Empire · approximate1730 – 1762 · 32 years
British Empire (1750)
OTHER SLICES1690–1729 · 1763–82 · 1783–1802 · 1803–29 · 1830–57 · 1858–75 · 1876–94 · 1895–1918 · 1919–36 · 1937–44 · 1945–47
The largest empire in history — at one point the British crown ruled a quarter of the world's land and people.
What it was
Built piecemeal from the 17th century onward through trading companies, naval power, settler colonization, and outright conquest, the British Empire reached its greatest extent in 1922 covering 35 million km² and 458 million people. Decolonization between 1947 and 1980 dismantled most of it; Hong Kong's 1997 return to China is sometimes cited as the closing date.
Why it mattered
English as a world language, common-law legal systems across five continents, the borders of dozens of modern states, and the shape of global trade are all direct legacies — for better and for very much worse.
From Wikipedia
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and colonisation attempts by Scotland during the 17th century. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 percent of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35.5 million km2 (13.7 million sq mi), 24 per cent of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. It was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.
Wikipedia: British Empire·CC BY-SA 4.0
Borders & accuracy
Dashed borders mark empires whose extent we can date but whose precise frontiers are contested or undocumented.
- SOURCEreconstructed from Natural Earth country boundaries
- DETAILreconstructed-clipped-country
- SNAPSHOT1750
- POLITY TYPEstate
Wars of this empire1560
Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity (any of its time-slices), best-documented first.
- World War II1939–45World-changing · 85M dead
- World War I1914–18World-changing · 20M dead
- Napoleonic Wars1803–15World-changing · 3.5M dead
- French Revolutionary Wars1792–1802World-changing · 1.5M dead
- Seven Years' War1756–63World-changing · 1.4M dead
- War of the Sixth Coalition1812–14World-changing · 500K dead
- World-changing · 500K dead
- American Revolutionary War1775–83World-changing · 50K dead
- World-changing
- World-changing
- World-changing
- World-changing
- World-changing
- Japanese invasion of Malaya1941–42World-changing
- World-changing
- World-changing
- Burma campaign1942–45World-changing
- Western European Campaign1944–45Major conflict · 1.0M dead
- Peninsular War1808–14Major conflict · 700K dead
- Crimean War1853–56Major conflict · 600K dead
- Major conflict · 500K dead
- Major conflict · 310K dead
- Somme Offensive1916Major conflict · 310K dead
- French and Indian War1754–63Major conflict · 200K dead
+ 1536 more in the atlas.
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1730 and fits the map to these borders.
Cite as: British Empire (1750) (1730 – 1762). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/e/british-empire-1750 · Sources & methodology