5.7.1

Impacts of the British Empire

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Trade and Investment

The British Empire was vast, and in some ways, it helped to modernise countries across the world. However, it also often used policies that were brutal or inhumane and has been criticised for this.

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Trade

  • Trade was central to the British Empire.
  • By the mid-1800s, half of the goods produced in the world were produced by Britain.
  • Since Britain controlled colonies across the globe, there was always a market where Britain could export these products.
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Investment

  • The profits from trade allowed Britain to invest in its colonies.
    • This improved the infrastructure in some countries which had been very underdeveloped and allowed them to modernise.
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Examples of investment

  • For example, in India, 50,000 miles of road and 24,000 miles of railway track were laid by the end of the 1800s.
  • Large areas of land in India and Britain’s African colonies were irrigated so that they would be suitable to be farmed.
  • This benefited agriculture and increased production.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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