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