British Empire

Colonisation

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. Gilbert's shipwreck prevented ensuing settlement in Newfoundland, other than the seasonal cod fishermen who had frequented the island since 1497. However, the Jamestown colonists, led by Captain John Smith, overcame the severe privations of the winter in 1607 to found England's first permanent overseas settlement. The empire thus took shape during the early 17th century, with the English settlement of the eastern colonies of North America, which would later become the original United States as well as Canada's Atlantic provinces, and the colonisation of the smaller islands of the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Barbados.

Related Topics:
1583 - Humphrey Gilbert - Newfoundland - Cod - John Smith - 17th century - Eastern colonies - North America - United States - Canada - Atlantic provinces - Caribbean - Jamaica - Barbados

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The sugar-producing colonies of the Caribbean, where slavery became the basis of the economy, were at first England's most important and lucrative colonies. The American colonies providing tobacco, cotton, and rice in the south and naval materiel and furs in the north were less financially successful, but had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far larger numbers of English emigrants.

Related Topics:
Slavery - Tobacco - Cotton - Rice - Materiel

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England's American empire was slowly expanded by war and colonisation, England gaining control of New Amsterdam (later New York) via negotiations following the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The growing American colonies pressed ever westward in search of new agricultural lands. During the Seven Years War the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham and captured all of New France in 1760, giving Britain control over the greater part of North America.

Related Topics:
New Amsterdam - New York - Second Anglo-Dutch War - Seven Years War - Plains of Abraham - New France - 1760

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Later, settlement of Australia (starting with penal colonies from 1788) and New Zealand (under the crown from 1840) created a major zone of British migration. The entire Australian continent was claimed for Britain when Matthew Flinders proved New Holland and New South Wales to be a single land mass by completing a circumnavigation of it in 1803. The colonies later became self-governing colonies and became profitable exporters of wool and gold.

Related Topics:
Australia - 1788 - New Zealand - 1840 - Matthew Flinders - New Holland - New South Wales - 1803 - Self-governing colonies - Wool - Gold

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See also British colonisation of the Americas, Colonial history of America.

Related Topics:
British colonisation of the Americas - Colonial history of America

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