188232

188232

Modern European History

Essay III

December 11, 2009

Isle to Empire

England, a miniscule country located off the European mainland, ascended to

become an economic and commercial colossus that ushered the world into the modern

era. In the age of exploration, and later colonial empire, Britain was late to carve out its

own holdings relative to the continental countries explorations. In the years in which

Spain and Portugal were expanding their respective holdings, Britain was strengthening

one of its most invaluable mediums throughout history: the dominance of the seas. It

competed with and overtook the former naval powers such as the Dutch and Spanish

through commerce and conquest.1 Even with its late start in exploration, England’s

factories were the first to bring in the Industrial Revolution.2 The country struggled

internally over religious and political issues, such as the Protestant Reformation under

King Henry VIII and the struggle over authority between the monarch and parliament.

England overcame its deficits in regards to foreign competitors to prevail with a

relatively stable government, purse, and empire.3 The country became one of the most

enlightened societies, as an absolute leader did not rule and a man’s voice could be

spoken freely. The British drew on these traits at home and abroad to create a truly global

empire of the highest order, one that was effectively governed and influenced by the

home country.

The way of trade in the Middle Ages for Britain and the rest of Europe was the

guild system.4 Trade was on a local level and it was regulated by the guilds -

organizations that controlled trade of certain items of manufacture, examples include

1 Niall Ferguson, Empire (New York, New York: Basic Books, 2003), 5.
2 Robert Winks, The Age of Imperialism (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969), 52.
3 Ibid. (2003), 8.
4 Howard Robinson, The Development of the British Empire, ed. James T. Shotwell (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1936), 10.
1
 188232

goldsmiths, fletchers, and tailors.5 England was dependent on the continent for its fine

manufactured goods at this time. England started to change after a large number of

Flemish cloth makers came to the island.6 This led Britain in a transition to become a

place of industry rather than a source of raw materials. The growth of trade on a large

scale had a tendency to break down the established guild system. This change was very

significant in British development as it led the British to a higher level of importance on

the stage of commerce.7 When England began to produce clothing for foreign markets, it

was found that English merchants began to contend with the established traders of the

mainland.

King Henry VII, a frugal and business-like monarch, did a great deal to foster

commerce for England. He built England’s first dry-dock at Portsmouth and offered

bounties for the building of large ships fit for ocean voyages. Henry VII also issued a

patent for John Cabot to sail in search of a northwest passage to the lucrative Asian

markets.8 In the year of 1497 Cabot landed on the North American continent near Cape

Breton. With this voyage, England had ventured into an even wider interest, and the

Middle Ages had been left behind for the English Isles. As trade increased, companies

were being organized as a reaction of foreign trade being hazardous and prone to attack.

These newly formed companies organized funds from investors for expensive and

altogether unpredictable treks, and they insured some of the losses if these journeys

failed. These companies were granted the privilege of trading with the rest of Europe and

the Western Hemisphere, as well as India and Asia. Within these new world spheres

England, along with the other nations of Western Europe, competed in establishing its

colonial empire. Companies founded in this climate of bustling trade included the

Hudson’s Bay Company, the East India Company, the Virginia Company, and the

Muscovy Company to name a few.9 These organizations brought great sums of wealth
5 Ibid. (1936), 11.
6 Ibid. (1936), 11.
7 Robert Winks, The Age of Imperialism (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969), 52.
8 Niall Ferguson, Empire (New York, New York: Basic Books, 2003), 7.
9 Howard Robinson, The Development of the British Empire, ed. James T. Shotwell (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1936), 13.
2
 188232

into the coffers of England as their diversity offered a gamut of products, from rich spices

to profitable beaver pelts.

For the early part of the colonial era, England played a minor role compared to

Portugal and Spain. While Spain and Portugal expanded their wealth and trade greatly in

the first half of the 16th century, England was relatively stagnate as the work of John

Cabot did not progress for some time.10 The singular concern for England during this

period was not Empire but rather the improvement of the national defense in the form of

a strong navy.11 England had its attention on the home front, as Henry VIII broke British

ties with the Catholic Church, and set up a superficial Protestant entity with the monarch

at the helm in the place of the papal authority. Queen Elizabeth, one of England’s greatest

monarchs, inherited a state with two religious factions fighting for power. The queen

wanted to pursue a middle ground, satisfying a majority of her people.12 This led to

foreign aggressions over religious differences, led by the fervent Catholic bastion that

was Spain. Also, the Spanish went to war to regain territory lost during the Reformation

and to counter English privateers, which preyed on Spain’s bullion ships in the Atlantic.

In the 1580’s, the hushed conflict between England and Spain became open war, shortly

after Spain’s Great Armada descended upon England. The British decisively decimated

the Spanish fleet in a battle in the English Channel with their faster, lighter ships. This

Anglo-Spanish war can be seen as ascension of dominance for England and a beginning

of decay for Spain. The English conception of empire from then on was formed in the

reaction to that of her Spanish rival, at heart it was an imitation.13 The Age of Elizabeth

had to pass before England stood with Spain and Portugal in terms of empire. Elizabeth’s

reign left behind a nation on the precipice of a golden age of culture and transformation.

After England’s victories abroad in the closing years of the sixteenth century,

another great quarrel had taken place, not with a foreign competitor, but between the

10 Ibid. (1936), 24.

11 Ibid. (1936), 25.
12 Ibid. (1936), 26.
13 Howard Robinson, The Development of the British Empire, ed. James T. Shotwell (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1936), 27.
3
 188232

English monarch and parliament. This conflict between the organs of government took

place over arguments as to which group had jurisdiction over desperately needed

capital.14 This money was used to fund the costly wars and colonies of England’s

holdings abroad. The kings and dictators seemed to rotate in a revolving door of political

upheaval. The royalty of this tumultuous period attempted to establish in England an

absolute monarchy in the likes of King Louis XIV of France. The struggle for an absolute

monarch and a strong representative body led England through most of the 17th century.

Civil War and dictatorial rule made up periods of this century. The fight was settled with

the Glorious Revolution in 1688.15 William of Orange sat on the English throne with

parliament behind him. This signified a shift of importance of the representative bodies

and monarch. The parliament prevailed in terms of gaining influence within the

government.

After parliament became the dominant force in deciding the doctrine of England a

member of parliament named Walpole became what would be England’s first “sole and

prime Minister.”16 He achieved this position by his great influence on the members of

House of Commons. Walpole built up a powerful organization, fed and fattened on

Government patronage, unhampered by royal interference. Walpole’s rise signified a

transformation that was at play within England’s society. Opinion could be expressed,

and there was not a central figure in government that did not have checks and balances to

answer to.17 These social developments led Britain to become one of the freest societies at

that era of world history.18 Enlightenment thinking, springing from the minds of jolted

philosophers and writers that attended coffee shops, construed radically fresh ideas and

theories. This new era would have never come about if the freedom to express ones ideas

had not been incubated within countries such as England.

14 Niall Ferguson, Empire (New York, New York: Basic Books, 2003), 7.
15 Howard Robinson, The Development of the British Empire, ed. James T. Shotwell (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1936), 25.
16 Winston S. Churchill, The History of English Speaking Peoples (The Right Honourable, 1957), 124.
17 Ibid. (1957), 124.
18 Ibid. (1936), 9.
4
 188232

England’s influence upon the world seemed to burst into existence as it mimicked

the ways of conquest from the other colonial powers to meet and eventually exceed them

in terms of Empire. The country transitioned from an isolated region into an empire that

encompassed the world united by a dominant Navy that could strike anywhere. England

gathered raw resources from its holdings and refined them in the factories located in the

home country. Enormous sums of wealth were drawn from the shipment and production

of these materials. This led to even greater enthusiasm for increasing the amounts of

foreign land under the British flag. Britain housed a home culture that was refined in the

ways of supporting liberty and freedom to express ones views. All of this happened when

England was transitioning from a monarchy to a government mostly influenced by

parliament. At the end of all this transformation England was certainly a power every

other country had to respect in terms of military and economic strength. The political,

social, and economic accumulation of wealth would continue in the years ahead for

Britain. This wealth would not satisfy the costly capital need to maintain the English

colonies. The British government, desperate for funds, would look towards its holdings

for a source of taxes. This would segue into the conflict between the ruler and the ruled,

as seen in the latter part of the history of the British Empire, in events such as the

American Revolution.

5
 188232

Works Cited
Churchill, Winston S. The History of English Speaking Peoples. The Right Honourable,
1957.
Ferguson, Niall. Empire. New York, New York: Basic Books, 2003.
Robinson, Howard. The Development of the British Empire. Edited by James T. Shotwell.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1936.
Seeley, J. R. The Expansion of England. London: MacMillan and Co., 1925.
Winks, Robert. The Age of Imperialism. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 1969.