despite reaching its peak of influence
at the beginning of the 20th century the
British Empire's origins reach back to
the end of the 1400s hi I'm Rebecca
Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we'll be exploring the rise
dominance and fall of this one time
world empire following portugal and
spain z' lead in overseas exploration
King Henry the seventh of England began
to commission voyages across the
Atlantic several unsuccessful attempts
were made to create colonies along the
North American coast under Queen
Elizabeth the first it was in the early
17th century that under the rule of King
James the first of England the British
Empire truly took a leap forward the
first permanent settlement in the
Americas under English rule was
Jamestown founded in 1607 in the decades
that followed progressively more popped
up along the coast and throughout the
Caribbean a series of wars with France
and the Netherlands throughout the 17th
and 18th centuries eventually left
Britain as the dominant colonial power
this Empire was tested however late in
the 18th century 13 of its North
American colonies broke free from
Britain through the American War of
Independence creating the United States
of America despite this seemingly
crushing blow the British Empire pushed
forward and shifted its focus toward
Asia the Pacific and Africa growing
larger than ever after being challenged
by and eventually defeating Napoleon's
France in 1815 Britain was left with no
major rivals from this point until 1914
Britain would add 400 million people to
their empire along with 17% of the
world's total land area during what was
referred to as their Imperial century
the growth of Germany as a military and
economic power forced Britain to form
alliances with old enemies such as
France and Russia in the lead-up to the
First World War in the short term
Britain benefited by receiving even more
territory through the Treaty of
Versailles however the economic
implications of the war spelled trouble
for the Empire in the long term 1922
marked the height of the British Empire
when they held sway over one quarter of
the world's population however World War
two would leave Britain virtually
bankrupt with anti colonization
sentiments hi the dismantling of this
once dominant world empire began while
many colonies declared their
independence in the decades that
followed many consider the handover of
Hong Kong to China in 1997 as the end of
the empire for Britain
despite this the British influence is
still felt the world over in addition to
the fourteen territories over which the
United Kingdom still retain sovereignty
the Empire also caused large migrations
of people across the world many X
colonies still use the British
parliamentary system as the basis for
their now independent governments the
British Empire was also responsible for
creating some of the world's most
popular sports including soccer and golf
arguably the British Empire's largest
mark on the world was the English
language the proliferation of the
language increased with the spread of
their rule and today it is a mother
tongue of roughly 400 million people
worldwide