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{{Euromericas}}
The '''British colonization of the Americas''' is the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by [[Kingdom of England|England]], [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]], and, after 1707, [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]. Colonization efforts began in the late 16th century with failed attempts by England to establish permanent colonies in the North. The first of the permanent [[English overseas possessions|English colonies in the Americas]] was established in [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], [[Virginia]], in 1607
The first documented settlement of Europeans in the Americas was established by [[Norsemen|Norse]] people around 1000 AD in what is now [[Newfoundland]], called [[Vinland]] by the Norse. Later European exploration of North America resumed with [[Christopher Columbus]]'s 1492 expedition sponsored by Spain. English settlement began almost a century later. Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] established the short-lived [[Roanoke Colony]] in 1585. The 1607 settlement of the [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown colony]] grew into the [[Colony of Virginia]]. ''Virgineola''—settled unintentionally by the shipwreck of the Virginia Company's [[Sea Venture]] in 1609, and renamed ''The Somers Isles''—is still known by its older Spanish name, [[Bermuda]]. In 1620, a group of mostly [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrim]] religious separatists established a second permanent colony on the mainland, on the coast of Massachusetts. Several other English colonies were established in North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. With the authorization of a royal charter, the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] established the territory of [[Rupert's Land]] in the [[Hudson Bay drainage basin]]. The English also established or conquered several colonies in the [[Caribbean]], including [[History of Barbados#Colonial history|Barbados]] and [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]].
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==Background: early exploration and colonization of the Americas==
{{Further|Pre-Columbian era|Age of Discovery|European colonization of the Americas}}
[[File:Spanish Empire in 1598.png|thumb
Following the first voyage of [[Christopher Columbus]] in 1492, [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] established colonies in the [[New World]], beginning the [[European colonization of the Americas]].
Later explorers such as [[Martin Frobisher]] and [[Henry Hudson]] sailed to the New World in search of a [[Northwest Passage]] between the Atlantic Ocean and Asia, but were unable to find a viable route.
In the [[Caribbean Sea]], English sailors defied Spanish trade restrictions and preyed on [[Spanish treasure fleet|Spanish treasure ships]].<ref>James (1997), pp. 16–17</ref> The English colonization of America had been based on the English colonization of Ireland, specifically the Munster Plantation, England's first colony,<ref>{{
In the late sixteenth century, [[Protestant]] England became embroiled in a [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|religious war]] with [[Catholicism|Catholic]] Spain. Seeking to weaken Spain's economic and military power, English [[privateer]]s such as [[Francis Drake]] and [[Humphrey Gilbert]] harassed Spanish shipping.
There are a variety of theories as to what happened to the colonists there. The most popular theory is that the colonists left in search of a new area to settle in the Chesapeake, leaving stragglers to integrate with local Native American tribes.
==Early colonization, 1607–1630==
{{Further|English overseas possessions}}
[[File:James I of England 404446.jpg|thumb|[[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], the first permanent English settlement in North America, was established during the reign of [[James VI and I|King James I of England]] (1603–1625)]]
In 1606, King [[James VI and I|James I of England]] granted charters to both the [[Plymouth Company]] and the [[London Company]] for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in North America. In 1607, the London Company established a permanent colony at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] on the [[Chesapeake Bay]], but the Plymouth Company's [[Popham Colony]] proved short-lived. Approximately 30,000 Algonquian peoples lived in the region at the time.<ref>{{cite web |title=English Colonization Begins |url=https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3574 |website=Digital History |publisher=University of Houston}}</ref>
In 1609, the [[Sea Venture]], flagship of the English [[London Company]], a division of the [[Virginia Company]], bearing Admiral Sir [[George Somers]] and the new Lieutenant-Governor for Jamestown, Sir [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Thomas Gates]],
The archipelago was officially named ''Virgineola'', though this was soon changed to ''The Somers Isles'', which remains an official name though the archipelago had already long been infamous as ''Bermuda'', and the older Spanish name has resisted replacement. The Lieutenant-Governor and settlers who arrived in 1612 briefly settled on Smith's Island, where the three left behind by the Sea Venture were thriving, before moving to [[St. George's Island, Bermuda|St. George's Island]] where they established the town of ''New London'', which was soon renamed to [[St. George's, Bermuda|St. George's Town]] (the first actual town successfully established by the English in the New World as Jamestown was really ''James Fort'', a rudimentary defensive structure, in 1612).<ref>{{cite web |title=Bermuda - History and Heritage |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/bermuda-history-and-heritage-14340790/ |website=Smithsonian.com |access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref>
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As the bottom fell out of tobacco, many absentee shareholders (or ''Adventurers'') sold their shares to the occupying managers or tenants, with the agricultural industry quickly shifting towards family farms that grew subsistence crops instead of tobacco. Bermudians soon found they could sell their excess foodstuffs in the West Indies where colonies like Barbados grew tobacco to the exclusion of subsistence crops. As the company's magazine ship would not carry their food exports to the West Indies, Bermudians began to build their own ships from [[Bermuda cedar]], developing the speedy and nimble [[Bermuda sloop]] and the [[Bermuda rig]].
Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 to 120,000 convicts to their American colonies.<ref>
Meanwhile, the [[Plymouth Council for New England]] sponsored several colonization projects, including a colony established by a group of English [[Puritans]], known today as the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]].
The [[Caribbean]] would provide some of England's most important and lucrative colonies,<ref name="james17"/> but not before several attempts at colonization failed. An attempt to establish a colony in [[British Guiana|Guiana]] in 1604 lasted only two years and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits.<ref>Canny (1998), p. 71</ref> Colonies in [[Saint Lucia|St Lucia]] (1605) and [[Grenada]] (1609) also rapidly folded.<ref>Canny (1998), p. 221</ref> Encouraged by the success of Virginia, in 1627 King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] granted a charter to the Barbados Company for the settlement of the uninhabited Caribbean island of [[Barbados]]. Early settlers failed in their attempts to cultivate tobacco, but found great success in growing [[sugar]].<ref name="james17">James (1997), p. 17</ref>
==Growth, 1630–1689==
[[File:English overseas possessions in 1700.png|thumb
===West Indies colonies===
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====New England Colonies====
{{Main|New England Colonies}}
[[File:Thirteencolonies politics cropped.jpg|thumb
Following the success of the Jamestown and Plymouth Colonies, several more English groups established colonies in the region that became known as [[New England]]. In 1629, another group of Puritans led by [[John Winthrop]] established the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], and by 1635 roughly ten thousand English settlers lived in the region between the [[Connecticut River]] and the [[Kennebec River]].
====Southern Colonies====
{{Main|Southern Colonies}}
In 1632, [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore]] founded the [[Province of Maryland]] to the north of Virginia.
640 miles (1,030 km) East-South-East of [[Cape Hatteras]], in the Virginia Company's other former settlement, the Somers Isles, alias the Islands of Bermuda, where the spin-off Somers Isles Company still administered, the company and its shareholders in England only earned profits from the export of tobacco, placing them increasingly at odds with Bermudians for whom tobacco had become unprofitable to cultivate. As only those landowners who could attend the company's annual meetings in England were permitted to vote on company policy, the company worked to suppress the developing maritime economy of the colonists and to force the production of tobacco, which required unsustainable farming practices as more was required to be produced to make up for the diminished value.
As many of the class of moneyed businessmen who were adventurers in the company were aligned to the Parliamentary cause during the [[English Civil War]], Bermuda was one of the [[English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms|colonies that sided with the Crown during the war]], being the first to recognise [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] after the execution of his father. With control of their Assembly and the militia and volunteer [[coastal artillery]], the Royalist majority deposed the company-appointed Governor (by the 1630s, the company had ceased sending Governors to Bermuda and had instead appointed a succession of prominent Bermudians to the role, including religious Independent and Parliamentarian [[William Sayle]]) by force of arms and elected John Trimingham to replace him. Many of Bermuda's religious Independents, who had sided with Parliament, were forced into exile.
Bermudian anger at the policies of the Somers Isles Company ultimately saw them take their complaints to the Crown after [[Restoration in the English colonies|The Restoration]], leading to the Crown revoking the Royal Charter of the Somers Isles Company and taking over direct administration of Bermuda in 1684. From that date, Bermudians abandoned agriculture, diversifying their maritime industry to occupy many niches of inter-colonial trade between North America and the West Indies. Bermudians limited landmass and high birth rate meant that a steady outflow from the colony contributed about 10,000 settlers to other colonies, notably the southern continental colonies (including [[Carolina Province]], which was settled from Bermuda in 1670), as well as West Indian settlements, including the [[Providence Island colony]] in 1631, the [[Bahamas]] (settled by [[Eleutheran Adventurers]], Parliament-allied Civil War exiles from Bermuda, under William Sayle in the 1640s), and the seasonal occupation of the [[Turks and Caicos Islands|Turks Islands]] from 1681.
Encouraged by the apparent weakness of Spanish rule in [[Spanish Florida|Florida]], Barbadian planter [[John Colleton]] and seven other supporters of [[Charles II of England]] established the [[Province of Carolina]] in 1663.
====Middle Colonies====
{{Main|Middle Colonies}}
[[File:James II (1685).jpg|thumb|[[James II of England|James II]] established the [[Colony of New York]] and the [[Dominion of New England]]. He succeeded his brother as King of England in 1685 but was overthrown in the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688.]]
Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders had established fur trading posts on the [[Hudson River]], [[Delaware River]], and [[Connecticut River]], ultimately creating the Dutch colony of [[New Netherland]], with a capital at [[New Amsterdam]].
Charles II rewarded [[William Penn]], the son of distinguished [[William Penn (Royal Navy officer)|Admiral William Penn]], with the land situated between Maryland and the Jerseys. Penn named this land the [[Province of Pennsylvania]].
▲Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders had established fur trading posts on the [[Hudson River]], [[Delaware River]], and [[Connecticut River]], ultimately creating the Dutch colony of [[New Netherland]], with a capital at [[New Amsterdam]].<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 138-140</ref> In 1657, New Netherland expanded through conquest of [[New Sweden]], a [[Sweden|Swedish]] colony centered in the [[Delaware Valley]].<ref>Richter (2011), p. 262</ref> Despite commercial success, New Netherland failed to attract the same level of settlement as the English colonies.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 215-217</ref> In 1664, during a [[Anglo-Dutch Wars|series of wars]] between the English and Dutch, English soldier [[Richard Nicolls]] captured New Netherland.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 248-249</ref> The Dutch briefly regained control of parts of New Netherland in the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]], but surrendered its claim to the territory in the 1674 [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]], ending the Dutch colonial presence in North America.<ref>Richter (2011), p. 261</ref> In 1664, the [[Duke of York]], later known as [[James II of England]], was granted control of the English colonies north of the Delaware River. He created the [[Province of New York]] out of the former Dutch territory and renamed New Amsterdam as [[New York City]].<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 247-249</ref> He also created the provinces of [[West Jersey]] and [[East Jersey]] out of former Dutch land situated to the west of New York City, giving the territories to [[John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton|John Berkeley]] and [[George Carteret]].<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 249-251</ref> East Jersey and West Jersey would later be unified as the [[Province of New Jersey]] in 1702.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 252-253</ref>
▲Charles II rewarded [[William Penn]], the son of distinguished [[William Penn (Royal Navy officer)|Admiral William Penn]], with the land situated between Maryland and the Jerseys. Penn named this land the [[Province of Pennsylvania]].<ref>Richter (2011), p. 373</ref> Penn was also granted a lease to the [[Delaware Colony]], which gained its own legislature in 1701.<ref name="richter251"/> A devout [[Quaker]], Penn sought to create a haven of [[religious toleration]] in the New World.<ref name="richter251">Richter (2011), p. 251</ref> Pennsylvania attracted Quakers and other settlers from across Europe, and the city of [[Philadelphia]] quickly emerged as a thriving port city.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 357</ref> With its fertile and cheap land, Pennsylvania became one of the most attractive destinations for immigrants in the late 17th century.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 358</ref> New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware became known as the [[Middle Colonies]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Economy of British America, 1607-1789|last1=McCusker|first1=John J.|author1-link = John J. McCusker |last2=Menard|first2=Russell R.|date=1991|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|jstor=10.5149/9781469600000_mccusker}}</ref>
===Hudson's Bay Company===
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===Settlement and expansion in North America===
After succeeding his brother in 1685, King James II and his lieutenant, [[Edmund Andros]], sought to assert the crown's authority over colonial affairs.
Between immigration, the importation of slaves, and natural population growth, the colonial population in [[British North America]] grew immensely in the 18th century. According to historian Alan Taylor, the population of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] (the British North American colonies which would eventually form the United States) stood at 1.5 million in 1750.<ref>Taylor (2016), p. 20</ref> More than ninety percent of the colonists lived as farmers, though cities like Philadelphia, New York, and [[Boston]] flourished.<ref>Taylor (2016), p. 23</ref> With the defeat of the Dutch and the imposition of the Navigation Acts, the British colonies in North America became part of the global British trading network. The colonists traded foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other resources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items.
Prior to 1660, almost all immigrants to the English colonies of North America had migrated freely, though most paid for their passage by becoming [[indentured servant]]s.<ref>James (1997), pp. 10–11</ref> Improved economic conditions and an easing of religious persecution in Europe made it increasingly difficult to recruit labor to the colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Partly due to this shortage of free labor, the population of slaves in British North America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750; the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and the reproduction of slaves.
Following the 1684 revocation of the Somers Isles Company's Royal Charter, seafaring
===Conflicts with the French and Spanish===
{{Further|Second Hundred Years' War|French and Indian Wars}}
[[File:Non-Native Nations Claim over NAFTA countries 1763.png|thumb
The Glorious Revolution and the succession of William III, who had long resisted French hegemony as the [[Stadtholder]] of the [[Dutch Republic]], ensured that England and its colonies would come into conflict with the [[French colonial empire|French empire]] of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] after 1689.
In 1754, the Ohio Company started to build a fort at the confluence of the [[Allegheny River]] and the [[Monongahela River]]. A larger French force initially chased the Virginians away, but was forced to retreat after the [[Battle of Jumonville Glen]].
▲The Glorious Revolution and the succession of William III, who had long resisted French hegemony as the [[Stadtholder]] of the [[Dutch Republic]], ensured that England and its colonies would come into conflict with the [[French colonial empire|French empire]] of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] after 1689.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 296-298</ref> Under the leadership of [[Samuel de Champlain]], the French had established [[Quebec City]] on the St Lawrence River in 1608, and it became the center of French colony of [[Canada (New France)|Canada]].<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 130-135</ref> France and England engaged in a proxy war via Native American allies during and after the [[Nine Years' War]], while the powerful [[Iroquois]] declared their neutrality.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 317-318</ref> War between France and England continued in [[Queen Anne's War]], the North American component of the larger [[War of the Spanish Succession]]. In the 1713 [[Treaty of Utrecht]], which ended the War of Spanish Succession, the British won possession of the French territories of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] and [[Acadia]], the latter of which was renamed [[Nova Scotia]].<ref name="Taylor 2016, p. 19"/> In the 1730s, [[James Oglethorpe]] proposed that the area south of the Carolinas be colonized to provide a buffer against Spanish Florida, and he was part of a group of trustees that were granted temporary proprietorship over the [[Province of Georgia]]. Oglethorpe and his compatriots hoped to establish a utopian colony that banned slavery, but by 1750 the colony remained sparsely populated, and Georgia became a crown colony in 1752.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 358-359</ref>
▲In 1754, the Ohio Company started to build a fort at the confluence of the [[Allegheny River]] and the [[Monongahela River]]. A larger French force initially chased the Virginians away, but was forced to retreat after the [[Battle of Jumonville Glen]].<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 385-387</ref> After reports of the battle reached the French and British capitals, the [[Seven Years' War]] broke out in 1756; the North American component of this war is known as the [[French and Indian War]].<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 388-389</ref> After the [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Duke of Newcastle]] returned to power as Prime Minister in 1757, he and his foreign minister, [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]], devoted unprecedented financial resources to the transoceanic conflict.<ref>Taylor (2016), p. 45</ref> The British won a series of victories after 1758, [[Conquest of 1760|conquering]] much of New France by the end of 1760. Spain entered the war on France's side in 1762 and promptly lost several American territories to Britain.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 396-398</ref> The 1763 [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] ended the war, and France surrendered almost all of the portion of New France to the east of the Mississippi River to the British. France separately ceded its lands west of the [[Mississippi River]] to Spain, and Spain ceded Florida to Britain.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 406-407</ref> With the newly acquired territories, the British created the provinces of [[East Florida]], [[West Florida]], and [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Quebec]], all of which were placed under military governments.<ref>Richter (2011), pp. 407-409</ref> In the Caribbean, Britain retained [[Grenada]], [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|St. Vincent]], [[Dominica]], and [[Tobago]], but returned control of [[Martinique]], [[Havana]], and other colonial possessions to France or Spain.<ref>James (1997), p. 76</ref>
==The Americans break away, 1763–1783==
{{Further|American Revolution|American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Non-Native Nations Claim over NAFTA countries 1783.png
The British subjects of North America believed the [[Constitution of the United Kingdom|unwritten British constitution]] protected their rights and that the governmental system—with the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]], the [[House of Lords]], and the monarch sharing power—found an ideal balance among democracy, oligarchy, and tyranny.<ref>Taylor (2016), pp. 31-35</ref> However, the British were saddled with huge debts following the French and Indian War. As much of the British debt had been generated by the defense of the colonies, British leaders felt that the colonies should contribute more funds, and they began imposing taxes such as the [[Sugar Act]] of 1764.<ref>Taylor (2016), pp. 51-53, 94–96</ref> Increased British control of the Thirteen Colonies upset the colonists and upended the notion many colonists held: that they were equal partners in the British Empire.<ref>Taylor (2016), pp. 51-52</ref> Meanwhile, seeking to avoid another expensive war with Native Americans, Britain issued the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]], which restricted settlement west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. However, it was effectively replaced five years later thanks to the [[Treaty of Fort Stanwix]].<ref>Taylor (2016), pp. 60-61</ref> The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]], opposed to parliamentary taxation without representation, and [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]], who supported the king. In the British colonies nearest to the Thirteen Colonies, however, protests were muted, as most colonists accepted the new taxes. These provinces had smaller populations, were largely dependent on the British military, and had less of a tradition of self-rule.<ref>Taylor (2016), pp. 102-103, 137-138.</ref>
At the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]] in April 1775, the Patriots repulsed a British force charged with seizing militia arsenals.<ref>Taylor (2016), pp. 132-133</ref> The [[Second Continental Congress]] assembled in May 1775 and sought to coordinate armed resistance to Britain. It established an impromptu government that recruited soldiers and printed its own money.
With their close ties of blood and trade with the continental colonies, especially Virginia and South Carolina, Bermudians leaned towards the rebels during the [[American War of Independence]], supplying them with privateering ships and gunpowder, but the power of the [[Royal Navy]] on the surrounding Atlantic left no possibility of their joining the rebellion, and they eventually availed themselves of the opportunities of [[Privateer#Bermudians|privateering]] against their former kinsmen. Although often mistaken for being in the West Indies, Bermuda is nearer to Canada (and was initially grouped within [[British North America]], retaining close links especially with the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland until the continental colonies were confederated into [[Canada]]) than to the West Indies, and the nearest landfall is North Carolina. Following the independence of the United States, this would make Bermuda of supreme importance to Britain's strategic control of the region, including its ability to protect its shipping in the area and its ability to project its power against the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, as was to be shown during the [[American War of 1812]].
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==Second British Empire, 1783–1945==
[[File:British Empire 1921.png|thumb|upright=1.9|The British Empire in 1921]]▼
{{see also|New Imperialism}}
The loss of a large portion of [[British America]] defined the transition between the "first" and "second" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific, and later Africa.<ref name="canny92">Canny (1998), p. 92</ref> Influenced by the ideas of [[Adam Smith]], Britain also shifted away from mercantile ideals and began to prioritize the expansion of trade rather than territorial possessions.<ref name="james119165">James (1997), pp. 119–121, 165</ref> During the nineteenth century, some observers described Britain as having an "unofficial" empire based on the export of goods and financial investments around the world, including the newly independent republics of Latin America. Though this unofficial empire did not require direct British political control, it often involved the use of [[gunboat diplomacy]] and military intervention to protect British investments and ensure the free flow of trade.<ref>James (1997), pp. 173–174, 177</ref>
From 1793 to 1815, Britain was almost constantly at war, first in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and then in the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref>James (1997), p. 151</ref> During the wars, Britain took control of many French, Spanish, and Dutch Caribbean colonies.<ref>James (1997), p. 154</ref> Tensions between Britain and the United States escalated during the Napoleonic Wars, as the United States took advantage of its neutrality to undercut the British embargo on French-controlled ports, and Britain tried to cut off that American trade with France. The Royal Navy, which was desperately short of trained seamen and constantly losing deserters who sought better-paid work under less draconian discipline aboard American merchant vessels, boarded American ships to search for deserters, sometimes resulting in the [[Impressment]] of American sailors into the Royal Navy. The United States, at the same time, coveted the acquisition of Canada, which Britain could ill afford to lose as its naval and merchant fleets had been constructed largely from American timber before United States independence, and from Canadian timber thereafter. Taking advantage of Britain's absorption in its war with France, the United States began the [[American War of 1812]] with the invasion of the Canadas, but the British Army mounted a successful defence with minimal regular forces, supported by militia and native allies, while the Royal Navy blockaded the United States of America's Atlantic coastline from Bermuda, strangling its merchant trade, and carried out amphibious raids including the [[Chesapeake Campaign]] with its [[Burning of Washington]]. As the United States failed to make any gains before British victory against France in 1814 freed British forces from Europe to be wielded against it, and as Britain had no aim in its war with its former colonies other than to defend its remaining continental territory, the war ended with the pre-war boundaries reaffirmed by the 1814 [[Treaty of Ghent]], ensuring Canada's future would be separate from that of the United States.<ref>Jeremy Black, ''The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon'' (2009) pp 204–37.</ref>
Following the final defeat of French Emperor [[Napoleon]] in 1815, Britain gained ownership of [[Trinidad]], Tobago, [[British Guiana]], and Saint Lucia, as well as other territories outside of the Western Hemisphere.<ref>James (1997), p. 165</ref> The [[Treaty of 1818]] with the United States set a large portion of the [[Canada–United States border]] at the [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]] and also established a joint U.S.–British occupation of [[Oregon Country]].<ref name=JMforeign>{{cite web|title=James Monroe: Foreign Affairs|url=https://millercenter.org/president/monroe/foreign-affairs|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia|access-date=25 February 2017|date=4 October 2016}}</ref> In the 1846 [[Oregon Treaty]], the United States and Britain agreed to split Oregon Country along the 49th parallel north with the exception of [[Vancouver Island]], which was assigned in its entirety to Britain.<ref name="Noakes (2006)">{{cite news |last1=Noakes
After warring throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in both Europe and the Americas, the British and French reached a lasting peace after 1815. Britain would fight only one war (the [[Crimean War]]) against a European power during the remainder of the nineteenth century, and that war did not lead to territorial changes in the Americas.<ref>James (1997), pp. 179–182</ref> However, the British Empire continued to engage in wars such as the [[First Opium War]] against China; it also put down rebellions such as the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], the Canadian [[Rebellions of 1837–1838]], and the Jamaican [[Morant Bay rebellion]] of 1865.<ref>James (1997), pp. 190, 193</ref> A strong [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolition movement]] had emerged in the United Kingdom in the late-eighteenth century, and Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807.<ref>James (1997), pp. 185–186</ref> In the mid-nineteenth century, the economies of the British Caribbean colonies would suffer as a result of the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]], which abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, and the [[Sugar Duties Act 1846|1846 Sugar Duties Act]], which ended preferential tariffs for sugar imports from the Caribbean.<ref>James (1997), pp. 171–172</ref> To replace the labor of former slaves, British plantations on Trinidad and other parts of the Caribbean began to hire indentured servants from [[India]] and China.<ref>James (1997), p. 188</ref>
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Despite its defeat in the American Revolutionary War and shift towards a new form of imperialism during the nineteenth century,<ref name="canny92"/><ref name="james119165"/> the British Empire retained numerous colonies in the Americas after 1783. During and after the American Revolutionary War, between 40,000 and 100,000 defeated [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] migrated from the United States to Canada.<ref>Zolberg (2006), p. 496</ref> The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the [[Saint John River (New Brunswick)|Saint John]] and [[Saint Croix River (Maine – New Brunswick)|Saint Croix river]] valleys, then part of [[Nova Scotia]], felt too far removed from the provincial government in Halifax, so London split off [[New Brunswick]] as a separate colony in 1784.<ref>Kelley & Trebilcock (2010), p. 43</ref> The [[Constitutional Act of 1791]] created the provinces of [[Upper Canada]] (mainly English-speaking) and [[Lower Canada]] (mainly [[French language|French-speaking]]) to defuse tensions between the French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution.<ref name="smith2829">Smith (1998), p. 28</ref>
The British also expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area which came to
In 1815, Lieutenant-General Sir [[George Prevost]] was ''Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the Provinces of Upper-Canada, Lower-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New~Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, Vice-Admiral of the same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty's Forces in the said Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, and in the islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, Cape Breton and the Bermudas, &c. &c. &c.'' Beneath Prevost, the staff of the British Army in ''the Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including the Islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda'' were under the Command of Lieutenant-General Sir [[John Coape Sherbrooke]]. Below Sherbrooke, the [[Bermuda Garrison]] was under the immediate control of the Lieutenant-[[Governor of Bermuda]], Major-General [[George Horsford]] (although the Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda was eventually restored to a full civil Governorship, in his military role as Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda he remained subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief in Halifax, and naval and ecclesiastic links between Bermuda the [[Maritimes]] also remained; The military links were severed by Canadian confederation at the end of the 1860s, which resulted in the removal of the British Army from Canada and its Commander-in-Chief from Halifax when the Canadian Government took responsibility for the defence of Canada; The naval links remained until the Royal Navy withdrew from Halifax in 1905, handing its dockyard there over to the [[Royal Canadian Navy]]; The established [[Anglican Church of Bermuda|Church of England in Bermuda]], within which the Governor held office as [[Ordinary (church officer)|Ordinary]], remained linked to the colony of [[Newfoundland]] under the same [[Diocese of Newfoundland|Bishop]] until 1919).<ref>''The Quebec Almanack'', 1815</ref>
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===Successful independence movements===
{{see also|Decolonization of the Americas}}
[[File:Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.svg|thumb
With the onset of the [[Cold War]] in the late 1940s, the British government began to assemble plans for the independence of the empire's colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. British authorities initially planned for a three-decades-long process in which each colony would develop a self-governing and democratic parliament, but unrest and fears of Communist infiltration in the colonies encouraged the British to speed up the move towards self-governance.<ref>James (1997), p. 538–539</ref> Compared to other European empires, which experienced wars of independence such as the [[Algerian War]] and the [[Portuguese Colonial War]], the British post-war process of decolonization in the Caribbean was relatively peaceful.<ref>James (1997), pp. 588–589</ref>
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===Remaining territories===
{{main|British Overseas Territories}}
Though many of the Caribbean territories of the British Empire gained independence, [[Anguilla]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] opted to revert to British rule after they had already started on the path to independence.<ref>Clegg (2005), p. 128.</ref> The [[British Virgin Islands]], Bermuda, the [[Cayman Islands]], [[Montserrat]], and the [[Falkland Islands]] also remain under the jurisdiction of Britain.<ref>James (1997), p. 622</ref> In 1982, Britain defeated [[Argentina]] in the [[Falklands War]], an undeclared war in which Argentina attempted to seize control of the Falkland Islands.<ref>James (1997), pp. 624–626</ref> In 1983, the [[British Nationality Act 1981]] renamed the existing British
Historically, colonials shared the same citizenship (although [[Magna Carta]] had effectively created English citizenship, citizens were still termed ''subjects of the King of England'' or ''English subjects''. With the union of the
When several colonies were elevated before the [[Second World War]] to [[
When the
The inflow of [[People of colour|coloured
Many ethnic-Indians did find themselves marginalised in newly independent nations (notably [[Kenya]]) and relocated to the United Kingdom, in response to which the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968]] was rapidly passed, stripping all British
This was followed by the [[Immigration Act 1971]], which effectively divided ''
The [[British Nationality Act 1981]], which entered into force on 1 January 1983,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/933/made |title=The British Nationality Act 1981 (Commencement) Order 1982 |access-date=18 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401134239/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/933/made |archive-date=1 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> abolished ''British
The exceptions were the [[Gibraltar]]ians (permitted to retain British
The stripping of birth rights from at least some of the colonial [[CUKC]]s in 1968 and 1971, and the change of their citizenships in 1983, actually violated the rights granted them by [[
{{blockquote|''Alsoe wee doe, for us, our heires and successors, declare by theise presentes that all and everie the parsons being our subjects which shall dwell and inhabit within everie or anie of the saide severall Colonies and plantacions and everie of theire children which shall happen to be borne within the limitts and precincts of the said severall Colonies and plantacions shall have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunites within anie of our other dominions to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and borne within this our realme of Englande or anie other of our saide dominions''.}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36181/36181-h/36181-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenburg ebook of The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London, by Samuel M. Bemiss.|website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>
These rights were confirmed in the
{{blockquote|And wee doe for vs our heires and successors declare by these Pnts, that all and euery persons being our subjects which shall goe and inhabite wthin the said Somer Ilandes and every of their children and posterity which shall happen to bee borne within the limits thereof shall haue and enjoy all libertyes franchesies and immunities of free denizens and natural subjectes within any of our dominions to all intents and purposes, as if they had beene abiding and borne wthin this our Kingdome of England or in any other of our Dominions<ref>Letters Patent of King James I, 1615. ''Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of The Bermudas or Somers Islands'', Volume 1, by Lieutenant-General Sir John Henry Lefroy, Royal Artillery, [[Governor of Bermuda|Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda]] 1871–1877. The Bermuda Memorials Edition, 1981. The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust (First Edition, London, 1877)</ref>}}
In regards to former CUKCs of [[Saint
{{blockquote|Citizenship was granted irrevocably by Charles I. It was taken away, quite wrongly, by Parliament in surrender to the largely racist opposition to immigration at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl|title=British Overseas Territories Bill [H.L.] |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=10 July 2001}}</ref> }}
Some [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] backbenchers stated that it was the unpublished intention of the Conservative British
At the same time, although Labour had promised a return to a single citizenship for the United Kingdom, Crown dependencies, and all remaining territories, ''British
Prior to 2002, all British
Since 2002, only the United Kingdom Government has issued ''normal'' British
The eleven inhabited territories are self-governing to varying degrees and are reliant on the UK for [[Diplomacy|foreign relations]] and defence.<ref>[[#refFAC|House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Overseas Territories Report, pp. 146,153]]</ref> Most former British colonies and protectorates are among the 52 member states of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], a non-political, [[voluntary association]] of equal members, comprising a population of around 2.2 billion people.<ref>[http://thecommonwealth.org/about-us The Commonwealth – About Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927182840/http://thecommonwealth.org/about-us |date=27 September 2013 }}; Online September 2014</ref> Fifteen [[Commonwealth realm]]s, including Canada and several countries in the Caribbean, voluntarily continue to share the British monarch, [[King Charles III]], as their head of state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/150757/head_of_the_commonwealth/|title=Head of the Commonwealth|publisher=Commonwealth Secretariat|access-date=9 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706045334/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/150757/head_of_the_commonwealth/|archive-date=6 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{
==List of colonies==
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* {{Cite book|first=Andrew|last=Porter|title=The Nineteenth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume III|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0199246786|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC|ref=refOHBEv3|access-date=22 July 2009}}
* {{cite book|last=Rhodes|first=R.A.W.|title=Comparing Westminster|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199563494|ref=refRhodes2009|author2=Wanna, John |author3=Weller, Patrick }}
* {{cite book |last1=Richter |first1=Daniel K. |title=Before the Revolution
* {{Cite book|first=Simon|last=Smith|title=British Imperialism 1750–1970|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-3125806405|url=https://archive.org/details/britishimperiali00smit|url-access=registration|ref=refSmith1998|access-date=22 July 2009}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Alan Taylor (historian) |last1=Taylor |first1=Alan |title=American Colonies: The Settling of North America |date=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0142002100 |location=New York |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/americancolonies00tayl }}
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===Historiography===
* {{cite journal |last1=Canny
* {{cite journal |last1=Hinderaker
{{refend}}
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