module 1 The rise and decline of the British Empire BEFORE READING In groups discuss the following points a. How many great empires can you name? b. What advantages could an empire bring to a country? c. Why do you think slave labour was used on cotton and sugar plantations? d. Do you know when the British Empire began to decline? e. Do you know the name of the last country to become independent? area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that the sun never sets on the British Empire because its extent across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories. During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain and Portugal led European exploration of the globe and in the process established large overseas empires. Soon England, France and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. Following the defeat of Napoleonic Unit France in 1815, Britain dominated Europe and expanded its empire across the globe. Later, increasing degrees of autonomy were granted to some of its colonies, some of which were reclassified as dominions. The Caribbean initially provided England s most important and profitable colonies. The colonies adopted the system of sugar plantations successfully used by the Portuguese in Brazil, which depended on slave labour, and at first Dutch ships, to sell the slaves and buy the sugar. To ensure that the profits from this trade remained in English hands, Parliament decreed in 1651 that only English ships would be able to trade in English colonies. Carribean colonies. The First British Empire The British Empire was formed of all territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the greatest global power. By 1922, the British Empire ruled over a population of about 458 million people, onequarter of the world s population, and covered approximately a quarter of the Earth s total land