The British Empire reached its peak in the early 20th century, with a population of about 4130,000, accounting for a quarter of the world's total population at that time.
The territory is about 35.5 million square kilometers, accounting for a quarter of the world's total land area. It has become the largest country in human history and the largest colonial empire in the world. Its territorial data has been officially recognized by international historians and Guinness World Records.
Extended data:
/kloc-after the glorious revolution in the 0/7th century, Britain challenged the hegemony of France, Europe's number one power, with a brand-new attitude, and put in two wars to curb Louis XIV's hegemony in Europe.
That is, the Nine-Year War (1689- 1697) and the Spanish War of Succession to the Crown (1701713), and achieved great success. After that, while ensuring the basic balance of power in the European continent, Britain steadily expanded its power mainly through successful overseas expansion, and its influence tentacles greatly exceeded the scope of Europe.
When the situation in the European continent was turbulent again around 1740, Britain returned to Europe and once again resisted the resurgent ambition of France to dominate the mainland.
In the Austrian War of Succession to the throne (1740- 1748) and the Seven-Year War (1756- 1763), the wars between Britain and Spain and France broke out before the wars in Europe, and the resulting results naturally surpassed Europe and spread all over the world.
Britain not only maintained the stability of the balance of power in the European continent through the seven-year war, but also destroyed the maritime power of France and Spain again and seized almost all the French colonies in the North American continent and India.
Churchill said that after the Seven Years' War, "Britain became the master of the sea and land outside Europe", and he quoted horace Walpole, a British politician, as saying, "It took the Romans 300 years to conquer the world, and we conquered the world after only three wars, but now the world is twice as big as the Roman era". ?
That is, 1763, after the victory of the seven-year war, Britain proudly claimed that "the sun never sets" for the first time. However, twenty years later, because of the defeat of the American War of Independence, Britain was forced to put away its pride and temporarily cancelled the saying that the sun never sets on the empire.
18 15 Britain's victory in the Napoleonic wars further consolidated its position as an international political and military power, and the industrial revolution made Britain an undisputed economic power. Therefore, after 18 15 won the Second Centennial War completely, Britain began to claim that it was an empire that never fell.
The Victorian British Empire entered its heyday, and the population of 1938 reached 458 million, accounting for about a quarter of the world's total population. After the German colony was acquired in 1922 through World War I, its land area reached 35.5 million square kilometers, accounting for 24.75% of the world's total land area.
From the British Isles to Hong Kong, Gambia, Newfoundland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Malaya, Myanmar, India, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Malta, Singapore and countless islands, there are territories of the British Empire in 24 time zones on earth.
The international order under British hegemony is called "peace under British rule". The global map of the British Empire published in Britain usually marks the territory of the empire in red, which can clearly understand the global influence of this huge empire.
Baidu Encyclopedia-British Empire