Early modern period
British Empire
- Period
- AD 1706 – AD 1999
- Duration
- approx. 293 years
- Greatest extent
- around AD 1918
- Area (max.)
- approx. 29.2 million km²
Profile
Strength
The Royal Navy was the strongest fleet in the world for centuries; around 1920 the empire covered roughly a quarter of the world's land and population.
Famous figures
- Queen Victoria
- Admiral Nelson
- Duke of Wellington
- Robert Clive
- Winston Churchill
Wars & battles won
- Seven Years' War (1756–63)
- Napoleonic Wars (1803–15)
- First World War (1914–18, with allies)
- Second World War (1939–45, with allies)
Wars & battles lost
- American War of Independence (1775–83)
- First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42)
- Suez Crisis (1956)
Languages
- English
- Hindi
Period and duration
British Empire — according to the map data from AD 1706 to AD 1999, roughly 293 years. The dates refer to the time the empire is drawn as its own territory on the world map; historians sometimes date its founding and end differently.
Greatest extent
British Empire — greatest extent around AD 1918: the mapped borders then cover about 29.2 million km², roughly 19.6% of Earth's land area. The area is calculated from the border lines of the map and is therefore an approximation.
Predecessors and successors
States that ruled the same territory directly before and after:
Before (AD 1705)
No predecessors in the map data.
After
- Canada
Neighbours around AD 1918
The largest states in the region at the same time:
- Russian Republic
- French Third Republic
- British Colonial Empire
- French Africa
- British Africa
- United States of America
- Brazilian Republic
- Commonwealth of Australia
Learn more
- Open the world map in AD 1918 — tap the empire for a detailed description
- British Empire on Wikipedia
- All 371 empires at a glance
Borders and dates: Cliopatria / Seshat Global History Databank (CC BY 4.0). Coastlines: Natural Earth. Text: Centaurian.