The British proved to be one of the most extensive colonizers of the 1800s. Although the Napoleonic
Wars between 1799 and 1815 had kept Britain and other European powers busy, after the wars ended
with Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, Great Britain emerged as the most powerful seafaring nation of the
Continent. In the same year, the British added to their colonial empire. In the western hemisphere,
England held a colonial empire left over from earlier centuries.
Canada, some Caribbean isles, and the mainland colonies of
British Honduras and British Guiana flew the British flag in 1815.
The British also had a toehold in Africa, with trading stations
located along the west coast and in the Cape Colony, today known
as South Africa, where the Dutch were already the dominant
European power. British colonists swarmed over the Cape Colony,
challenging the Dutch settlers in the Boer Wars. Britain also
began establishing its control over eastern Africa in the same
decade. Australia had become British property after a claim
was laid by Captain James Cook in 1770. The British negotiated
prison colony there in 1788. British sailing vessels could find
friendly British controlled ports around the globe: Gibraltar,
Malta, Mauritius, and St. Helena. British traders first became
interested in India in the 1600s. The Moghul dynasty, which
ruled India during the 1500s and 1600s, collapsed in the early
1700s, causing India to be divided into many weak but independent
states. Taking advantage of the situation, the British East India Company, a powerful trading company,
began building trading posts and forts in strategic locations in India in 1843, Britain annexed the lands
east of Cape Colony, known as Natal. In the nineteenth century, the British further extended their control
of the subcontinent. Gradually the Indian army came under British control. The British government built
schools, roads, railway systems, and hospitals. Many British customs and laws were made part of the
Indian way of life. Many Indians believed that the British were trying to convert them to Christianity. Most
Indians were Hindus and some were Muslim. Although the people of India had accepted the British
system of democratic government, the people of India never changed their culture and caste system.
Religion always remained the most important focus of Indian life. Indians began to resent the British.
In 1857, sepoys, or Indian soldiers(both Muslim and Hindu) under British command, rebelled against
foreign rule and British influence. The immediate cause of the revolt was the British requirement that the
soldiers use a rifle with cartridges that the sepoys believed were greased with beef or pork fat. In order to
fire the rifles, the sepoys had to bite off the seal of the cartridge for fast reloading. Both Hindus, who
believed the cow to be sacred, and Muslims, whose religion forbade them to eat pork, were angered by
this. The violent Sepoy Mutiny was an attempt by the Indians to gain their independence. However,
British forces retaliated harshly and overthrew the Indian government of the Mogul empire. The 1840s
witnessed Britain going to war with China when the British attempted to force the Chinese to import
Indian-produced opium, a legal drug at the time. The Opium War produced a British victory and a
settlement known as the Treaty of Nanking (1842), which gave ownership of Hong Kong to Britain and
opened several key Chinese ports to British trade.
In 1877 the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proclaimed Queen Victoria Empress of India.
It was the sense of national pride felt by the British as the empire of Victoria extended itself around the
world, so that, as was often said, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”
The Sun never sets on the British Empire
Directions: Answer all questions completely.
1) Using a graphic organizer, List all the places the British added to their imperial
empire.
2) Why did the Sepoys rebel?
3) Why does the last quote say the sun never sets on the British Empire?
