Editing British Empire (section)

== Britain's imperial century (1815–1914) ==
{{See also|Timeline of British diplomatic history#1815–1860|Industrial Revolution|Political and diplomatic history of the Victorian era}}

Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians,<ref>{{Harvnb|Hyam|2002|p=1}}; {{Harvnb|Smith|1998|p=71}}.</ref> around {{convert|10|e6sqmi|e6km2|abbr=unit}} of territory and roughly 400&nbsp;million people were added to the British Empire.{{Sfn|Parsons|1999|p=3}} Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than [[The Great Game|Russia in Central Asia]].{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=401}} Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the ''[[Pax Britannica]]'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Porter|1998|p=332}}; {{Harvnb|Johnston|Reisman|2008|pp=508–510}}; {{Harvnb|Sondhaus|2004|p=9}}.</ref> and a foreign policy of "[[splendid isolation]]".{{Sfn|Lee|1994|pp=254–257}} Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and [[Thailand|Siam]], which has been described by some historians as an "[[Informal Empire]]".<ref name="Porter 1998 8"/>

[[File:Victoria Disraeli cartoon.jpg|thumb|upright|An 1876 political cartoon of [[Benjamin Disraeli]] making Queen Victoria [[Empress of India]]. The caption reads "New crowns for old ones!"]]
British imperial strength was underpinned by the [[steamship]] and the [[telegraph]], new technologies invented in the second half of the 19th century, allowing it to control and defend the empire. By 1902, the British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph cables, called the [[All Red Line]].{{Sfn|Dalziel|2006|pp=88–91}}

=== East India Company rule and the British Raj in India ===
{{Main|Presidencies and provinces of British India}}
{{See also|Company rule in India|British Raj}}

The East India Company drove the expansion of the British Empire in Asia. The company's army had first joined forces with the [[Royal Navy]] during the [[Seven Years' War]], and the two continued to co-operate in arenas outside India: the eviction of the French from Egypt (1799),{{Sfn|Mori|2014|p=178}} the [[Invasion of Java (1811)|capture of Java]] from the Netherlands (1811), the [[Penang Island#History|acquisition of Penang Island]] (1786), [[Founding years of modern Singapore|Singapore]] (1819) and [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824|Malacca]] (1824), and the [[First Anglo-Burmese War|defeat of Burma]] (1826).{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=401}}

From its base in India, the company had been engaged in an increasingly profitable opium export trade to [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] since the 1730s. This trade, illegal since it was outlawed by China in 1729, helped reverse the trade imbalances resulting from the British imports of tea, which saw large outflows of silver from Britain to China.{{Sfn|Martin|2007|pp=146–148}} In 1839, the confiscation by the Chinese authorities at [[Guangzhou|Canton]] of 20,000 chests of opium led Britain to attack China in the [[First Opium War]], and resulted in the seizure by Britain of [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong Island]], at that time a minor settlement, and other [[treaty ports]] including [[Shanghai International Settlement|Shanghai]].{{Sfn|Janin|1999|p=28}}

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British Crown began to assume an increasingly large role in the affairs of the company. A series of acts of Parliament were passed, including the [[Regulating Act 1773]], [[East India Company Act 1784]] and the [[Charter Act 1813]] which regulated the company's affairs and established the sovereignty of the Crown over the territories that it had acquired.{{Sfn|Keay|1991|p=393}} The company's eventual end was precipitated by the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]] in 1857, a conflict that had begun with the mutiny of sepoys, Indian troops under British officers and discipline.{{Sfn|Parsons|1999|pp=44–46}} The rebellion took six months to suppress, with heavy loss of life on both sides. The following year the British government dissolved the company and assumed direct control over India through the [[Government of India Act 1858]], establishing the [[British Raj]], where an appointed [[Governor-General of India|governor-general]] administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the [[Empress of India]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=50–57}} India became the empire's most valuable possession, "the Jewel in the Crown", and was the most important source of Britain's strength.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}}

A series of serious crop failures in the late 19th century led to [[Famine in India|widespread famines]] on the subcontinent in which it is estimated that over 15&nbsp;million people died. The East India Company had failed to implement any coordinated policy to deal with the famines during its period of rule. Later, under direct British rule, commissions were set up after each famine to investigate the causes and implement new policies, which took until the early 1900s to have an effect.{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|pp=133–134}}

===New Zealand===
{{main|Colony of New Zealand}}
On each of his three voyages to the Pacific between 1769 and 1777, James Cook visited [[New Zealand]]. He was followed by an assortment of Europeans and Americans which including whalers, sealers, escaped convicts from New South Wales, missionaries and adventurers. Initially, contact with the indigenous [[Māori people]] was limited to the trading of goods, although interaction increased during the early decades of the 19th century with many trading and missionary stations being set up, especially in the north. The first of several Church of England missionaries arrived in 1814 and as well as their missionary role, they soon become the only form of European authority in a land that was not subject to British jurisdiction: the closest authority being the New South Wales governor in Sydney. The sale of weapons to Māori resulted from 1818 on in the intertribal warfare of the [[Musket Wars]], with devastating consequences for the Māori population.<ref>{{cite web |title=Musket Wars |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/musket-wars/overview |website=NZ History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage) |access-date=2 November 2024 |date=2021}}</ref>

The UK government finally decided to act, dispatching Captain [[William Hobson]] with instructions to take formal possession after obtaining native consent. There was no central Māori authority able to represent all New Zealand so, on 6 February 1840, Hobson and many Māori chiefs signed the [[Treaty of Waitangi]] in the Bay of Islands; most other chiefs signing in stages over the following months.<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1998|p=45}}; {{Harvnb|Porter|1998|p=579}}; {{Harvnb|Mein Smith|2005|p=49}}; {{Cite web |title=Waitangi Day |url=http://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/waitangi-day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220020659/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/treaty/waitangi-day |archive-date=20 December 2008 |access-date=13 December 2008 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |publisher=[[New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage]]}}.</ref> William Hobson declared British sovereignty over all New Zealand on 21 May 1840, over the North Island by cession and over the South Island by discovery (the island was sparsely populated and deemed [[terra nullius]]). Hobson became Lieutenant-Governor, subject to Governor Sir [[George Gipps]] in Sydney,{{sfn|Moon|2007|p=48}} with British possession of New Zealand initially administered from Australia as a dependency of the New South Wales colony. From 16 June 1840 New South Wales laws applied in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Crown colony era |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/history-of-the-governor-general/crown-colony-era |website=NZ History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=2 November 2024}}</ref> This transitional arrangement ended with the Charter for Erecting the Colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1840. The Charter stated that New Zealand would be established as a separate [[Crown colony]] on 3 May 1841 with Hobson as its governor.{{sfn|Moon|2010|p=66}}

=== Rivalry with Russia ===
{{Main|The Great Game}}
[[File:Relief of the Light Brigade.png|thumb|British cavalry charging against Russian forces at [[Battle of Balaclava|Balaclava]] in 1854]]
During the 19th century, Britain and the [[Russian Empire]] vied to fill the power vacuums that had been left by the declining [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Qajar dynasty]] and [[Qing dynasty]]. This rivalry in Central Asia came to be known as the "Great Game".{{Sfn|Hopkirk|1992|pp=1–12}} As far as Britain was concerned, defeats inflicted by Russia on [[Russo-Persian War (1826–1828)|Persia]] and [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|Turkey]] demonstrated its imperial ambitions and capabilities and stoked fears in Britain of an overland invasion of India.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=181}} In 1839, Britain moved to pre-empt this by invading [[Afghanistan]], but the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] was a disaster for Britain.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=182}}

When Russia invaded the [[Rumelia|Ottoman Balkans]] in 1853, fears of Russian dominance in the Mediterranean and the Middle East led Britain and France to enter the war in support of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and invade the [[Crimean Peninsula]] to destroy Russian naval capabilities.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=182}} The ensuing [[Crimean War]] (1854–1856), which involved new techniques of [[modern warfare]],{{Sfn|Royle|2000|loc=preface}} was the only [[global war]] fought between Britain and another [[Imperialism|imperial power]] during the ''Pax Britannica'' and was a resounding defeat for Russia.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=182}} The situation remained unresolved in Central Asia for two more decades, with Britain annexing [[Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|Baluchistan]] in 1876 and Russia annexing [[Kirghizia]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Turkmenistan]]. For a while, it appeared that another war would be inevitable, but the two countries reached an agreement on their respective [[Sphere of influence|spheres of influence]] in the region in 1878 and on all outstanding matters in 1907 with the signing of the [[Anglo-Russian Entente]].{{Sfn|Williams|1966|pp=360–373}} The destruction of the [[Imperial Russian Navy]] by the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] at the [[Battle of Tsushima]] during the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904–1905 limited its threat to the British.{{Sfn|Hodge|2007|p=47}}

=== Cape to Cairo ===
{{Main|History of South Africa (1815–1910)|History of Egypt under the British|Scramble for Africa}}
[[File:Punch Rhodes Colossus.png|thumb|''[[The Rhodes Colossus]]''—[[Cecil Rhodes]] spanning "Cape to Cairo"]]

The Dutch East India Company had founded the [[Dutch Cape Colony]] on the [[Cape of Good Hope|southern tip of Africa]] in 1652 as a way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the [[Indies|East Indies]]. Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large [[Afrikaner]] (or [[Boer]]) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands during the [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|Flanders Campaign]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=85}} British immigration to the [[Cape Colony]] began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of [[Boers]], resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived—[[Boer republics|independent republics]], during the [[Great Trek]] of the late 1830s and early 1840s.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=85–86}} In the process the [[Voortrekkers]] clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and to the various native African polities, including those of the [[Sotho people]] and the [[Zulu Kingdom]]. Eventually, the Boers established two republics that had a longer lifespan: the [[South African Republic]] or Transvaal Republic (1852–1877; 1881–1902) and the [[Orange Free State]] (1854–1902).{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=168, 186, 243}} In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two [[Boer Republics]] following the [[Second Boer War]] (1899–1902).{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=255}}

In 1869 the [[Suez Canal]] opened under [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]], [[Indo-Mediterranean|linking]] the [[Mediterranean Sea]] with the [[Indian Ocean]]. Initially the Canal was opposed by the British;{{Sfn|Tilby|2009|p=256}} but once opened, its strategic value was quickly recognised and became the "jugular vein of the Empire".{{Sfn|Louis|1986|p=718}} In 1875, the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government of [[Benjamin Disraeli]] bought the indebted Egyptian ruler [[Isma'il Pasha]]'s 44 per cent shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4&nbsp;million (equivalent to £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK|4000000|1875|r=-7}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=UK}}). Although this did not grant outright control of the strategic waterway, it did give Britain leverage. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|pp=230–233}} Although Britain controlled the [[Khedivate of Egypt]] into the 20th century, it was officially a [[Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire|vassal state of the Ottoman Empire]] and not part of the British Empire. The French were still majority shareholders and attempted to weaken the British position,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=274}} but a compromise was reached with the 1888 [[Convention of Constantinople]], which made the Canal officially neutral territory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Treaties |url=http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/Treaties/Convention+Respecting+the+Free+Navigation+of+the+Suez+Maritime+Canal.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915095412/http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/Foreign_Policy/Treaties/CONVENTION%2BRESPECTING%2BTHE%2BFREE%2BNAVIGATION%2BOF%2BTHE%2BSUEZ%2BMARITIME%2BCANAL.htm |archive-date=15 September 2010 |access-date=20 October 2010 |publisher=Egypt Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref>

With competitive French, [[Belgian colonial empire|Belgian]] and Portuguese activity in the lower [[Congo River]] region undermining orderly colonisation of tropical Africa, the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884–85 was held to regulate the competition between the European powers in what was called the "[[Scramble for Africa]]" by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims.{{Sfn|Herbst|2000|pp=71–72}} The scramble continued into the 1890s, and caused Britain to reconsider its decision in 1885 to withdraw from [[Sudan]]. A joint force of British and Egyptian troops defeated the [[Mahdist War|Mahdist Army]] in 1896 and rebuffed an attempted French invasion [[Fashoda Incident|at Fashoda]] in 1898. Sudan was nominally made an [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan|Anglo-Egyptian condominium]], but a British colony in reality.{{Sfn|Vandervort|1998|pp=169–183}}

British gains in Southern and East Africa prompted [[Cecil Rhodes]], pioneer of British expansion in [[Southern Africa]], to urge a "[[Cape to Cairo Railway|Cape to Cairo]]" railway linking the strategically important Suez Canal to the mineral-rich south of the continent.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=298}} During the 1880s and 1890s, Rhodes, with his privately owned [[British South Africa Company]], [[company rule in Rhodesia|occupied and annexed]] territories named after him, [[Rhodesia (name)|Rhodesia]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=215}}

=== Changing status of the white colonies ===

{{Main|Dominions|Canadian Confederation|Federation of Australia|Irish Home Rule movement|Independence of New Zealand||}}
[[File:British Empire flag RMG L0088.tiff|thumb|A [[British Empire flag]] combining the arms of the dominions to represent their growing significance]]
The path to independence for the white colonies of the British Empire began with the 1839 [[Report on the Affairs of British North America|Durham Report]], which proposed unification and self-government for Upper and Lower Canada, as a solution to political unrest which had erupted in [[Rebellions of 1837|armed rebellions]] in 1837.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=28–29}} This began with the passing of the [[Act of Union 1840|Act of Union]] in 1840, which created the [[Province of Canada]]. [[Responsible government]] was first granted to Nova Scotia in 1848, and was soon extended to the other British North American colonies. With the passage of the [[British North America Act, 1867]] by the [[British Parliament]], the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were formed into Canada, a confederation enjoying full self-government with the exception of [[international relations]].{{Sfn|Porter|1998|p=187}} Australia and New Zealand achieved similar levels of self-government after 1900, with the Australian colonies [[federation of Australia|federating in 1901]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=30}} The term "dominion status" was officially introduced at the [[1907 Imperial Conference]].{{Sfn|Rhodes|Wanna|Weller|2009|pp=5–15}} As the dominions gained greater autonomy, they would come to be recognized as distinct realms of the empire with unique customs and symbols of their own. Imperial identity, through imagery such as patriotic artworks and banners, began developing into a form that attempted to be more inclusive by showcasing the empire as a family of newly birthed nations with common roots.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Ralph |date=8 August 2017 |title=A Flag for the Empire |url=https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ICV27-B8-Kelly.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813214957/https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ICV27-B8-Kelly.pdf |archive-date=13 August 2023 |access-date=13 August 2023 |website=The Flag Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford |first=Lisa |title=The King's Peace: Law and Order in the British Empire |date=2021 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-6742-4907-3 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England}}</ref>

The last decades of the 19th century saw concerted [[political campaign]]s for Irish [[home rule]]. Ireland had been united with Britain into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with the [[Act of Union 1800]] after the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], and had suffered a severe [[Great Famine (Ireland)|famine]] between 1845 and 1852. Home rule was supported by the British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister]], [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]], who hoped that Ireland might follow in Canada's footsteps as a Dominion within the empire, but his 1886 [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886|Home Rule bill]] was defeated in Parliament. Although the bill, if passed, would have granted Ireland less autonomy within the UK than the Canadian provinces had within their own federation,{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=213}} many MPs feared that a partially independent Ireland might pose a security threat to Great Britain or mark the beginning of the break-up of the empire.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=315}} A [[Irish Government Bill 1893|second Home Rule bill]] was defeated for similar reasons.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=315}} A [[Home Rule Act 1914|third bill]] was passed by Parliament in 1914, but not implemented because of the outbreak of the [[First World War]] leading to the 1916 [[Easter Rising]].{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=92}}