British Empire Research Paper

The British Empire is arguably the most important and influential empire to ever exist. Their extreme power and many colonies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries made it immortalized in history. The sheer size of the British Empire was something special in itself. As the article in the research states, "By 1921, the British Empire ruled a population of between 470 and 570 million people, approximately one-quarter of the world 's population. It also covered about 14.3 million square miles, about a quarter of the Earth 's total land area" (N.W.E, p. 1). This evidence really puts it into perspective how massive the British Empire really was. An empire that large in scale must have made a great impact on history. This paper will be generally

King Henry the eighth was the person who really modernized and brought power to the English navy. Henry was also able to construct a navy powerful enough to be able to hold off the Spanish Armada in 1588. He did many things to get the navy strong so that he could stand up to the Spanish and the Dutch. He tripled the number of battleships and constructed many large boats and loaded them with long range weaponry. This and other things he did were partially to increase the naval power in the British Empire 's naval power. However, he also executed some of the things he did due to the fact of it increasing and expanding the overseas merchant trading for them. His merchant fleet he constructed during his reign would pave the road for immensely important business opportunities that helped the British Empire such as the British East India Company and the Massachusetts Bay Company. These were actually chartered by his granddaughter, queen Elizabeth the 1st. Nevertheless, it was King Henry the eighth that really established the roots of the marine power for the British Empire. This start was a key factor in many other things that led to the British Empire having such a large impact on

Their most successful venture economically was the British East India Company. The company did many things that were extremely vital to the empire 's immense success. They were solely responsible for the conquest of India. India eventually became the empire 's main source of income. Also, it was responsible for establishing a hold in Asia which led to the conquest of other Asian nations that became extremely beneficial for the British Empire. Asia was arguably the most important continent that the empire had established territories in. The company was involved with illegal opium distribution with China against their emperors will. This began one of two opium wars which the company would eventually win and gain Hong Kong in the process. They were liberated in 1857 due to the company requiring their soldiers to use the Enfield rifle. The reason this was such a large ordeal was due to the fact that the gunpowder holders were lubricated with animal fat and had to be bitten open to use. This was a problem due to Muslims cannot eat pig and Hindus cannot eat cow. Therefore, the soldiers were refusing to use their weapons and it eventually led to a violent rebellion that would end the company 's