The British Empire consisted of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by England (later as Britain after the Union Act of 1707).
The foundations of the Empire began in the early seventeenth century when England established overseas trading posts in North America, Africa, India, South Asia and the West Indies. By 1600 the East India Company had already established trading posts in India. In 1661 the first permanent British settlement was made on James Island on the Gambia River in Africa.
British American colonies were well established in New England, Virginia, and Maryland by 1670. After a series of wars with France and the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, Britain also acquired Quebec in 1759 and become the dominant colonial power in North America. Following the American War of Independence (1776-83) Britain lost its thirteen American colonies. Many loyalists from the US migrated to Canada, further growing the empire’s colonies there.
By 1757 Britain had also become the leading power in the Indian subcontinent, after the East India Company, under the colonial administrator, Robert Clive, defeated the Mughal Empire and overthrew the Nawabs.
By the 1840s Britain had acquired more settlements in Australia, and New Zealand became a British domain, while control was extended to islands in the Pacific Ocean such as Fiji, Tonga and Papua.
| Anglosphere |
| British Empire II |
| Preceding: Tudor and Early Stuart England (gb_england_tudor_and_early_stuart) [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: British Empire IIIIIIIIII (gb_british_emp_222222) [continuity] |
| loose |
| 80,000 people | 1695 CE |
| 575,000 people | 1700 CE |
| 675,000 people | 1750 CE |
| 900,000 people | 1800 CE |
| 1,050,000 people | 1811 CE |
| 1,873,676 people | 1841 CE |
| 22,700,000 km2 | 1800 CE |
| 283,634 km2 | 1811 CE |
| 5,470,000 people | 1700 CE |
| 61,157,433 people | 1811 CE |
| 107,500,000 people | 1814 CE |
| 20776 |
| inferred absent |
| present |
| Transitional (Absent -> Present) |
| present |
| present |
| inferred absent |
| present |
| present |
| Year Range | British Empire I (gb_british_emp_1) was in: |
|---|
Following defeat of Napoleonic France. "What materially enhanced the security of Britain’s scattered possessions after 1815 ... was the relative peacefulness which afflicted international relations and the absence of any European nation strong enough to challenge the global superiority of the Royal Navy. This exceptional interlude faded in the 1870s with the rise of Continental powers harbouring colonial ambitions."
[1]
[1]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Ending with the instability of the 1830s and 1840s (the Chartist Movement)
King James II of England was deposed and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William, who invaded from the Netherlands, but most elites remained in place.
"Unlike the Spanish and the French, the British never attempted to rule colonies directly from the metropole ... At the core of Imperial administration .... a series of essentially bilateral relationships which entailed constant negotiation rather than the imposition of rule and the acceptance of subjection."
[1]
"Rather than constituting one empire, this conglomeration of large land masses and territorial fragments comprised several empires ... as a political entity it was loosely held together".
[1]
Imperial agents in the colonies "exercised considerable latitude of authority and were notoriously difficult to control ... Far from being subordinates, many masterful individuals had their own agendas and ambitions; often they acted independently, disregarding directives or exceeding instructions with cavalier exuberance and frequently with impunity."
[1]
[1]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.
"Table of the Towns of the British Isles, above 100,000 inhabitants, in 1871." London: 3,254,260
[1]
Colquhoun says 900,000 in 1801.
[2]
4.5 million in 1901 CE
[3]
[1]: (Bartholomew 1877, vii) John Bartholomew. 1877. Atlas of the British empire throughout the world. George Philip and Son. London.
[2]: Page 27. Patrick Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire (London: Joseph Mawman), 1814.
[3]: Census of the British Empire, 1901: Report with Summary and Detailed Tables for the Several Colonies, &c. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
in squared kilometers
1800 CE: Parliament approves legislation uniting Great Britain and Ireland as a single state."
[1]
1900 CE: 30.8 million km2 in 1901
[2]
In 1877? CE according to contemporary literature: Area: 8,754,793 square miles. Population: 284,110,693.
[3]
22,674,810 km2.
"Table of the British Possessions throughout the World, with their Population and Area in English Square Miles." Table has data for all of these locations: Europe (British Islands, Gibraltar, Heligoland, Malta and Gozo); Asia (India, including Depedent States, Celon, Andaman Islands, Straits Settlements, Aden, Hong Kong, Labuan Island, Perim Island); Africa (Gambia River, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Lagos, Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, Mauritius and Depedencies, Socotra, Ascension Island, St. Helena Island, Tristan d’Acunha); North America (Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, British Honduras or Belize, West India Islands, Bermuda Islands); South America (British Guiana, Falkland Islands); Oceania (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Chatham Islands, Fiji Islands).
[4]
[1]: Kenneth J Panton. 2015. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham.
[2]: Census of the British Empire, 1901: Report with Summary and Detailed Tables for the Several Colonies, &c. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906.
[3]: (Bartholomew 1877, v) John Bartholomew. 1877. Atlas of the British empire throughout the world. George Philip and Son. London.
[4]: (Bartholomew 1877, vi) John Bartholomew. 1877. Atlas of the British empire throughout the world. George Philip and Son. London.
in squared kilometers.A report from 1811 claimed there were 70,087,612 acres of cultivated land and ad infinitum of uncultivated lands. [1] During the reign of Queen Victoria the empire was expanded at an average of 100,000 square miles (c. 258, 998 squared kilometres) per year. [2]
[1]: (Colquhoun 1811: 61) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[2]: (Brendon 2008: 139) Brendon, Piers. 2008. Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997. New York: Random House. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZFFJNZ6J
The estimated populations of the British Isles and British colonies in the west was 5,470,000 in 1700. [1] The entire population of the British Empire was estimated to be over 61 million in 1811. [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 100. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ.
[2]: (Colquhoun 1811: 47) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
The estimated populations of the British Isles and British colonies in the west was 5,470,000 in 1700. [1] The entire population of the British Empire was estimated to be over 61 million in 1811. [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 100. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ.
[2]: (Colquhoun 1811: 47) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
People. Maddison Project Estimates
[1]
Alternate estimates: In 1877 CE? according to contemporary literature: Area: 8,754,793 square miles. Population: 284,110,693.
[2]
According to statistician Patrick Colquhoun, the total population of the Empire in 1814 was 61.15 Million. A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire
398.4 million in 1901
[3]
[1]: https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2018
[2]: (Bartholomew 1877, v) John Bartholomew. 1877. Atlas of the British empire throughout the world. George Philip and Son. London.
[3]: Census of the British Empire, 1901: Report with Summary and Detailed Tables for the Several Colonies, &c. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906.
in kilometers. From 1840 the journey by sea from Plymouth, England to Wellington, New Zealand was 12,910 miles. [1]
[1]: (Porter 1999: 254) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
levels.
1. Capital (London)
2. Large Cities (ie. Delhi)
3. Cities
4. Large Towns
5. Towns
6. Villages
7. Hamlets
"England, it is to be observed from a civil point of view, is divided int counties or shires, hundreds, or as they are termed in some of the northern counties, wapentakes...cities, tithings, towns or vills, (the last three of which, in a legal sense are synonymous, boroughs, and parishes."
[1]
[1]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 263. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
levels. The Anglican church had a hierarchy as follows: [1] : 1. The Monarch :: 2. Archbishops ::: 3. Bishops :::: 4. Archdeacon :::: 5. Priest ::::: 6. Chaplain :::::: 7. Ecclesiastical officials
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 30) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
levels.
1. Commander-in-Chief (revived 1793)
[1]
2. Secretary at War (combined with Secretary of State for War in 1855, abolished in 1863)
[1]
2. Secretary of State for War. ("In 1870 the Commander in Chief became a subordinate officer."
[1]
)
3. Heads of specialist functions (inferred to be at similar levels)
4. High-ranking members of specialist functions (inferred to be at similar levels)
[1]: (National Archives of the UK 2007. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BW7Q7AXM)
[2]: (MacArthur 2009: 154. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3NY37PHG)
[3]: (MacArthur 2009: 165. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3NY37PHG)
[4]: (MacArthur 2009: 169. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3NY37PHG)
[5]: (Rodger 2005: 622-627. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CIJFYY9I)
levels.
Central Government
1. Monarch
1. Prime Minister
2. High Ranking Members of Parliament: Chancellor, Treasurer, President of the King’s Council, Chief Justice, Chief Baron
[1]
3. Members of the House of Lords
[2]
[3]
3. Members of the House of Commons
[2]
[3]
4-7. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials
[4]
Colonial Office
2. Colonial Secretary (Colonial Office at Whitehall from 1811)
[5]
3. Officials in the Colonial Office
[5]
4-7. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials
[4]
Judicial
[6]
2. Lord High Chancellor (chief judge of the Court of Chancery, member of the House of Lords)
3. High-level judges
4. Local judges
5. Sheriff
6. Clerk of the Peace
7. Coroner
8. Magistrate
9. High Constable
10. Minor officers: Petty Constable, Gaoler, Bailiff, Executioner
Local Government (UK)
3. UK regional administrative units
4. High ranking local officials (inferred)
5. Minor Officials, Clerks, etc. (inferred)
Colonial Government
3. Governor (Proconsuls, and Viceroys)
3. East India Company
[5]
3. Protectorates
4. Colonial bureaucracies (e.g. Indian Civil Service)
4. Colonial executive and Legislative Councils
4. Indigenous rulers
5-9. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials (inferred)
5-9. Internal/Indigenous ruling sub-divisions (in India likely to be fairly extensive to village level: seven levels inferred in the preceding Mughal Empire, nine levels inferred in the Delhi Sultanate.)
[1]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 264. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[2]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[3]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 219. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[4]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 249. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[5]: (Marshall 2001: 24. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3)
[6]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 263-70. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[7]: Kenneth J Panton. 2015. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham.
[8]: (Marshall 1996, 24) P J Marshall. 1783-1870: An Expanding Empire. P J Marshall. ed. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[9]: (Marshall 1996, 22) P J Marshall. The British Empire at the End of the Eighteenth Century. P J Marshall. ed. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Government buildings throughout the UK and all of the Empire’s territories.
Professional bureaucrats throughout the UK and all of the Empire’s territories.
The Court of Pleas for civil suits and the King or Queen’s bench for cases concerning revenue and some civil matters. [1]
[1]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 275) Chambers, Robert and Chambers, William. eds. 1847. History and Present State the British Empire. London: W.R.Chambers. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL
Markets were present all across England (later the UK) and expanded rapidly across the Empire. Local as well as colonial markets were providing goods from across the world. [1]
[1]: (Canny 1998: 145, 209) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
Irrigation was already present in England and was developed throughout the Empire. [1]
[1]: ( Porter 1999: 351) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
Places of worship, entertainment buildings, factories, warehouses, workplaces, knowledge buildings, shops, pubs and coffee-houses, government buildings etc.
Universities, schools, colleges, laboratories, archives, libraries etc. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 131) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Tin and coal mines in the UK. Precious metals and jewels in the Americas and Africa. [1]
[1]: (Colquhoun 1811: 130) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
British trading posts such as Gibraltar became famous for their emporiums and immense amounts of imports and exports that it traded across the Empire. [1]
[1]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 306) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
Books, essays, manuscripts, court records, legal texts, poetry, pamphlets and newspapers, almanacs etc. [1] [2]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 171, 283, 372-73) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[2]: (Marshall 2006: 231-244, 270-271) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
As the empire expanded, non-phonetic alphabets such as Hindi, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin were introduced, though in no way adopted officially, however some ruling members of the colonies would encourage study of the local language. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 130, 243, 248, 525) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
The scientific revolution took place in Europe through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and with it came a surge of scientific literature particularly in astronomy, physics, medicine, botany and mathematics. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 170, 231-244) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Religious guidance and sermons were often published throughout the period. Most notably Sacheverell’s The Perils of False Brethren (1709). Issac Newton also wrote commentaries on the bible in the seventeenth century. [1] The Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, founded in 1698, circulated religious literature to the colonies and for at-home learning. [2] [3] Half the books published in the late seventeenth century were philosophical or religious. [4]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 375) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 385) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[3]: (Marshall 2006: 130) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
[4]: (Canny 1998: 100) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
Advice books for subjects such as agriculture and farming. Travel books. Military strategy. Architecture [1] [2]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 372) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[2]: (Marshall 2006: 1170-2) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
The Philosophical Society was founded in 1683 and branches were created in the American colonies by the mid seventeenth-century, which produced texts and books. Natural philosophy could be studied at university level from the early eighteenth century. [1] Half the books published in the late seventeenth century were philosophical or religious. [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 240-42) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
[2]: (Canny 1998: 100) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
Natural history and classifications were popular from the beginning of the period. Directories. Government reports on the Empire, its people and lands. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 88, 170) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Histories of England and military and warfare history were particularly popular. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 170, 172) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Poetry, novels, plays. [1] [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 18, 523) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
[2]: (Canny 1998: 100) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
England/Britain used the Julian calendar until adopting the Gregorian calendar in the mid-eighteenth century. [1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: xvi) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
Gold had been used widely in the preceding polities for hundreds of years and began to be mined throughout the Empire, particularly the Americas and Africa. [1]
[1]: (Colquhoun 1811: 130) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
The Bank of England began issuing fixed denomination paper currency in the early eighteenth century and partially printed notes from 1725. [1]
[1]: ( Bank of England) Bank of England. ‘History’. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/history. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PYMZXS4N
British sterling. "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions. For the Mint itself the eighteenth century was a period of relative stagnation: British silver and copper coinage was in a poor condition and was in short supply. ... The end of the Napoleonic wars, however, was followed by currency reform and in 1816-17 recoinage in Britain. In 1818 private coins were made illegal. ... The installation of Boulton’s steam-powered machinery, coupled with a French invention, the ’reducing machine’, which reproduced original coin designs by machine rather than by hand engraving, enabled for the first time the mass production of high-quality and homogenous copper coins and transformed the Mint itself into an ’industrial concern’. These changes coincided with the growth of a ’second’ British Empire and the Mint began producing more coins for overseas dependenies." [1]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge.
Territories across the empire had their own currency, e.g. Rupees in India. "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions." [1] "domestic British coin became increasingly an ’imperial currency’, circulating throughout much of the Empire. ... in the course of the nineteeth century, the Mint began producing a variety of dedicated colonial as well as other foreign coinages, designated ’private’ by the Mint, and paid for by the overseas customers. From 1883 the Treasury encouraged all colonies to obtain their local currencies from the Mint." [2]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge.
[2]: (Stockwell 2018, 46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge.
The Bank of England was established in 1694. There were also an increasing number of commercial, mercantile and private creditors in the UK and across the Empire. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 62-63, 296, 384, 423, 432) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
days. In 1825 a steam assisted ship sailing from Falmouth to Calcutta (British Indian capital) took 113 days to make the one-way journey. [1]
[1]: (Porter 1999: 255) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
From the seventeenth century gardens were increasingly laid out in geometric and symmetrical designs. In the eighteenth-century symmetrical buildings, houses and gardens was the most fashionable architectural style. [1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 374, 376) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U