Why Did Britain Establish An Empire
Why did Britain establish an empire?
The British established an empire for many different reasons, most of which were to benefit England itself and few to help other countries. The five main reasons that will be discussed in this essay are: power, economy, trade, religion and development of other countries.
One of the first reasons that Britain established an empire was because of religion. Matthew 28:19 states: ‘Go ye therefore and teach all nations’. Some christians took this literally and took it as a message to go and spread the word of God; one way to do this was by starting the Empire due to the fact that having other countries under their control would help to spread the word of God quicker easier, however, instead of having all countries
that were likely to have not heard of Christianity in the empire, they took countries that had the best natural resources that could be mined and picked to create an income which could be seen as bias. Religion also links to the idea of the ‘White Man’s Burden’ as seen in Rudyard Kipling’s poem. It is the idea based off Social Darwinism (that white people were naturally superior) which meant that white people felt that they had a duty to lead and guide those of darker skin as they are too inferior to do so themselves. The British then believed that it was a positive thing and that they were helping these countries which many of the governments and citizens disagreed with. After the Empire began to build up religion became a very small part as England became more focused on gaining money and power. This shows that religion was a small part of why Britain established an empire.
Religion is also linked to developing other countries. This was because Britain believed that less economically and politically developed countries were automatically beneath them and that Britain had a duty to help build the world as a whole (the white man’s burden). The Empire did actually have a slight positive affect on other countries for example: the British raised the number of schools in Sri Lanka from 170 to 2900, this helped a much larger majority of children to gain an education and therefor obtaining better jobs which help their selves and their families as well as the country and empire as whole; they also introduced the british way of life to their colonies as they believed in Social Darwinism and that the native were therefor uncivilised and inferior. The colonies disagreed
The British established an empire for many different reasons, most of which were to benefit England itself and few to help other countries. The five main reasons that will be discussed in this essay are: power, economy, trade, religion and development of other countries.
One of the first reasons that Britain established an empire was because of religion. Matthew 28:19 states: ‘Go ye therefore and teach all nations’. Some christians took this literally and took it as a message to go and spread the word of God; one way to do this was by starting the Empire due to the fact that having other countries under their control would help to spread the word of God quicker easier, however, instead of having all countries
that were likely to have not heard of Christianity in the empire, they took countries that had the best natural resources that could be mined and picked to create an income which could be seen as bias. Religion also links to the idea of the ‘White Man’s Burden’ as seen in Rudyard Kipling’s poem. It is the idea based off Social Darwinism (that white people were naturally superior) which meant that white people felt that they had a duty to lead and guide those of darker skin as they are too inferior to do so themselves. The British then believed that it was a positive thing and that they were helping these countries which many of the governments and citizens disagreed with. After the Empire began to build up religion became a very small part as England became more focused on gaining money and power. This shows that religion was a small part of why Britain established an empire.
Religion is also linked to developing other countries. This was because Britain believed that less economically and politically developed countries were automatically beneath them and that Britain had a duty to help build the world as a whole (the white man’s burden). The Empire did actually have a slight positive affect on other countries for example: the British raised the number of schools in Sri Lanka from 170 to 2900, this helped a much larger majority of children to gain an education and therefor obtaining better jobs which help their selves and their families as well as the country and empire as whole; they also introduced the british way of life to their colonies as they believed in Social Darwinism and that the native were therefor uncivilised and inferior. The colonies disagreed