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Once industrialisation began in Great Britain, new factors can be added: the eagerness of British entrepreneurs to export industrial expertise and the willingness to import the process. Britain met the criteria and industrialized starting in the 18th century, and then it exported the process to western Europe (especially Belgium, France, and ...
A Roberts loom in a weaving shed in the United Kingdom in 1835. The nature of the Industrial Revolution's impact on living standards in Britain is debated among historians, with Charles Feinstein identifying detrimental impacts on British workers, whilst other historians, including Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson claim the Industrial Revolution improved the living standards of British ...
After the loss of the American colonies in 1776, Britain built a "Second British Empire", based in colonies in India, Asia, Australia, Canada. The crown jewel was India, where in the 1750s a private British company, with its own army, the East India Company (or "John Company"), took control of parts of India. The 19th century saw Company rule ...
In 1984 the British government signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with China and agreed to turn over Hong Kong and its dependencies in 1997. British rule ended on 30 June 1997, with China taking over at midnight, 1 July 1997 (at end of the 99-year lease over the New Territories , along with the ceded Hong Kong Island and Kowloon ).
However, the British were saddled with huge debts following the French and Indian War. As much of the British debt had been generated by the defense of the colonies, British leaders felt that the colonies should contribute more funds, and they began imposing taxes such as the Sugar Act of 1764. [96]
New Zealand became a British colony in 1839; in 1840 Maori chiefs ceded sovereignty to Britain in Treaty of Waitangi. In 1841 New Zealand became an autonomous colony. [3] [4] The signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ended the First Opium War and gave Britain control over Hong Kong Island. [4]
With defeat by the United States, France and Spain in the War of American Independence, Great Britain lost its 13 American colonies and rebuilt a Second British Empire based in Asia and Africa. As a result, British culture, and its technological, political, constitutional, and linguistic influence, became worldwide.
The thirteen colonies (shown in red) in 1775. The governments of the Thirteen Colonies of British America developed in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of the British constitution. The British monarch issued colonial charters that established either royal colonies, proprietary colonies, or corporate colonies.