In 1717, the Mughal Emperor at the time completely waived customs duties for the trade, giving the Company a decided commercial advantage in the Indian trade. With the Company's large revenues, it raised its own armed forces from the 1680s, mainly drawn from the indigenous local population, who were Indian sepoys under the command of British officers.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ವಿಸ್ತರಣೆ

ಮುಘಲ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ ದ ಪತನವು ಕಂಪನಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಯವಿಸ್ತರಣೆಗೆ ಅನುವು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿತು. ಈ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವು ಹತ್ತು ಹಲವು ಸಣ್ಣ ಪ್ರಾಂತ್ಯಗಳಿಗೆ ಹಂಚಿಹೋಗಿ ತಮ್ಮತಮ್ಮಲ್ಲೇ ಹೋರಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಹಾಯಕವಾಗಿದ್ದಿತು. ೧೭೫೭ರಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಪನಿಯು ಬಂಗಾಳ ದ ನವಾಬ್ ಸಿರಾಜ್ ಉದ್ ದೌಲಾ ನ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಯುದ್ಧ ಸಾರಿತು. ರಾಬರ್ಟ್ ಕ್ಲೈವ್ ನಾಯಕತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಪನಿಯ ಸೇನೆಯು ಭಾರತೀಯ ಮಿತ್ರಸೇನೆಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕೂಡಿ ಪ್ಲಾಸಿ ಕದನ ದಲ್ಲಿ ೨೩ ಜೂನ್ ೧೭೫೭ ರಂದು ನವಾಬನ ಪೂರ್ವ ಸೇನಾಪತಿ ಮೀರ್ ಜಾಫರ್ ನ ದ್ರೋಹದಿಂದ ಬಂಗಾಳದ ನವಾಬನನ್ನು ಸೋಲಿಸಿತು. ಈ ಜಯದಿಂದ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಈಸ್ಟ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ ಕಂಪನಿಯು ಬಂಗಾಳವನ್ನು ತನ್ನ ತೆಕ್ಕೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಅಲ್ಲದೇ ಸೈನ್ಯಶಕ್ತಿಯಾಗಿ ಹೊರಹೊಮ್ಮಿ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಆಡಳಿತದ ಆರಂಭ ಮಾಡಿತು. ಬಂಗಾಳದ ಖಜಾನೆಯಿಂದ ದೊರೆತ ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯದಿಂದ ಕಂಪನಿಯು ತನ್ನ ಸೇನಾ ಶಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡು ತನ್ನ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನವನ್ನು ಹಿಗ್ಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿತು. ಹೀಗೆ ಸಂಪಾದಿಸಿದ ಬಲಿಷ್ಠ ಸೇನೆಯ ಬಲದಿಂದ ಭಾರತದ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರದೇಶವನ್ನು ಆಕ್ರಮಿಸಿತು. hola que tal soi vicuu

ಕಂಪನಿಯು ಪ್ರಾದೇಶಿಕ ಪಾಳೇಗಾರರ (?) ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಯುದ್ಧಗಳನ್ನು ಸಾರಿತು. ಇವುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅತಿ ಕಷ್ಟಕರವಾಗಿದ್ದು ನಾಲ್ಕು ಆಂಗ್ಲ-ಮೈಸೂರು ಕದನಗಳು . ೧೭೬೬ ಮತ್ತು ೧೭೯೯ ರ ನಡುವೆ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತ ದ ಮೈಸೂರು ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನ ದ ಹೈದರಾಲಿ ತದನಂತರ ಅವನ ಮಗ ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಸುಲ್ತಾನ್ ("ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ಹುಲಿ") ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಈ ಕದನಗಳು ನಡೆದವು. ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಸುಲ್ತಾನನು ಕಾಳಗದಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಕೆಟ್ ಗಳ ಪ್ರಯೋಗ ಮಾಡಿದನು. ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ಮೈಸೂರು ಯುದ್ಧ ದಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಮತ್ತು ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ವಿರೋಧಿಗಳ ಜಂಟಿ ಪಡೆಗಳಿಂದಷ್ಟೇ ಮೈಸೂರನ್ನು ಸೋಲಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಈ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದಾಗಿ ಹೈದರಾಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ವಿಶೇಷತಃ ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಸುಲ್ತಾನ ರನ್ನು ವೀರ ಹೋರಟಗಾರರೆಂದು ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ರಾಕೆಟ್ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ನಾನವನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷರು ನಂತರ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಯುದ್ಧಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಕೆಟ್ ಗಳನ್ನು ಅಭಿವ್ರುದ್ಧಿ ಪಡಿಸಿ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿದರು.

ಉತ್ತರ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷರು ತಮ್ಮ ಸೇನಾ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯಗಳ ಹೊರತಾಗಿಯೂ ವಶಪಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಈ ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳ ಆಂತರಿಕ ಕಲಹಗಳ ಉಪಯೋಗ ಪಡೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಒಬ್ಬರ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರನ್ನು ಎತ್ತಿಕಟ್ಟಿ ಈ ಪ್ರಾಂತ್ಯಗಳು ತನ್ನ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಒಗ್ಗಟ್ಟಾಗಿರದಂತೆ ಕಂಪನಿ ನೋಡಿಕೊಂಡಿತು.

೧೮೫೦ರ ದಶಕದ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಪನಿಯು ಭಾರತ ಉಪಖಂಡದ ಮೇಲೆ ಪ್ರಭುತ್ವ ಸಾರಿತು. ಹೀಗೆ ವಾಣಿಜ್ಯ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿಗೆ ಕಾಲಿಟ್ಟ ಕಂಪನಿಯು ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಮಿಗಿಲಾಗಿ ಒಂದು ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರದಂತೆ ಕಾರ್ಯ ನಿರ್ವಹಿಸಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸಿತು.

They were also responsible for the illegal opium trade with China against the Qing Emperor's will, which later led to the two Opium Wars (between 1834 and 1860). As a result of the Company's victory in the First Opium War, it established Hong Kong. The Company also had a number of wars with other surrounding Asian countries, the most difficult probably being the three Anglo-Afghan Wars (between 1839 and 1919) against Afghanistan, which were mostly unsuccessful.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Collapse

The Company's rule effectively came to an end exactly a century after its victory at Plassey, when the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1857 which saw many of the Company's Indian sepoys begin an armed uprising against their British commanders, after a period of political unrest triggered by a number of political events. One of the major factors was the Company's introduction of the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle. The paper cartridges containing the gunpowder were lubricated with animal fat, and had to be bitten open before the powder was poured into the muzzle. Eating cow fat was forbidden for the Hindu soldiers, while pig fat was forbidden for the Muslim soldiers. Although it insisted that neither cow fat nor pig fat was being used, the rumour persisted and many sepoys refused to follow their orders and use the weapons. Another factor was the execution of the Indian sepoy Mangal Pandey who was hanged for attacking and injuring his British superiors, possibly out of insult for the introduction of the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle or a number of other reasons. These factors combined with a number of other reasons resulted in the Mutiny, which eventually brought about the end of the British East India Company's regime in India, and instead led to 90 years of direct rule of the Indian subcontinent by Britain, after the British East India Company was dissolved. The period of direct British rule in India is known as the British Raj, when the regions now known as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar would collectively be known as British India.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Breakdown of Pax Britannica

As the first country to industrialise, Britain had been able to draw on most of the accessible world for raw materials and markets. But this situation gradually deteriorated during the 19th century as other powers began to industrialise and sought to use the state to guarantee their markets and sources of supply. By the 1870s, British manufactures in the staple industries of the Industrial Revolution were beginning to experience real competition abroad.

Industrialisation progressed rapidly in Germany and the United States, allowing them to overtake the "old" British and French economies as world leader in some areas. By 1870, the German textile and metal industries had surpassed those of Britain in organisation and technical efficiency and usurped British manufactures in the domestic market. By the turn of the century, the German metals and engineering industries would even be producing for the free trade market of the former "workshop of the world".

While invisible exports (banking, insurance and shipping services) kept Britain "out of the red," her share of world trade fell from a quarter in 1880 to a sixth in 1913. Britain was losing out not only in the markets of newly industrialising countries, but also against third-party competition in less-developed countries. Britain was even losing her former overwhelming dominance in trade with India, China, Latin America, or the coasts of Africa.

Britain's commercial difficulties deepened with the onset of the "Long Depression" of 1873–96, a prolonged period of price deflation punctuated by severe business downturns which added to pressure on governments to promote home industry, leading to the widespread abandonment of free trade among Europe's powers (in Germany from 1879 and in France from 1881).

The resulting limitation of both domestic markets and export opportunities led government and business leaders in Europe and later the US to see the solution in sheltered overseas markets united to the home country behind imperial tariff barriers: new overseas subjects would provide export markets free of foreign competition, while supplying cheap raw materials. Although she continued to adhere to free trade until 1932, Britain joined the renewed scramble for formal empire rather than allow areas under her influence to be seized by rivals.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಬ್ರಿಟನ್ ಮತ್ತು ಹೊಸ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವಾದ

ಟೆಂಪ್ಲೇಟು:Main

The policy and ideology of European colonial expansion between the 1870s and the outbreak of World War I in 1914 are often characterised as the "New Imperialism". The period is distinguished by an unprecedented pursuit of what has been termed "empire for empire's sake", aggressive competition for overseas territorial acquisitions and the emergence in colonising countries of doctrines of racial superiority which denied the fitness of subjugated peoples for self-government.

During this period, Europe's powers added nearly 8,880,000 sq mi (23,000,000 km²) to their overseas colonial possessions. As it was mostly unoccupied by the Western powers as late as the 1880s, Africa became the primary target of the "new" imperialist expansion, although conquest took place also in other areas — notably south-east Asia and the East Asian seaboard, where Japan joined the European powers' scramble for territory.

Britain's entry into the new imperial age is often dated to 1875, when the Conservative government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler Ismail's shareholding in the Suez Canal to secure control of this strategic waterway, a channel for shipping between Britain and India since its opening six years earlier under Emperor Napoleon III. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882.

Fear of Russia's centuries-old southward expansion was a further factor in British policy: in 1878 Britain took control of Cyprus as a base for action against a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire, after having taken part in the Crimean War 1854–56 and invading Afghanistan to forestall an increase in Russian influence there. Britain waged three bloody and unsuccessful wars in Afghanistan, as ferocious popular rebellions, invocations of jihad and inscrutable terrain frustrated British objectives. The First Anglo-Afghan War led to one of the most disastrous defeats of the Victorian military when an entire British army was wiped out by Russian-supplied Afghan Pashtun tribesmen during the 1842 retreat from Kabul. The Second Anglo-Afghan War led to the British débâcle at Maiwand in 1880, the siege of Kabul and British withdrawal into India. The Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 stoked a tribal uprising against the exhausted British military on the heels of World War I and expelled the British permanently from the new Afghan state. The "Great Game" in Inner Asia ended with a bloody British expedition against Tibet in 1903–04.

At the same time, some powerful industrial lobbies and government leaders in Britain, later exemplified by Joseph Chamberlain, came to view formal empire as necessary to arrest Britain's relative decline in world markets. During the 1890s Britain adopted the new policy wholeheartedly, quickly emerging as the front-runner in the scramble for tropical African territories.

Britain's adoption of the New Imperialism may be seen as a quest for captive markets or fields for investment of surplus capital, or as a primarily strategic or pre-emptive attempt to protect existing trade links and to prevent the absorption of overseas markets into the increasingly closed imperial trading blocs of rival powers. The failure in the 1900s of Chamberlain's Tariff Reform campaign for Imperial protection illustrates the strength of free trade feeling even in the face of loss of international market share. Historians have argued that Britain's adoption of the "New imperialism" was an effect of her relative decline in the world, rather than of strength.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ವಸಾಹತು ನೀತಿ

British colonial policy was always driven to a large extent by Britain's trading interests. While settler economies developed the infrastructure to support balanced development, some tropical African territories found themselves developed only as raw-material suppliers. British policies based on comparative advantage left many developing economies dangerously reliant on a single cash crop, which others exported to Britain or to overseas British settlements. A reliance upon the manipulation of conflict between ethnic, religious and racial identities, in order to keep subject populations from uniting against the occupying power — the classic "divide and rule" strategy — left a legacy of partition and/or inter-communal difficulties in areas as diverse as Ireland, India, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Uganda, though in all cases these societies were riven with internal division well before British rule.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Britain and the scramble for Africa

Main article: Scramble for Africa.

In 1875 the two most important European holdings in Africa were French controlled Algeria and Britain's Cape Colony. By 1914 only Ethiopia and the republic of Liberia remained outside formal European control. The transition from an "informal empire" of control through economic dominance to direct control took the form of a "scramble" for territory by the nations of Europe. Britain tried not to play a part in this early scramble, being more of a trading empire rather than a colonial empire; however, it soon became clear it had to gain its own African empire to maintain the balance of power.

As French, Belgian and Portuguese activity in the lower Congo River region threatened to undermine orderly penetration of tropical Africa, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 sought to regulate the competition between the powers by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims, a formulation which necessitated routine recourse to armed force against indigenous states and peoples.

Britain's 1882 military occupation of Egypt (itself triggered by concern over the Suez Canal) contributed to a preoccupation over securing control of the Nile valley, leading to the conquest of the neighbouring Sudan in 1896–98 and confrontation with a French military expedition at Fashoda (September 1898).

In 1899 Britain completed its takeover of what is today South Africa. This had begun with the annexation of the Cape in 1795 and continued with the conquest of the Boer Republics in the late 19th century, following the Second Boer War. Cecil Rhodes was the pioneer of British expansion north into Africa with his privately owned British South Africa Company. Rhodes expanded into the land north of South Africa and established Rhodesia. Rhodes' dream of a railway connecting Cape Town to Alexandria passing through a British Africa covering the continent is what led to his company's pressure on the government for further expansion into Africa.

British gains in southern and East Africa prompted Rhodes and Alfred Milner, Britain's High Commissioner in South Africa, to urge a "Cape-to-Cairo" empire linking by rail the strategically important Canal to the mineral-rich South, though German occupation of Tanganyika prevented its realisation until the end of World War I. In 1903, the All Red Line telegraph system communicated with the major parts of the Empire.

Paradoxically Britain, the staunch advocate of free trade, emerged in 1914 with not only the largest overseas empire thanks to her long-standing presence in India, but also the greatest gains in the "scramble for Africa", reflecting her advantageous position at its inception. Between 1885 and 1914 Britain took nearly 30% of Africa's population under her control, compared to 15 % for France, 9 % for Germany, 7 % for Belgium and 1 % for Italy: Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects, more than in the whole of French West Africa or the entire German colonial empire.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Home rule in white-settler colonies

Britain's empire had already begun its transformation into the modern Commonwealth with the extension of Dominion status to the already self-governing colonies of Canada (1867), Australia (1901), New Zealand (1907), Newfoundland (1907), and the newly-created Union of South Africa (1910). Leaders of the new states joined with British statesmen in periodic Colonial (from 1907, Imperial) Conferences, the first of which was held in London in 1887.

The foreign relations of the Dominions were still conducted through the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom: Canada created a Department of External Affairs in 1909, but diplomatic relations with other governments continued to be channelled through the Governors-General, Dominion High Commissioners in London (first appointed by Canada in 1880 and by Australia in 1910) and British legations abroad. Britain's declaration of war in World War I applied to all the Dominions.

But the Dominions did enjoy a substantial freedom in their adoption of foreign policy where this did not explicitly conflict with British interests: Canada's Liberal government negotiated a bilateral free-trade Reciprocity Agreement with the United States in 1911, but went down to defeat by the Conservative opposition.

In defence, the Dominions' original treatment as part of a single imperial military and naval structure proved unsustainable as Britain faced new commitments in Europe and the challenge of an emerging German High Seas Fleet after 1900. In 1909 it was decided that the Dominions should have their own navies, reversing an 1887 agreement that the then Australasian colonies should contribute to the Royal Navy in return for the permanent stationing of a squadron in the region.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಮೊದಲ ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಮಹಾಯುದ್ಧದ ಪರಿಣಾಮ

The aftermath of World War I saw the last major extension of British rule, with Britain gaining control through League of Nations Mandates in Palestine and Iraq after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, as well as in the former German colonies of Tanganyika, South-West Africa (now Namibia) and New Guinea (the last two actually under South African and Australian rule respectively). The British zones of occupation in the German Rhineland after World War I and West Germany after World War II were not considered part of the Empire.

But although Britain emerged among the war's victors, and her rule expanded into new areas, the heavy costs of the war undermined her capacity to maintain the vast empire. The British had suffered millions of casualties and liquidated assets at an alarming rate, which led to debt accumulation, upending of capital markets and manpower deficiencies in the staffing of far-flung imperial posts in Asia and the African colonies. Nationalist sentiment grew in both old and new Imperial territories, fuelled by pride at Empire troops' participation in the war and the grievance felt by many non-white ex-servicemen at the racial discrimination they had encountered during their service to the Empire.

The 1920s saw a rapid transformation of Dominion status. Although the Dominions had had no formal voice in declaring war in 1914, each was included separately among the signatories of the 1919 peace Treaty of Versailles, which had been negotiated by a British-led united Empire delegation. In 1922 Dominion reluctance to support British military action against Turkey influenced Britain's decision to seek a compromise settlement.

Full Dominion independence was formalised in the 1926 Balfour Declaration and the 1931 Statute of Westminster: each Dominion was henceforth to be equal in status to Britain herself, free of British legislative interference and autonomous in international relations. The Dominions section created within the Colonial Office in 1907 was upgraded in 1925 to a separate Dominions Office and given its own Secretary of State in 1930.

Canada led the way, becoming the first Dominion to conclude an international treaty entirely independently (1923) and obtaining the appointment (1928) of a British High Commissioner in Ottawa, thereby separating the administrative and diplomatic functions of the Governor-General and ending the latter's anomalous role as the representative of the head of state and of the British Government. Canada's first permanent diplomatic mission to a foreign country opened in Washington, DC in 1927: Australia followed in 1940.

Egypt, formally independent from 1922 but bound to Britain by treaty until 1936 (and under partial occupation until 1956) similarly severed all constitutional links with Britain. Iraq, which became a British Protectorate in 1922, also gained complete independence ten years later in 1932.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] ಐರ್ಲೆಂಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಆಳಿಕೆಯ ಅಂತ್ಯ

Despite Irish home rule (but not Irish constitutional independence) being guaranteed under the Third Irish Home Rule Act in 1914, the onset of World War I delayed its implementation. On Easter Monday 1916 an initially unsuccessful armed uprising was staged in Dublin by a mixed group of nationalists, including Michael Collins. After his release from prison in 1919, Collins led Irish guerrillas, known as the Irish Republican Army in a military campaign against British rule. The ensuing Anglo-Irish War ended in 1921 with a stalemate and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The treaty divided Ireland into two states, most of the island (26 counties) became the Irish Free State, an independent dominion nation within the British Commonwealth, while the six counties in the north with a largely loyalist, Protestant community remained a part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland.

In 1949 Ireland became a republic, fully independent from the United Kingdom, and withdrew from the Commonwealth. Ireland's Constitution claimed the six counties of Northern Ireland as a part of the Republic of Ireland until 1998. The issue over whether Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom or join the Republic of Ireland has divided Northern Ireland's people and led to a long and bloody conflict known as the Troubles.

However the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 brought about a ceasefire between most of the major organisations on both sides, creating hope for a peaceful resolution.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Decolonisation and decline

The rise of anti-colonial nationalist movements in the subject territories and the changing economic situation of the world in the first half of the 20th century challenged an imperial power now increasingly preoccupied with issues nearer home. The Empire's end began with the onset of the Second World War, when a deal was reached between the British government and the Indian independence movement, whereby the Indians would co-operate and remain loyal during the war, after which they would be granted independence. Following India's lead, nearly all of Britain's other colonies would become independent over the next two decades.

The end of Empire gathered pace after Britain's efforts during World War II left the country all but exhausted and found its former allies disinclined to support the colonial status quo. Economic crisis in 1947 made many realise that the Labour government of Clement Attlee should abandon Britain's attempt to retain all of its overseas territories. The Empire was increasingly regarded as an unnecessary drain on public finances by politicians and civil servants, if not the general public.

Britain's declaration of hostilities against Germany in September 1939 did not automatically commit the Dominions. All the Dominions except Australia and Ireland issued their own declarations of war. The Irish Free State had negotiated the removal of the Royal Navy from the Treaty Ports the year before, and chose to remain legally neutral throughout the war. Australia went to war under the British declaration.

World War II fatally undermined Britain's already weakened commercial and financial leadership and heightened the importance of the Dominions and the United States as a source of military assistance. Australian prime minister John Curtin's unprecedented action (1942) in successfully demanding the recall for home service of Australian troops earmarked for the defence of British-held Burma demonstrated that Dominion governments could no longer be expected to subordinate their own national interests to British strategic perspectives. Curtin had written in a national newspaper the year before that Australia should look to the United States for protection rather than Britain ^{[ಸಾಕ್ಷ್ಯಾಧಾರ ಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ]}.

After the war, Australia and New Zealand joined with the United States in the ANZUS regional security treaty in 1951 (although the US repudiated its commitments to New Zealand following a 1985 dispute over port access for nuclear vessels). Britain's pursuit (from 1961) and attainment (1973) of European Community membership weakened the old commercial ties to the Dominions, ending their privileged access to the UK market.

In the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, post-war decolonisation was accomplished with almost unseemly haste in the face of increasingly powerful (and sometimes mutually conflicting) nationalist movements, with Britain rarely fighting to retain any territory. Britain's limitations were exposed to a humiliating degree by the Suez Crisis of 1956 in which the United States opposed British, French and Israeli intervention in Egypt, seeing it as a doomed adventure likely to jeopardise American interests in the Middle East.

The independence of India in 1947 ended a 40-year struggle by the Indian National Congress, first for self-government and later for full sovereignty, though the land's partition into India and Pakistan entailed violence costing hundreds of thousands of lives. The acceptance by Britain, and the other Dominions, of India's adoption of republican status (1950) is now taken as the start of the modern Commonwealth.

Singapore became independent in two stages. The British did not believe that Singapore would be large enough to defend itself against others alone. Therefore, Singapore was joined with Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo to form Malaysia upon independence from the Empire. This short-lived union was dissolved in 1965 when Singapore left Malaysia and achieved complete independence.

Burma achieved independence (1948) outside the Commonwealth; Burma being the first colony to sever all ties with the British; Ceylon (1948) and Malaya (1957) within it. Britain's Palestine Mandate ended (1948) in withdrawal and open warfare between the territory's Jewish and Arab populations. In the Mediterranean, a guerrilla war waged by Greek Cypriot advocates of union with Greece ended (1960) in an independent Cyprus, although Britain did retain two military bases - Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

The end of Britain's Empire in Africa came with exceptional rapidity, often leaving the newly-independent states ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of sovereignty: Ghana's independence (1957) after a ten-year nationalist political campaign was followed by that of Nigeria and Somaliland (1960), Sierra Leone and Tanganyika (1961), Uganda (1962), Kenya and Zanzibar (1963), The Gambia (1965), Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland) and Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) (1966) and Swaziland (1968).

British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was complicated by the region's white settler populations: Kenya had already provided an example in the Mau Mau Uprising of violent conflict exacerbated by white landownership and reluctance to concede majority rule. White minority rule in South Africa remained a source of bitterness within the Commonwealth until the Union of South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961.

Although the white-dominated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ended in the independence of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) and Zambia (the former Northern Rhodesia) in 1964, Southern Rhodesia's white minority (a self-governing colony since 1923) declared independence with their UDI rather than submit to equality with black Africans. The support of South Africa's apartheid government kept the Rhodesian regime in place until 1979, when agreement was reached on majority rule in an independent Zimbabwe.

Most of Britain's Caribbean territories opted for eventual separate independence after the failure of the West Indies Federation (1958–62): Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (1962) were followed into statehood by Barbados (1966) and the smaller islands of the eastern Caribbean (1970s and 1980s). Britain's Pacific dependencies such as the Gilbert Islands (which had seen the last attempt at human colonization within the Empire - the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme) underwent a similar process of decolonisation in the latter decades.

As decolonization and the Cold War were gathering momentum during the 1950s, an uninhabited rock in the Atlantic Ocean, Rockall, became the last territorial acquisition of the United Kingdom. Concerns that the Soviet Union might use the island to spy on a British missile test [2] prompted the Royal Navy to land a party and officially claim the rock in the name of the Queen in 1955. In 1972 the Isle of Rockall Act formally incorporated the island into the United Kingdom.

In 1982, Britain's resolve to defend her remaining overseas territories was put to the test when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, acting on a long-standing claim that dated back to the Spanish Empire. Britain's ultimately successful military response to liberate the islands during the ensuing Falklands War prompted headlines in the US press that "the Empire strikes back", and was viewed by many to have contributed to reversing the downward trend in the UK's status as a world power.^[೩]

In 1997, Britain's last major overseas territory, Hong Kong, became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China under the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration agreed some thirteen years previously. The remaining British overseas territories, the Commonwealth of Nations and the enduring personal unions with the Commonwealth Realms constitute the legacy of the British Empire.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] References

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Overviews

• Bryant, Arthur. The History of Britain and the British Peoples, 3 vols. (London, 1984–90).
• Ferguson, Niall. Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power (2002),
• Hyam, Ronald. Britain's Imperial Century, 1815-1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion (Macmillan, 1993).
• James, Lawrence. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (St. Martin's Griffin, 1997).
• Judd, Denis. Empire: The British Imperial Experience, From 1765 to the Present (London, 1996).
• Lloyd; T. O. The British Empire, 1558-1995 Oxford University Press, 1996
• Louis, William. Roger (general editor), The Oxford History of the British Empire, 5 vols. (Oxford, 1998–99).
• Marshall, P. J. (ed.), The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire (Cambridge, 1996).
• Olson, James S. and Robert S. Shadle; Historical Dictionary of the British Empire 1996
• Rose, J. Holland, A. P. Newton and E. A. Benians (gen. eds.), The Cambridge History of the British Empire, 9 vols. (Cambridge, 1929–61).
• Simon C. Smith. British Imperialism 1750-1970 Cambridge University Press, 1998. brief

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Popular

• Ritchie, Harry; The Last Pink Bits: Travels Through the Remnants of the British Empire Sceptre Press, 1997

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Specialized scholarly studies

• Andrews, Kenneth R., Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480–1630 (Cambridge, 1984).
• David Armitage; The Ideological Origins of the British Empire Cambridge University Press, 2000.
• Armitage, David, 'Greater Britain: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis?' American Historical Review, 104 (1999), 427–45.
• Armitage, David (ed.), Theories of Empire, 1450–1800 (Aldershot, 1998).
• Charles A. Barone, Marxist Thought on Imperialism: Survey and Critique (London: Macmillan, 1985)
• Bernard Bailyn and Philip D. Morgan (eds.), Strangers within the Realm: Cultural Margins of the First British Empire (Chapel Hill, 1991)
• Barker, Sir Ernest, The Ideas and Ideals of the British Empire (Cambridge, 1941).
• W. Baumgart, Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion, 1880-1914 (Oxford University Press, 1982)
• C. A. Bayly, Imperial Meridian: The British Empire and the World, 1780-1831 (Longman, 1989).
• Bennett, George (ed.), The Concept of Empire: Burke to Attlee, 1774–1947 (London, 1953).
• J. M. Blaut, The Colonizers' Model of the World, London 1993
• Elleke Boehmer; ed. Empire Writing: An Anthology of Colonial Literature, 1870-1918 Oxford University Press, 1998
• Patrick Brantlinger, Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830-1914 (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1988).
• Chris Brooks and Peter Faulkner (eds.), The White Man's Burdens: An Anthology of British Poetry of the Empire (Exeter UP, 1996).
• Constantine, Stephen. "British Emigration to the Empire-commonwealth since 1880: from Overseas Settlement to Diaspora?" Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History [Great Britain] 2003 31(2): 16-35. Issn: 0308-6534
• Philip Darby, The Three Faces of Imperialism: British and American Approaches to Asia and Africa, 1870-1970 (Yale University Press, 1987
• Michael W. Doyle, Empires (Cornell UP, 1986).
• Elliott, J.H., Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006).
• Gould, Eliga H., The Persistence of Empire: British Political Culture in the Age of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000).
• Harlow, V. T., The Founding of the Second British Empire, 1763–1793, 2 vols. (London, 1952–64).
• Heinlein, Frank. British Government Policy and Decolonisation, 1945-1963: Scrutinising the Officiial Mind Routledge, 2002.
• Hyam, Ronald. Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience (Manchester UP, 1990).
• Edward Ingram. The British Empire as a World Power (2001)
• Lawrence James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (Abacus, 1994).
• Robert Johnson. British Imperialism Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. historiography
• Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (London, 1976).
• Kenny, Kevin, ed. Ireland and the British Empire Oxford U. Press 2004.
• Knorr, Klaus E., British Colonial Theories 1570–1850 Toronto, 1944).
• Levine, Philippa, ed. Gender and Empire Oxford U. Press, 2004.
• McDevitt, Patrick F. May the Best Man Win: Sport, Masculinity, and Nationalism in Great Britain and the Empire, 1880-1935 Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• Mehta, Uday Singh, Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal Thought (Chicago, 1999).
• Morgan, Philip D. and Hawkins, Sean, ed. Black Experience and the Empire Oxford U. Press, 2004.
• Jan Morris, The Spectacle of Empire: Style, Effect and Pax Britannica (Faber, 1982).
• Pocock, J. G. A., 'The Limits and Divisions of British History: In Search of the Unknown Subject', American Historical Review, 87 (1982), 311–36.
• Porter, Andrew. Religion Versus Empire?: British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700-1914 Manchester U. Press 2004
• Potter, Simon J. News and the British World: The Emergence of an Imperial Press System. Clarendon, 2003
• Rüger, Jan. "Nation, Empire and Navy: Identity Politics in the United Kingdom 1887-1914" Past & Present 2004 (185): 159-187. Issn: 0031-2746
• Spurr, David. The Rhetoric of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing and Imperial Administration (Duke UP, 1993).
• Joanna Trollope, Britannia's Daughters: Women of the British Empire (Hutchinson, 1983).
• Wilson, Kathleen, ed. A New Imperial History: Culture, Identity and Modernity in Britain and the Empire, 1660-1840 Cambridge U. Press 2004.

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] Notes

1. ↑ James Truslow Adams, "'On the Term 'British Empire,'" American Historical Review, 22 (1927), 485–9; Armitage pp 174-5
2. ↑ Britain and Latin America, Alan Knight, The Oxford History of the British Empire, Volume III
3. ↑ Lawrence James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (Abacus, 1994), p629

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] See also

• Tudor re-conquest of Ireland
• British colonisation of the Americas
• British East India Company
• British Empire and Commonwealth Museum
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Commonwealth Realm
• Decolonisation
• Empire Day
• Evolution of the British Empire
• History of the United Kingdom
• Imperialism in Asia
• List of United Kingdom topics
• "The White Man's Burden"
• Size of Empires
• Government Houses of the British Empire
• British Personal Unions

[ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿ] External links

ಟೆಂಪ್ಲೇಟು:Wikisourcecat

• Extensive information on the British Empire
• Sizes of various empires and quasi-empires
• The Commonwealth - UK government site