British America: Difference between revisions

After [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|the conclusion of war in 1783]], the term ''[[British North America]]'' was used to refer to the remainder of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]'s possessions in what became [[Canada]], the [[British West Indies]] in reference to its various island territories, [[Belize]], and [[Guyana]]. The term ''British North America'' was used in 1783, but it was more commonly used after the ''Report on the Affairs of British North America'', published in 1839 and generally known as the [[Durham Report]].

 

{{Main|English overseas possessions#The Americas}}

{{further|First British Empire}}

[[File:Senex, Price, and Maxwell North America 1710 UTA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A 1710 British map of [[North America]] by [[John Senex]], Charles Price, and John Maxwell]]

[[File:A view of Fort George with the city of New York, from the SW.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Fort Amsterdam|Fort George]] and [[New York City]], {{Circa|1731}}]]

A number of English colonies were established in America between 1607 and 1670 by individuals and companies whose investors expected to reap rewards from their speculation. They were granted commercial charters by Kings [[James VI and I|James I]], [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], and [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], and by the [[Parliament of England|British Parliament]]. Later, most colonies were founded, or converted to, [[Crown colony|royal colonies]]. In 1607, the [[London Company]] (fully titled the ''Virginia Company of London'', but better known as the ''"Virginia Company"'') founded the first permanent settlement on the [[James River]] at [[Jamestown, Virginia]] upstream from [[Chesapeake Bay]]. English settlement in [[Bermuda|the Somers Isles (or Islands of Bermuda)]], 640 miles off [[Cape Hatteras]], began in 1609 with the wreck of the [[Sea Venture]], leaving the Virginia Company in de facto possession of Bermuda. The company's charter was extended in 1612 to officially encompass the archipelago, and settlers were despatched to join the three men remaining there from the Sea Venture (and plans were begun for an ''under-company'' that would become the [[Somers Isles Company]]). This was followed, in 1620, with the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] establishing the [[Plymouth settlement]] in [[New England]]. English [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] settled the [[Province of Maryland]] in 1634, under [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Cecilus Calvert, second Lord Baltimore]].

 

 

British America gained large amounts of [[territory]] with the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris of 1763]], which ended the [[French and Indian War]] in America and the [[Seven Years' War]] in Europe. At the start of the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1775, the British Empire included 23 colonies and territories on the North American continent. The [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris of 1783]] ended the Revolutionary War, and Britain lost much of this territory to the newly formed United States. In addition, Britain ceded [[East Florida|East]] and [[West Florida]] to the [[Kingdom of Spain]], which in turn ceded them to the United States in 1821. The Atlantic archipelago of the [[Bahamas]] had been administratively grouped with the North American continent, but with the loss of the Floridas was grouped with the British colonies of the Caribbean as the British West Indies. Most of the remaining colonies to the north (including the continental colonies and the archipelago of Bermuda, the nearest landfall from which was North Carolina, but the nearest other British territory from which became Nova Scotia) formed the Dominion of [[Canada]] in 1867, with the [[Newfoundland Colony|colony of Newfoundland]] (which had been the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]] from 1907 to 1934, before reverting to a colony) joining the independent [[Commonwealth realm]] of [[Canada]] in 1949, and Bermuda, elevated (by the independence of the thirteen colonies that became the United States) to the role of an [[Imperial fortress]] and the most important British naval and military base in the Western Hemisphere (due to its location, {{convert|1,236|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Nova Scotia]], and {{convert|1,538|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of the [[British Virgin Islands]], and handily placed for naval and amphibious operations against its nearest neighbour, the nascent United States, during the 19th century), remains as a [[British Overseas Territory]] today.

 

 

The [[Thirteen Colonies]] that became the original states of the [[United States]] were:

 

:*[[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Province of Quebec]] southwest of the [[Great Lakes]] (U.S. after 1783)

 

:; Divisions of the [[British Leeward Islands]]:

:*[[Saint Kitts|Saint Christopher]] (''de facto'' capital)

:*Island of [[Dominica]] (detached from Grenada in 1770)

 

 

'''North America'''

* [[Bermuda]], [[Newfoundland]]

 

 

'''North America and North Atlantic'''

* Bermuda

 

{{Portal|British Empire|History|Canada|North America|United States|Caribbean}}

* [[Evolution of the British Empire]]

* [[British overseas territories]]

 

{{notelist}}

 

 

 

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