Key Facts

Question 1

How many square miles did the British empire reach after WW1?

Answer 1

13,000,000 sq miles

Question 2

How much of the earth’s land surface did the British Empire take up?

Answer 2

1/4 of the Earth’s surface

Question 3

How many subjects did the British Empire reach after WW1?

Answer 3

-500 million subjects
-1/5 of the earth’s population

Question 4

By 1914 how much of British exports went to Britain’s overseas territories?

Answer 4

1/3rd

Question 5

When was Canada granted Dominion status?

Answer 5

1867

Question 6

When was the Cape Colony granted Dominion status?

Answer 6

1872

Question 7

When was Australia granted Dominion status?

Answer 7

1901

Question 8

When did Egypt become a veiled protectorate?

Answer 8

1882

Question 9

What was the purpose of the informal empire e.g Egypt?

Answer 9

Establish economic influence
(Access to cheaper raw materials and bigger markets for GB manufactured goods but with no formal control so no cost to the British taxpayer)

Question 10

Who were crown colonies administered by?

Answer 10

Governors
(Chosen by the GB government)

Question 11

When was the “Colonial office” created?

Answer 11

1801

Question 12

When was the India Office created?

Answer 12

-1858
(By the government of India Act 1858)

Question 13

What was the nickname given to India?

Answer 13

“The brightest jewel in the crown”

Question 14

When was the British East India Company founded ?

Answer 14

1600

Question 15

In the early 1700s the East India Company established costal settlements in what areas?

Answer 15

-Bombay
-Madras
-Calcutta

Question 16

During the 1800-1850s what evidence is there in India of growing British influence?

Answer 16

-Outlawing of Sati
(The burning of widows on their husbands funeral pyres)
-Introduction of English style education system

Question 17

What was the population of India by the 1850s?

Answer 17

-280 million
-70% Hindu 20% Muslim

Question 18

What was the cause of the Indian Mutiny 1857?

Answer 18

• Grease in cartridges contained animal fats which went against religion
  -Requirements to serve abroad went against caste rule
  -changes in pay and conditions

Question 19

Why did the India mutiny fail?

Answer 19

-Failed to gain full support across India
-majority of Indian Princes were pro-British
-Sikhs remain loyal to the British

Question 20

What were the Consequences/result of the 1857 Indian Mutiny?

Answer 20

Immediate:
-British authorities took ruthless revenge on mutineers
Political Consequences:
-E.I.C abolished and India under direct British control in 1857
-Victoria became “Empress of India” in 1876
Military Consequences:
-Reform of India army ratio British to Indian soldiers increased from 1:5 to 1:2
-Indian troops increasingly drawn from “loyal” areas
Cultural and social Consequences:
-Harsher British attitudes towards colonial subjects across Empire

Question 21

How much of the Indian subcontinent was ruled by the Princely states?

Answer 21

35%

Question 22

What was the relationship between the Princely states and the British raj?

Answer 22

-Treaties with GB
-Under GB protection
-Britain could intervene if a state was being misgoverned so Britain in overall control but a sense of independence

Question 23

What was the caste system?

Answer 23

-Defined the structure of Hindu society
-Determined at birth, defined all aspects of life

Question 24

What was the relationship between the caste system and the British empire ?

Answer 24

-Cultural familiarity with small elite class ruling society without question
-The British were not within the system, therefore untouchable however treated almost as an “above-caste”

Question 25

How many miles of railway were built in India by 1870?

Answer 25

3000

Question 26

What was a phrase commonly used to describe British rule of India?

Answer 26

“Iron fist in a silk glove”

Question 27

Why did Britain begin to expand its imperial interests into India?

Answer 27

-Trade and opportunity - India’s size and population

Question 28

How far did the Indian mutiny change Britain’s reasons for expanding its imperial interests in India?

Answer 28

-Did not change Britain’s desire to imperialise India However the method to achieve this aim changed = Government took direct control of India

Question 29

What territories were significantly expanded 1857-1890 in Africa?

Answer 29

Transvaal (occupied 1877) Zululand (protectorate 1879) Egypt and Sudan (

Question 30

How many of the Bengal regiments were disbanded after the Indian mutiny?

Answer 30

62 out of 72

Question 31

Name two important agricultural products that come from India

Answer 31

Tea Silk

Question 32

What were the reasons for British Expansion in Africa 1857-1890?

Answer 32

-New economic pressures (Need for new markets to feed industrial growth in GB after the European markets saturated in the Long Depression) -Support British interests into India -Growing strategic interests

Question 33

Before 1890 the acquisition of more territories was mostly ……..

Answer 33

Reactive (Rather than actively seeking expansion)

Question 34

When was Isma’ll Pasha the Khedive of Egypt?

Answer 34

-1863-1879

Question 35

When was Tewfik Pasha the Khedive of Egypt?

Answer 35

1879-1892

Question 36

In what year did the construction of the Suez Canal being ?

Answer 36

1859

Question 37

When was the construction of the Suez Canal completed?

Answer 37

1869

Question 38

By 1875 how many British ships were using the Suez Canal?

Answer 38

80%

Question 39

Why was the Suez Canal so important to the British Empire?

Answer 39

-Canal commercially and strategically vital to British interests in the Mediterranean and India

Question 40

In 1875 how many shares of the Suez Canal did Disraeli buy?

Answer 40

44%

Question 41

How much did Disraeli pay to secure 44% stakes of the Suez Canal?

Answer 41

£4 million Using a loan from the Rothschild

Question 42

By 1900 how much of Africa was in African hands?

Answer 42

10%

Question 43

By 1850-1870 what percentage of colonies exports went to Britain ?

Answer 43

20%

Question 44

By 1850-1870 What percentage of British exports went to colonial markets?

Answer 44

30%

Question 45

When was the Crimean War?

Answer 45

1853-1856

Question 46

What Treaty ended the Crimean war?

Answer 46

The Treaty of Paris

Question 47

When was the government of India Act?

Answer 47

1858 British Raj established

Question 48

What number did the electorate increase to after the Reform Act 1867?

Answer 48

Nearly 2.5 million

Question 49

When was the Education Act?

Answer 49

1870

Question 50

Who won the election in 1868?

Answer 50

The Liberals

Question 51

When was Germany unified ?

Answer 51

1871

Question 52

Who won the election in 1874 and with what tactic?

Answer 52

Disraeli “Playing the imperial card”

Question 53

When was the Gold Coast colony established?

Answer 53

1874

Question 54

In what year does Frere become high commissioner and governor of the Cape Colony?

Answer 54

1877

Question 55

When was the Brussels Conference?

Answer 55

1876

Question 56

When was the Berlin conference ?

Answer 56

1884-1885

Question 57

Who hosted the Brussels conference ?

Answer 57

King Leopold of Belgium

Question 58

By 1884 what percentage of Africa was still under local control (before the Berlin Conference)

Answer 58

80%

Question 59

How many countries went to the Berlin conference?

Answer 59

-14 European and the USA

Question 60

What was the outcome of the Brussels conference?

Answer 60

- Concluded that Africans were incapable of developing the natural resources to be found in central Africa so European intervention was necessary -The “co-operation” the conference was actually suppose to promote heightened competition as European countries were suspicious of Leopolds intentions

Question 61

What was the outcome of the Berlin Conference?

Answer 61

A signing of a General Act that promised: -All nations should be permitted trade in the basin of Congo -There should be free trade within these regions -The powers with influence should help protect indigenous people -Any power that took possession of further land in the coast should alert the other powers -Established the principle of “Effective Occupation”

Question 62

When was the annexation of the Transvaal Republic by the British?

Answer 62

1877

Question 63

When was the 2nd Anglo-Afghan war ?

Answer 63

1878-1880

Question 64

When was Zululand established as a protectorate ?

Answer 64

1879

Question 65

When was the Anglo-Zulu war ?

Answer 65

11th Jan 1879- 4th July 1879

Question 66

When was The boy’s owner paper established?

Answer 66

1879

Question 67

What year was Isma’il replaced by Tewfiq?

Answer 67

1879

Question 68

Who was elected as prime minister in 1880?

Answer 68

Gladstone (1880-1885)

Question 69

When was the First Boer war?

Answer 69

March 1880- December 1881

Question 70

When was the Mahdist revolt in Sudan?

Answer 70

June 1881

Question 71

When was the Northern Borneo Chartered Company established?

Answer 71

1881

Question 72

When did Evelyn Baring become Consul General of Egypt?

Answer 72

1882

Question 73

How many people were killed in the Arabi Pasha revolt?

Answer 73

50 Europeans killed in Alexandria

Question 74

Where was Arabi Pasha defeated by the British?

Answer 74

Te el- Kebir

Question 75

When was the boys Brigade founded?

Answer 75

1883

Question 76

When was the Imperial League founded?

Answer 76

1884

Question 77

How many did the electorate increase to after the 1884 Reform Act?

Answer 77

Over 5 million

Question 78

When was General Gordon sent to Sudan?

Answer 78

1884

Question 79

Who became Prime Minister in 1885?

Answer 79

Lord Salisbury (Conservatives)

Question 80

When did the Royal Niger company become a charter?

Answer 80

1886

Question 81

When was the Colonial and Indian Exhibit in London?

Answer 81

1886

Question 82

When does Imperial British East African Company a charter?

Answer 82

1888

Question 83

Who was the British Commissioner in Egypt during the Debt Crisis

Answer 83

lord Dufferin