The first English overseas expansion occurred as early as 1169, when theNorman invasion of Ireland began to establish English possessions inIreland, with thousands of English and Welsh settlers arriving in Ireland.[3]Friedrich Engels observed that "Ireland may be regarded as the first English colony."[4] TheLordship of Ireland was claimed for centuries by the English monarch; however, English control mostly was resigned to an area of Ireland known asThe Pale, most of Ireland, large swaths ofMunster,Ulster andConnaught remained independent of English rule until the Tudor and Stuart period. It was not until the 16th century that the Tudor monarchs of England began to "plant" Protestant settlers in Ireland as part of theplantations of Ireland.[5][6][7][8] These plantations included King's County, nowCounty Offaly, and Queen's County, nowCounty Laois, in 1556.[9] A joint-stock plantation was established in the late 1560s atKerrycurrihy nearCork city, on land leased from theEarl of Desmond.[10] In the early 17th century thePlantation of Ulster began, and thousands of Scottish and Northern English colonists were settled in the province ofUlster.[11][page needed] English control of Ireland fluctuated for centuries until Ireland was incorporated into theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.
Thevoyages ofChristopher Columbus began in 1492, sailing west into the unknown with hopes of reaching Asia. He sighted land in theWest Indies on 12 October that year, and in 1493 returned to colonize one of the islands he mistook for "the Indies" and named the indigenous peoples "Indians". The Spanish colonists sought riches, but except for gold the indigenous fashioned into ornaments, there was no great treasure. The Spanish essentially enslaved the indigenous populations. In 1496, excited by the successes in overseas exploration of thePortuguese and theSpanish,King Henry VII of England commissionedJohn Cabot to lead a voyage to find a route from theAtlantic to theSpice Islands ofAsia, subsequently known as the search for theNorth West Passage. Cabot sailed in 1497, and made landfall on the coast ofNewfoundland. There, he believed he had reached Asia and made no attempt to found a permanentcolony.[12] He led another voyage to the Americas the following year, but nothing was heard of him or his ships again.[13]
Continued Spanish explorations in the circum-Caribbean region resulted in the world-alteringSpanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1529-21) where the expedition ofHernán Cortés and thousands of indigenous allies brought Central Mexico under Spanish control. Densely populated, hierarchical organized indigenous populations used to rending tribute and performing labor duties transformed Europe's idea of the possibilities of these (to them) unknown lands and peoples. Then the Spanish repeated the feat in theSpanish conquest of the Inca Empire. The discovery of vast deposits of silver in northern Mexico in the 1550s and in the highland Andes as well transformed Spain a major world power.
TheEnglish Reformation had made enemies of England and Catholic Spain. In 1562 Elizabeth sanctioned theprivateersHawkins andDrake to attack Spanish ships off the coast ofWest Africa.[14] Later, as theAnglo-Spanish Wars intensified, Elizabeth approved further raids against Spanish ports in the Americas and against shipping returning to Europe with treasure from theNew World.[15] Meanwhile, the influential writersRichard Hakluyt andJohn Dee were beginning to press for the establishment of England's own overseas empire. Spain was well established in the Americas, whilePortugal had built up a network of trading posts and fortresses on the coasts of Africa,Brazil, andChina, and theFrench had already begun to settle theSaint Lawrence River, which later becameNew France.[16]
The first English overseas colonies started in 1556 with theplantations of Ireland after theTudor conquest of Ireland. One such overseas joint stock colony was established in the late 1560s, at Kerrycurrihy near Cork city[17] Several people who helped establish colonies in Ireland also later played a part in the early colonization of North America, particularly a group known as theWest Country men.[18]
The first English colonies overseas in America was made in the last quarter of the 16th century, in thereign ofQueen Elizabeth.[19] The 1580s saw the first attempt at permanent English settlements inNorth America, a generation before thePlantation of Ulster and occurring a little bit after the plantation of Munster. Soon there was an explosion of English colonial activity, driven by men seeking new land, by the pursuit of trade, and by the search for religious freedom. In the 17th century, the destination of most English people making a new life overseas was in theWest Indies rather than in North America.
Financed by theMuscovy Company,Martin Frobisher set sail on 7 June 1576, fromBlackwall, London, seeking theNorth West Passage. In August 1576, he landed atFrobisher Bay onBaffin Island and this was marked by the firstChurch of England service recorded on North American soil. Frobisher returned to Frobisher Bay in 1577, taking possession of the south side of it in Queen Elizabeth's name. In a third voyage, in 1578, he reached the shores ofGreenland and also made an unsuccessful attempt at founding a settlement in Frobisher Bay.[20][21] While on the coast of Greenland, he also claimed that for England.[22]
In 1578, while Drake was away on his circumnavigation, Queen Elizabeth granted a patent for overseas exploration to his half-brotherHumphrey Gilbert, and that year Gilbert sailed for the West Indies to engage in piracy and to establish a colony in North America. However, the expedition was abandoned before the Atlantic had been crossed. In 1583, Gilbert sailed toNewfoundland, where in a formal ceremony he took possession of the harbour ofSt John's together with all land within two hundredleagues to the north and south of it, although he left no settlers behind him. He did not survive the return journey to England.[26][27]
Re-enactment of English settlers arriving in Virginia, 1607
On 25 March 1584, Queen Elizabeth I grantedSir Walter Raleigh acharter for the colonization of an area ofNorth America which was to be called, in her honour,Virginia. This charter specified that Raleigh had seven years in which to establish a settlement, or else lose his right to do so. Raleigh and Elizabeth intended that the venture should provide riches from the New World and a base from which to sendprivateers on raids against the treasure fleets ofSpain. Raleigh himself never visited North America, although he led expeditions in1595 and 1617 to theOrinoco River basin inSouth America in search of the golden city ofEl Dorado. Instead, he sent others to found theRoanoke Colony, later known as the "Lost Colony".[28]
On 31 December 1600, Elizabeth gave acharter to theEast India Company, under the name "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies".[29] The Company soon established its first trading post in theEast Indies, atBantam on the island ofJava, and others, beginning withSurat, on the coasts of what are nowIndia andBangladesh.
Most of the new English colonies established in North America and theWest Indies, whether successfully or otherwise, wereproprietary colonies withProprietors, appointed to found and govern settlements underRoyal charters granted to individuals or tojoint stock companies. Early examples of these are theVirginia Company, which created the first successful English overseas settlements atJamestown in 1607 andBermuda, unofficially in 1609 and officially in 1612, itsspin-off, theSomers Isles Company, to which Bermuda (also known as the Somers Isles) was transferred in 1615, and theNewfoundland Company which settledCuper's Cove nearSt John's, Newfoundland in 1610. Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts Bay, each incorporated during the early 1600s, werecharter colonies, as was Virginia for a time. They were established throughland patents issued by the Crown for specifiedtracts of land. In a few instances the charter specified that the colony's territory extended westward to thePacific Ocean, was based on the claims to the Pacific coast arising from the explorations ofFrancis Drake. The charters of Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, and Virginia each contained this "sea to sea" provision.
Bermuda, today the oldest-remainingBritish Overseas Territory, was settled and claimed by England as a result of the shipwreck there in 1609 of the Virginia Company's flagshipSea Venture. The town ofSt George's, founded in Bermuda in 1612, remains the oldest continuously-inhabited English settlement in the New World. Some historians state that with its formation predating the conversion of "James Fort" into "Jamestown" in 1619, St George's was actually the first successful town the English established in theNew World. Bermuda and Bermudians have played important, sometimes pivotal, roles in the shaping of the English and British trans-Atlantic empires. These include roles in maritime commerce, settlement of the continent and of the West Indies, and the projection of naval power via the colony'sprivateers, among others.[30][31]
Between 1640 and 1660, theWest Indies were the destination of more than two-thirds of English emigrants to the New World. By 1650, there were 44,000 English people in the Caribbean, compared to 12,000 on theChesapeake and 23,000 inNew England.[32] The most substantial English settlement in that period was atBarbados.
In 1621, following a downturn in overseas trade which had created financial problems for theExchequer, King James instructed hisPrivy Council to establish anad hoc committee of inquiry to look into the causes of the decline. This was calledThe Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations. Intended to be a temporary creation, the committee, later called a 'Council', became the origin of theBoard of Trade which has had an almost continuous existence since 1621. The Committee quickly took a hand in promoting the more profitable enterprises of the English possessions, and in particular the production oftobacco andsugar.[34]
Roanoke Colony, in present-dayNorth Carolina, was first founded in 1585 but was abandoned the next year. In 1587 a second attempt was made at establishing a settlement, but the colonists disappeared, leading to the name 'Lost Colony.' One of those lost wasVirginia Dare.
Bermuda, also known as the Somers Isles, lying in theNorth Atlantic, were accidentally settled by theVirginia Company of London in 1609, due to the wrecking of the company'sflagshipSea Venture; the company's possession was made official in 1612, whenSt George's, the oldest continually-inhabited, and the first proper, English town in the New World was established; in 1615 its administration passed to theSomers Isles Company, which was formed by the same shareholders;House of Assembly of Bermuda established in 1620; Bermudians' complaints to the Crown led to the revocation of the company's Royal charter in 1684.
Henricus, also called Henricopolis, Henrico Town, and Henrico, was founded by the London Virginia Company in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy Jamestown, but it was largely destroyed in theIndian massacre of 1622.
Popham Colony: on 13 August 1607, theVirginia Company of Plymouth settled the Popham Colony along theKennebec River in present-dayMaine. The company had a licence to establish settlements between the38th parallel (the upper reaches of theChesapeake Bay) and the45th parallel (near the current US border with Canada). However, Popham was abandoned after about a year, and the Company then became inactive.
Providence Island colony was founded in 1630 by EnglishPuritans onProvidence Island, located in theBay of Moskitia; it was controlled by a group of English investors, theProvidence Island Company.[40] Intended to be a model Puritan colony engaged in agriculture, it also functioned as a base forprivateers operating against Spanish ships and settlements in the region. In 1641, Spanish captured the colony expelled the English settlers.
Barbados, first visited by an English ship, theOlive Blossom, in 1605,[42] was not settled by England until 1625,[43] soon becoming the third major English settlement in the Americas afterJamestown, Virginia, and the Plymouth Colony.
Saint Kitts was settled by the English in 1623, followed by the French in 1625. The English and French united to massacre the localKalinago, pre-empting a Kalinago plan to massacre the Europeans, and then partitioned the island, with the English in the middle and the French at either end. In 1629 a Spanish force seized St Kitts, but the English settlement was rebuilt following the peace between England and Spain in 1630. The island then alternated between English and French control during the 17th and 18th centuries until it became permanently associated with Britain since 1783.
Anguilla, first colonized by English settlers from St Kitts in 1650; the French gained the island in 1666, but under theTreaty of Breda of 1667 it was returned to England
Jamaica, formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it was conquered by the English in 1655.
Barbuda, first settled by the Spanish and French, was colonized by the English in 1666.
TheCayman Islands were visited bySir Francis Drake in 1586, who named them. They were largely uninhabited until the 17th century, when they were informally settled by pirates, refugees from theSpanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters fromOliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica. England gained control of the islands, together with Jamaica, under theTreaty of Madrid of 1670.
List of English claims in Central and South America
Elizabeth Island offCape Horn, and another Elizabeth Island in theStraits of Magellan, were claimed for England by Sir Francis Drake in August 1578.[23] However, no settlements were made and it is no longer possible to identify the islands with certainty.
Guiana: an attempt in 1604 to establish a colony failed in its main objective to findgold and lasted only two years.[45]
Bantam: The English started to sail to theEast Indies about the year 1600, which was the date of the foundation in theCity of London of theEast India Company ("the Governour and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies") and in 1602 a permanent "factory" was established at Bantam on the island ofJava.[46] At first, the factory was headed by a Chief Factor, from 1617 by a President, from 1630 by Agents, and from 1634 to 1652 by Presidents again. The factory then declined.
Surat: The East India Company's traders settled at Surat in 1608, followed by the Dutch in 1617. Surat was the first headquarters town of the East India Company, but in 1687 it transferred its command centre toBombay.
Run, a spice island in the East Indies. On 25 December 1616,Nathaniel Courthope landed on Run to defend it against the claims of theDutch East India Company and the inhabitants acceptedJames I as sovereign of the island. After four years of siege by the Dutch and the death of Courthope in 1620, the English left. According to theTreaty of Westminster of 1654, Run should have been returned to England, but was not. After theSecond Anglo-Dutch War, England and the United Provinces agreed to thestatus quo, under which the English keptManhattan, which the Duke of York had occupied in 1664, while in return Run was formally abandoned to the Dutch. In 1665 the English traders were expelled.
Fort St George, at Madras (Chennai), was the first English fortress in India, founded in 1639.George Town was the accompanying civilian settlement.
Bombay: On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty ofKing Charles II andCatherine of Braganza, daughter ofKing John IV of Portugal, transferred Bombay into the possession of England, as part of Catherine's dowry.[48] However, the Portuguese kept several neighbouring islands. Between 1665 and 1666, the English acquiredMahim,Sion,Dharavi, andWadala.[49] These islands were leased to theEast India Company in 1668. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675.[50] In 1687, the East India Company transferred its headquarters fromSurat to Bombay, and the city eventually became the headquarters of theBombay Presidency.[51]
Bencoolen was an East India Companypepper-trading centre with agarrison on the coast of the island ofSumatra, established in 1685.
TheGambia River: in 1588,António, Prior of Crato, claimant to thePortuguese throne, sold exclusive trade rights on the Gambia River to English merchants, and Queen Elizabeth I confirmed his grant byletters patent. In 1618,King James I granted a charter to an English company for trade withthe Gambia and theGold Coast. The English capturedFort Gambia from the Dutch in 1661, who ceded it in 1664. The island on which the Fort stood was renamedJames Island, and the fort Fort James, afterJames, Duke of York, later King James II. At first the chartered Company of Royal Adventurers in Africa administered the territory, which traded ingold,ivory, andslaves. In 1684, theRoyal African Company took over the administration.
English Tangier: this was another English possession gained byKing Charles II in 1661 as part of the dowry ofCatherine of Braganza. While it was strategically important, Tangier proved very expensive to garrison and defend and was abandoned in 1684.[33]
Kingdom of France: Edward III of England firstclaimed the French throne in 1340 but abandoned it under the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360. He resumed his claim in 1369 andHenry V of England was recognized as heir to the French throne by theTreaty of Troyes in 1420; his sonHenry VI of England succeeded asde facto King of France in 1422. Between 1429 and 1453 the French drove the English out of France, and the Hundred Years' War was finally ended by theTreaty of Picquigny in 1475, whenEdward IV of England agreed not to pursue his claim further. English and later British monarchs continued to use the title of King or Queen of France until 1801.
Pale of Calais: Calais had beencaptured by Edward III in 1347 and English possession was confirmed by the Treaty of Brétigny. It was the only remaining English possession on the Continent after the effective end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453. Calais wasrecaptured by the French in 1558 and French occupation recognized by theTreaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. English claims were finally abandoned by theTreaty of Troyes in 1564.
Dunkirk: French and English forcescaptured Dunkirk from the Spanish in 1658, and the town was granted to England by theTreaty of the Pyrenees the next year. Dunkirk was sold back to France in 1662.
Gibraltar: In 1704,Gibraltar was captured for England by an Anglo-Dutch fleet, becoming the country's first European overseas possession since the sale of Dunkirk to France in 1662. The Naval operation was commanded byGeorge Rooke. Gibraltar later became a strategic naval base for theRoyal Navy and was officially ceded toGreat Britain in 1713. It remains a British possession.
The Treaty of Union of 1706, which with effect from 1707 combined England and Scotland into a new sovereign state calledGreat Britain, provided for the subjects of the new state to "have full freedom and intercourse of trade and navigation to and from any port or place within the said united kingdom and the Dominions and Plantations thereunto belonging". While the Treaty of Union also provided for the winding up of theScottish African and Indian Company, it made no such provision for the English companies or colonies. In effect, with the Union they becameBritish colonies.[52]
List of English possessions which are still British Overseas Territories
^Friedrich Engels quoted in Jane Ohlmeyer,Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism, & the Early Modern World. New York: Oxford University Press 2023, vii
^Falkiner, Caesar Litton (1904). Illustrations of Irish history and topography, mainly of the 17th century. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. p. 117. ISBN 1-144-76601-X.
^Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X., eds. (1967). The Course of Irish History. Cork: Mercier Press. p. 370.
^Ranelagh, John (1994). A Short History of Ireland. Cambridge University Press. p. 36.
^Edwards, Ruth Dudley; Hourican, Bridget (2005). An Atlas of Irish History. Psychology Press. pp. 33–34.
^3 & 4 Phil & Mar, c.2 (1556). The Act was repealed in 1962 Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
^Lennon, Colm. Sixteenth Century Ireland, the Incomplete Conquest, pp. 211–213
^Hill, George.The Fall of Irish Chiefs and Clans and the Plantation of Ulster (2004,ISBN0-9401-3442-X)
^Andrews, Kenneth.Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480–1630 (Cambridge University Press, 1984,ISBN0-5212-7698-5) p. 45.
^Ferguson, Niall.Colossus: The Price of America's Empire (Penguin, 2004, p. 4)
^Thomas, Hugh.The Slave Trade: the History of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Picador, 1997), pp. 155–158.
^East India Company,The Register of Letters &c. of the Governour and Company of Merchants of London Trading Into the East Indies, 1600-1619 (B. Quaritch, 1893), pp. lxxiv, 33
^Ramaswami, N. S.Fort St. George, Madras (Madras, 1980; Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, No. 49)
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24Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under theAntarctic Treaty.
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