Beginning of the British empire

When the discussing the British empire, when "was" the beginnning. Because they had started trade an colonies in the 1500s

In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the island of Newfoundland as England's for Elizabeth I, reinforcing John Cabot's prior claim to the island in 1497, for Henry VII, as England's first overseas colony

In terms of years how many years did the real "British empire" last ??

I know its 300 years but shouldnt it be more....


Edited by think - 30-Nov-2006 at 23:18

    I tend to think the British Empire was caused by the French and started by a Dutchman. Yup, it's all the fault of bloody foriegners as usual.

All countries had colonies, England having a few colonies doesn't signal the start of an empire. Cromwell's Commonwealth may have looked good on paper but lacked any real financial clout.

Then enter two men, William of Orange and Louis iv. One brought the Dutch capitalist system to England, as well as a competant military system. The other wanted to start an empire to rule the world.

So I date the British Empire around the time Britain began opposition to Louis iv around the world.
Many countries opposed Louis, but they either lacked the money or manpower. Britain had both and on top of this two revolutions in the recent past, the ECW and The Glorious Revolution that had radicalised both the government and people. So the money, motive and manpower were there.

Then the global fight against French imperialism began, and 60 years later Britain had won. But at the end Britain was no-longer the country that had set out to oppose Louis iv's oppression, but had turned full circle and now was closer to Louis iv's ideal.

    
    
    

Edited by Paul - 01-Dec-2006 at 02:22

I should personally think that the defeat of Louis XIV at the battle of Bleheim by the Duke of Malbourgh in 1706 was a very important imperial turning point for Britain- not only had the British defeated their main rival on the continent, but they had also left the Dutch and the Holy Romans indebted to them, humiliated the German state and significantly crippled Spanish power. Since it was the Spanish navy that was making the British resort to sponsored Piracy, this move would have potentially opened up the Americas to us British and would have let companies like the Hudson bay and east india company start up proper trading links which were secure.