The British Empire

was the largest in human history and included dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories, governed or administered by the United Kingdom. He was born with overseas possessions and trading post founded by England between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth century. It was a global power. In 1920 the British Empire is dominated by a fifth of the world's population.

The British Empire was formed over 300 years, through a series of phases of expansion through trade, colonization or conquest, alternated with phases of peaceful diplomacy and trade or by the contraction of the Empire. Its territories were found on every continent and in every ocean.

The Empire facilitated the spread of British technology, commerce, language and governance throughout the world. Imperial hegemony contributed to the extraordinary economic growth of Britain and gave it an important role in world politics.

British colonial policy has always been driven by strategic, political and commercial interests. While colonial economies had cultural assets and infrastructures to support balanced development, African tropical territories found themselves downgraded to mere suppliers of raw materials. 

The outbreak of the First World War put enormous pressure on the military, financial and labor resources of Great Britain and while maintaining its enormous territorial extension it no longer succeeded in being the preeminent power of the world. During the Second World War the colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by the Japanese Empire. Despite the victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige contributed to accelerating the decline of the empire.

India, the most precious and populous territory of the empire, gained independence as part of a broader decolonization movement that granted it to many imperial territories.

After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states. The United Kingdom is one of sixteen Commonwealth nations, a group known informally as the Commonwealth kingdoms, which share a monarch, namely Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

My stamps of the British Empire