Expansion of the British Empire

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Expansion of the British Empire By the mid to end of the 1800’s Britain had gained a foothold in many countries across the world and in particular in North America, South Africa, West Indies, India and Australia as can be seen by the following map dated 1887. Expansion through imperial warfare with France and Spain, land taking from Indians, mercantilist policies, and salutary neglect helped the British monarchy expand from monocarp plantation colonies in the West Indies to a more diversified economic and social structure in the eastern colonies of North America. The main reasons why Britain expanded their empire was because they wanted to prove and to show to the rest of the world that they were more powerful than most other countries and they succeeded in this as they had colonized with many countries. Britain weren’t the only country trying to prove their power as they had a few opponents who had prevented Britain succeeding quicker and with no hassle. The French and the Dutch were the other main Empire builders as they, as well as Britain, had aimed for similar countries and this caused many disagreements and frustration between these countries. We know this because the British and the French had the 7 years war and this was taken very seriously as 10 – 11,000 troops and this obviously shows the British went out to win that battle which they did in the end. Another scenario was when the British were kept under siege within the fortress of Quebec by the American Colonial Forces to try and drive the British out so they could encourage the French to take over so the British couldn’t take any more colonies as the French had many colonies in Canada. This was a very important and successful win as the English outwitted the French and it proved that England were more physically powerful. The South Atlantic system was crucial to increasing the political powers of
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