The Commonwealth
· the British Commonwealth of Nations- free association- 50 states
· evolved from British Empire – formel British colonies- Africa, Asia, South America and small islands in Pacifik and the Caribbean Sea
· Queen- formal head of 18 countries with Canada, Australia and New Zealand
· Queen is represent by a govenor-general
· Republic or own monarchy
· Cooperation of widely differing nations and cultures in agriculture, economics, health, education or the enviroment
History
· Turn of the 16th and 17th - Britain- leading power - expand to America and India
· Cloth industry, flourishing trading companies - key role in E. polic y- main aim - trade with the colonies, find uninhabited lands
· Companies (East India Company) set up trading colonies in different part sof the world, protect interests with help of armed forces
· First British colony in Am.- founded in VIrginia- based on tobbaco groving
· Firsts colonists- floved by Puritans- seeking for religious freedom and new oppurtinities
· Settlers arivedd in 1620 - settled north-eastern teritory→ New England
· Focused on trade →Boston became largest city in this teritory
· Tobacco plantations -indians werw forced to work there
· Slavery in America - first ship with Afričan blafl slaves was Dutch
· 18th century- Britain was growing economicaly and polliticaly stronger→greatest colonial power
· Seven Years War (1756- 1763) - between France and England, because of trading posts, in India and America
· India- french joined the Indian princess, tried to drive the British out- were defeated
· In 1757- India → British colony - rich sources of rice, salt, spices and tobacco
· It was new market for their goods- citron textiles
· By the middle of 19th cent. E. control over most of the subkontinent
· America- two major French settlements-New France (N), Louisiana - wanted to unite drive the E. settlers out- they had to surrender in the end
· Treaty of Paris(1763)- had to hand Canadaand some colonies in India and Africa over to Brit. - lost a great deal of their teritory
· Taxes on goods of Američan raise - they felt threatened by thein development
· Main reason - to limit Američan export and import and slow down the developmentt of Američan industry
· Boycott on British goods - Boston Tea Party -1773
· The War of Independence- Američan colonies broke away from Britain
· 4th july 1776 - The declaration of Independente - T. Jefferson
· G. Washington-Commander-in-Chief (velitel ozbrojených sil) -defeated the British in 1781 (recognized by G.B.-1783)
· 1770 - Capitain Cook – Explorer the south-east of Australia
· 1788-first ship with convicts landed in Botany Bay
· Long time convict colony around Sydeny – was only colonized
· Other colonies – established after 1825
· Convict system – abolished in 1866
· End of 18th century – proces of Industrial Revolution took place- Britain – from an agricultural into an industrial capitalist state
· Cloth industry, trade- called for new markets and sources
· Development of manufacturing- need for ships arms tec. for both wars
· New machines were invented, new technologies were introduced
· After Napoleonic Wars Brit.→most industrialized country in the world („the workshop of the world“)
· India was considered tio be most important of all the colonies, in the half of the 19th cent.- new teritories in India and in the Pacifik were annexed
· Singapure, Hong-Kong – greates ports in all Asia
· 1871 Queen Victoria- Empress of India
· People in Canada – discontented and rebelled against British
· They didn´t want to lose →set up provincial governments
· 1867- proclaimed the British North America Act- Dominion of Canada- the first self governing dominion
· Similar Troubles in Australia and New Zealand – Australia (1850) - dividend into 5 self-governing colonies- end of the 19th cent. Federal constitution, New Zealand-1907
· 1901- Queen Victoria proclaimed the Commonwealth of Australia- second dominion of the Empire
The British Commonwealth of Nations
· The legal positron of dominions- unclear in many aspects – relation between the United Kingdom and them
· Dominions- Canada, Australia, N.Z., the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State
· Constitutions- reviewed and amended
· After WWI the concept of the Commonwealth as it exit today was made up
· The Statue of Westminster, an Act of Parliament by which the British Empire→ the British Commonwealth of Nations, dominions→sovereign states, independent in external rerlations and internal affairs
· the British Commonwealth→free asotiation of equal states
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