Global Economy 11: The British Empire

Question 1

Describe the dominian of the British Empire

Answer 1

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height in the 19th and early 20th century, it was the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power.[1] By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 per cent of the world population at the time,[2] and by 1920, it covered 13.7 million sq mi (35.5 million km2),[3] 24 per cent of the Earth’s total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as “the empire on which the sun never sets”, as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories

Question 2

Describe the emergence of British imperialism

Answer 2

• From 1700 to 1820 Britain went from a fairly minor player to
  a global hegemon
• This transition resulted from colonial and trade expansion and
  a series of major wars with different European powers
• Significant gains were made in the treaties of 1713 (Utrecht)
  and 1763 (Paris)
  1. → 1763 - Spain ceded Gibralter, Minorca, and a slave
  monopoly (Asiento)
  2. → France ceded Newfoundland, Rupert’s Land, Acadia, Saint
  Kitts and the fur trade
  3. → France ceded Canada, Dominica, Saint Vincent, Tobago
  and Louisiana
  4. → France ceded Florida
• The period of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) was
  devastating for the former European powers
  1. → Dutch lost Asian and African territories except Indonesia to
  Britain
  2. → French lost Saint-Dominique (Haiti) and most of their
  Asian trading posts to Britain
  3. → Brazil established its independence from Portugal
  4. → Spain lost the rest of its colonial empire except Cuba,
  Puerto Rico and the Philippines
  5. → Britain gained much of India (including Calcutta, Madras
  and Bombay) and Australia

Question 3

What’s ‘hegemony’?

Answer 3

Hegemony is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states. Hegemony can be regional or global

Question 4

What’s the name for ‘the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states’?

Answer 4

Hegemony

Question 5

Briefly describe the ‘Peace of Utrecht’

Answer 5

The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of Spain, and involved much of Europe for over a decade. The main action saw France as the defender of Spain against a multinational coalition. The war was very expensive and bloody, and finally stalemated. Essentially, the treaties allowed Philip V (grandson of King Louis XIV of France) to keep the Spanish throne in return for permanently renouncing his claim to the French throne, along with other necessary guarantees that would ensure that France and Spain should not merge, thus preserving the balance of power in Europe

Question 6

Briefly describe the ‘Treaty of Paris’

Answer 6

The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, following Great Britain and Prussia’s victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years’ War.

The signing of the treaty formally ended the conflict between France and Great Britain over control of North America (the Seven Years’ War, known as the French and Indian War in the United States),[2] and marked the beginning of an era of British dominance outside Europe.[3] Great Britain and France each returned much of the territory that they had captured during the war, but Great Britain gained much of France’s possessions in North America. Additionally, Great Britain agreed to protect Roman Catholicism in the New World. The treaty did not involve Prussia and Austria, as they signed a separate agreement, the Treaty of Hubertusburg, five days later

Question 7

Briefly describe the ‘Asiento de Negros’

Answer 7

The Asiento de Negros (lit. ’agreement of blacks’) was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide African slaves to colonies in the Spanish Americas.[1] The Spanish Empire rarely engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade directly from Africa itself, choosing instead to contract out the importation to foreign merchants from nations more prominent in that part of the world; typically Portuguese and Genoese, but later the Dutch, French, and British. The Asiento did not concern French or British Caribbean but Spanish America.