Colonial Expansion and the Formation of the Colonial Empire

The English bourgeoisie having achieved its main aim in the revolution-having secured political and economic domination in the country and consolidated its rule over the masses became deeply interested in promoting its interests abroad. The 18^th century saw the actual making of the British colonial empire. This process was closely associated with the numerous wars waged by England against its main rivals and colonial conquests made by the state in different parts of the world. Moreover, Scotland and Ireland became fully subjugated by the English crown in this period.

Ireland became the first target of the English colonialists. To pacify the Irish William concluded the Treaty of Limerick (1692) in which he promised to respect the rights of the Irish Catholics. The Irish were allowed to retain their parliament. It soon became evident however, that the English Parliament did not intend to observe the treaty. Irish Catholics could not rent more than two acres of land, not could they get employment in industry either. At the insistence of English traders, the English Parliament also restricted Irish trade. Already it had prohibited the export of Irish livestock to England.

In her greed to secure new overseas possessions Britain actively participated in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14). The king of Spain had died childless and Louis XIV decided to use this opportunity to have his grandson on the Spanish throne. Such a turn of events would pose a direct threat to English colonial and commercial interests. Now, if France gained control of the Spanish colonies Britain would lose these: benefits. So England formed a coalition consisting of the Netherlands, Austria, and some of the German states against France.

The English commander, Marlborough, won an important victory at a village called Blenheim in Bavaria. In the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) England seriously expanded her colonial possessions: she acquired Gibraltar, the western key to the Mediterranean sea, the island of Minorca, in North America Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the Hudson Bay territory were taken over from France. She also received freedom of trade with the Spanish colonies. Moreover, England secured the monopoly right to supply the Spanish colonies with slaves from Africa. The shameful slave trade which flourished all throughout the eighteenth century gave the merchants of London, Liverpool and Bristol tremendous profits. The War of the Spanish Succession increased England's colonial, commercial, and naval power, exhausted her rivals, and greatly stimulated British sea trade.

Important developments took place on the British Isles, in particular regarding Anglo-Scotch relations. In 1707 after a period of serious hostilities Scotland agreed to a union with England losing its independence. In order to pacify the Scotch England made some concessions: Scotland was to have sixteen peers in the English House of Lords and fifty-five members in the House of Commons. Scotland also secured free trade with England, and kept her own law courts, system of private law, educational system, and Presbyterian Church. The union with Scotland greatly increased the power of the ruling oligarchy in Britain.

The growth of English trade on an international scale in the 18^th century enhanced the importance of the English colonies in North America which had already made considerable progress. They became an important market for the goods of English industry and a source of supple of necessary raw materials.

The first English settlements in North America were made at the beginning of the 17^th century, but it was not until the twenties of the century that those settlements were founded which formed the permanent basis of the English colonies.

In the period when the English were settling along the coast, French fur traders had already penetrated into the interior from the St Lawrence river down the Ohio and Mississippi, and were attempting to unite as a whole the French trading settlements from Canada along the rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. Trade rivalry between British and French colonists in North America led to the outbreak of open hostilities.

English colonial conquest of this period and the wars waged by the country are closely associated with then name of William Pitt the Elder (1708-78), an active protagonist of British colonial supremacy. He is regarded by English historians as Britain's greatest empire-builder. He believed that the country should expand commercially and colonially and to do both was ready to use British might to the limit. He openly declared France to be Britain's main enemy and that French trading places all over the world must be captured.

The odds of the wars waged by Britain were not always favourable for Britain. However, as a result of most of the fighting which occurred mainly in India and North America the British gained victory. The Seven Years War turned the East India Company from a trading power into a real military and territorial power and laid the foundation of the British Empire in the east.

The hero in Canada was General Wolf, who was the man chosen by Pitt to regain Britain's position there.

In the Peace of Paris (1763) Britain consolidated her colonial gains: the British Empire became the world's largest. It included Canada, parts of America, the West Indies and India, together with bits of West African coast. Britain's victory made her indisputed mistress of the seas, bankrupted France, and deprived her of her navy and many of her colonies.

Britain's colonial greed led her further to the remotest parts of the world. In 1769 Captain Cook discovered Australia. However, only in 1788 did Britain begin to make a settlement there. In that year a special fleet transported 1350 people (mainly convicts) to the new territory. The party stepped ashore in Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788 which marks the beginning of the Australian colony. The Aboriginals in Australia experienced the same fate as the Red Indians in fresh water streams, good anchorages, sharing fish and fire. However, having offered the hand of friendship to the whites, they were eventually betrayed, driven off their lands into the desert and eventually exterminated. Today they form a tiny minority of the population and are on the brink of extinction.

I. Answer the following questions:

1. Did the English bourgeoisie become deeply interested in promoting its interests abroad?

2. What was the process of making of the British colonial empire associated with?

3. Did the English Parliament intend to observe the Treaty of Limerick?

4. Why did Britain actively participated in the War of the Spanish Succession?

5. What new colonial possessions did England get according to the Treaty of Utrecht (1713)?

6. What developments took place in Anglo-Scotch relations?

7. What did the trade rivalry between British and French colonists in North America lead to?

8. What is William Pitt the Elder famous for?

9. Could you prove that the British Empire became the world's largest?

10. What do you know about the beginning of the Australian colony and the fate of the Aboriginals in Australia?