Historical sources on British colonialism

"In those days Massachusetts was the richest of the thirteen colonies, and had a larger population than any other except Virginia." 

"If we look at the governments of the thirteen colonies in the middle of the eighteenth century, we shall observe some interesting facts. All the colonies had legislative [law-making] assemblies elected by the people, and these assemblies levied [collected] the taxes and made the laws. So far as the legislatures [law-making bodies] were concerned, therefore, all the colonies governed themselves. But with regard to the executive [leadership] department of the government, there were very important differences. Only two of the colonies, Connecticut and Rhode Island, had governors elected by the people. These two colonies were completely self-governing. In almost everything but name they were independent of Great Britain, and this was so true that at the time of the revolutionary war they did not need to make any new constitutions for themselves, but continued to live on under their old charters for many years,—Connecticut until 1818, Rhode Island until 1843." 

Contextual information:

John Fiske was an American historian and philosopher who became one of the most popular writers on American history in the late nineteenth century. He wrote The War of Independence in 1889 as a concise account of the American Revolution, aimed at a general reading audience and published as part of the Riverside Literature Series for educational use. 

Bibliographical reference:

Fiske, J. (1889). The War of Independence (pp. 8, 10–11). Houghton, Mifflin and Company.  

Copyright: Public Domain. 

"COLONIZATION, n. The act of colonizing, or state of being colonized." 

"COLONIZE, v.t. 1. To plant or establish a colony in; to plant or settle a number of the subjects of a kingdom or state in a remote country, for the purpose of cultivation [farming], commerce [trade] or defense, and for permanent residence [settlement]. The Greeks colonized the south of Italy and of France. 2. To migrate and settle in, as inhabitants. English Puritans colonized New England." 

Contextual information:

Noah Webster was an American lexicographer [dictionary maker] who spent over two decades compiling the first comprehensive dictionary of American English. His 1828 dictionary established standardised American spelling and provided definitions that captured the political vocabulary of the early American republic, including terms related to colonisation that were in active use during the period of British colonial expansion. 

Bibliographical reference:

Webster, N. (1828). An American dictionary of the English language (entries "Colonization" and "Colonize"). S. Converse. 

Copyright: Public domain

Extract A

"His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz. [namely], New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign [self-ruling] and independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes [gives up] all claims to the government, propriety [ownership], and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof." 

Extract B

"The solemn ratifications [formal approvals] of the present treaty expedited [prepared] in good and due form shall be exchanged between the contracting parties in the space of six months or sooner, if possible, to be computed from the day of the signatures of the present treaty. In witness whereof we the undersigned, their ministers plenipotentiary [diplomats with full authority], have in their name and in virtue of our full powers, signed with our hands the present definitive [final] treaty and caused the seals of our arms to be affixed thereto [attached to it]. D. HARTLEY (SEAL) JOHN ADAMS (SEAL) B. FRANKLIN (SEAL) JOHN JAY (SEAL)" 

Contextual information:

The Treaty of Paris was signed on 3 September 1783 between representatives of King George III and the United States of America, formally ending the American War of Independence. The British negotiator was David Hartley, while the American commissioners were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. Article 1 contained Britain's formal recognition of American independence. 

Bibliographical reference:

The definitive treaty of peace 1783. (1931). In H. Miller (Ed.), Treaties and other international acts of the United States of America (Vol. 2, Articles 1, 10). Government Printing Office. 

Copyright: Public domain.

"The land surface of the earth is estimated to extend over about 52,500,000 sq. m. [square miles]. Of this area the British empire occupies nearly one-quarter, extending over an area of about 12,000,000 sq. m. By far the greater portion lies within the temperate zones, and is suitable for white settlement." 

"The latest calculation of the entire population of the world … gives a total of something over 1,500,000,000. The population of the empire may therefore be calculated as amounting to something more than one-fourth of the population of the world." 

Contextual information:

Flora Shaw was a colonial correspondent for The Times who became one of the foremost British journalists covering imperial affairs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She married Sir Frederick Lugard, the colonial administrator of Nigeria, in 1902. She authored the article on the British Empire for the eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, published in 1910–1911, which was compiled during the period when the British Empire was at its territorial peak. 

Bibliographical reference:

Shaw, F. L. (1910). British Empire. In H. Chisholm (Ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., Vol. IV, pp. 605–606). Cambridge University Press. 

Copyright: Public domain.

"Elizabeth by the grace of God Queene of England, &c. To all people to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Know ye that of our especiall [special] grace, certaine [certain] science and mere motion, we haue giuen [have given] and granted … to our trustie and welbeloued seruant [trusted and well-beloved servant] Sir Humfrey Gilbert … free libertie [liberty] and licence from time to time and at all times for euer [ever] hereafter, to discouer, finde, search out, and view [discover, find, search out, and explore] such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countreys [countries] and territories not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people … and the same to haue, hold, occuppie and enioy [have, hold, occupy and enjoy] to him, his heires [heirs] and assignes [those he appoints] for euer, with all commodities [goods], iurisdictions [jurisdictions] and royalties both by sea and land … paying vnto vs [unto us], for all seruices, dueties and demaunds [services, duties and demands], the fift [fifth] part of all the oare of gold and siluer [ore of gold and silver], that from time to time, and at all times after such discouerie [discovery], subduing and possessing shall be there gotten." 

Contextual information:

Queen Elizabeth I issued these letters patent on 11 June 1578, granting Sir Humphrey Gilbert the right to explore and colonise lands in North America not already claimed by a Christian monarch. The charter was one of the earliest formal authorisations of English colonisation and was first printed in Richard Hakluyt's The Principal Navigations in 1589. The document captures two of the primary motivations behind English exploration: the accumulation of wealth (the Crown's demand for one-fifth of all gold and silver) and the expansion of royal authority and prestige ("royalties both by sea and land"). 

Bibliographical reference:

Elizabeth I. (1589). The letters patents graunted by her Maiestie to Sir Humfrey Gilbert, knight, for the inhabiting and planting of our people in America. In R. Hakluyt, The principal navigations, voyages, traffiques and discoveries of the English nation (Goldsmid ed., 1889, Vol. 12, pp. 306–311). E. & G. Goldsmid. 

Copyright: Public domain.

"Take up the White Man's burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need; To wait in heavy harness [duty], On fluttered [anxious] folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen [resentful] peoples, Half-devil and half-child." 

Contextual information:

Rudyard Kipling was a British author and poet, born in India and closely associated with the British imperial project. He wrote "The White Man's Burden" in 1899, addressing it to the United States on the occasion of its annexation [takeover] of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. The poem expresses the belief, common among supporters of imperialism at the time, that Western nations had a duty to govern and "civilise" non-European peoples, a view that has since been widely criticised as a justification for colonial exploitation. 

Bibliographical reference:

Kipling, R. (1899). The White Man's burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands. McClure's Magazine, XII(4), 290.  

Copyright: Public domain.

"An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. [25th March 1807.] Whereas the Two Houses of Parliament did, by their Resolutions of the Tenth and Twenty-fourth days of June One Thousand eight hundred and six, severally [separately] resolve, upon certain Grounds therein mentioned, that they would, with all practicable Expedition [as quickly as possible], take effectual [effective] Measures for the Abolition of the African Slave Trade in such Manner, and at such Period as might be deemed advisable [considered appropriate], And whereas it is fit upon all and each of the Grounds mentioned in the said Resolutions, that the same should be forthwith [immediately] abolished and prohibited, and declared to be unlawful; Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty … That from and after the First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and seven, the African Slave Trade … shall be, and the same is hereby utterly abolished, prohibited, and declared to be unlawful…" 

Contextual information:

This Act of the British Parliament received Royal Assent on 25 March 1807, making it illegal for British subjects to participate in the transatlantic slave trade from 1 May 1807. The legislation followed decades of campaigning by abolitionists including William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It is important to note that this Act abolished the trade in enslaved people, not the institution of slavery itself within British colonies, which was not abolished until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. 

Bibliographical reference:

An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 47 Geo. III, Sess. 1, c. 36. (1807). The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 47 George III. 1807 (Cap. XXXVI, pp. 140–148). His Majesty's Statute and Law Printers.  

Copyright: Public domain.

Extract A

"His eldest son, Robert, the founder of the British empire in India, was born at the old seat [family home] of his ancestors on the twenty-ninth of September, 1725." 

Extract B

"Was the Mussulman [Muslim] or the Mahratta [Maratha] to be the Lord of India? Was another Baber [Babur] to descend from the mountains, and to lead the hardy tribes of Cabul [Kabul] and Chorasan [Khorasan] against a wealthier and less warlike race? None of these events seemed improbable [unlikely]. But scarcely any man, however sagacious [wise], would have thought it possible that a trading company, separated from India by fifteen thousand miles of sea, and possessing in India only a few acres for purposes of commerce [trade], would, in less than a hundred years, spread its empire from Cape Comorin to the eternal snow of the Himalayas; would compel [force] Mahratta and Mahommedan [Hindu and Muslim rulers] to forget their mutual feuds [conflicts with each other] in common subjection [shared rule by the British]; would tame down even those wild races which had resisted the most powerful of the Moguls [Mughals]; and, having united under its laws a hundred millions of subjects, would carry its victorious arms far to the east of the Burrampooter [Brahmaputra River], and far to the west of the Hydaspes [Jhelum River], dictate terms of peace at the gates of Ava [capital of Burma], and seat its vassal [puppet ruler] on the throne of Lahore." 

Contextual information:

Thomas Babington Macaulay was a British historian, essayist, and politician who served in India as a member of the Supreme Council of India from 1834 to 1838. He published this lengthy biographical essay on Robert Clive in the Edinburgh Review in January 1840, and it became one of the most widely read accounts of the beginnings of British rule in India. Macaulay's description of Clive as "the founder of the British empire in India" established the standard interpretation of the Battle of Plassey (1757) as the beginning of British imperial control over the subcontinent. 

Bibliographical reference:

Macaulay, T. B. (1840). Lord Clive. In Critical and historical essays contributed to the Edinburgh Review (Everyman's Library ed., Vol. I). J. M. Dent.  

Copyright: Public domain.

"The French claimed all America, from the Alleghanies [Allegheny Mountains] to the Rocky Mountains, and from Mexico and Florida to the North Pole … and to these vast regions, with adjacent [neighbouring] islands, they gave the general name of New France. They controlled the highways of the continent, for they held its two great rivers. First, they had seized the St. Lawrence, and then planted themselves at the mouth of the Mississippi. Canada at the north, and Louisiana at the south, were the keys of a boundless interior, rich with incalculable [immeasurable] possibilities. The English colonies, ranged along the Atlantic coast, had no royal road [easy path] to the great inland, and were, in a manner, shut between the mountains and the sea." 

Contextual information:

Francis Parkman was an American historian regarded as one of the most important nineteenth-century chroniclers of the colonial period in North America. He published Montcalm and Wolfe in 1884 as the final volume in his seven-part series France and England in North America, which took him over forty years to complete. The passage above is drawn from the opening chapter, "The Combatants," in which Parkman describes the competing territorial claims of France and Britain on the eve of the Seven Years' War, making clear that Louisiana was a French (not British) colonial possession. 

Bibliographical reference:

Parkman, F. (1884). Montcalm and Wolfe (Vol. I, pp. 20–21). Little, Brown, and Company.  

Copyright: Public domain.

"His Most Christian Majesty [the King of France] renounces [gives up] all pretensions [claims] which he has heretofore [previously] formed or might have formed to Nova Scotia or Acadia in all its parts, and guaranties [guarantees] the whole of it, and with all its dependencies [associated territories], to the King of Great Britain: Moreover, his Most Christian Majesty cedes [hands over] and guaranties to his said Britannick Majesty, in full right, Canada, with all its dependencies, as well as the island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulph [gulf] and river of St. Lawrence, and in general, every thing that depends on the said countries, lands, islands, and coasts, with the sovereignty [supreme authority], property, possession, and all rights acquired by treaty, or otherwise, which the Most Christian King and the Crown of France have had till now over the said countries, lands, islands, places, coasts, and their inhabitants, so that the Most Christian King cedes and makes over the whole to the said King, and to the Crown of Great Britain, and that in the most ample [complete] manner and form, without restriction, and without any liberty to depart from the said cession [transfer] and guaranty under any pretence [excuse], or to disturb Great Britain in the possessions above mentioned." 

Contextual information:

The Treaty of Paris was signed on 10 February 1763 between Britain, France, and Spain, ending the Seven Years' War. Under Article IV, France ceded Canada and all its dependencies to Britain. The phrase "His Most Christian Majesty" is the formal diplomatic title used for the King of France (Louis XV). The treaty transferred control of virtually all of French North America east of the Mississippi to Britain, confirming British domination over Canada as a direct consequence of the Seven Years' War. 

Bibliographical reference:

The definitive treaty of peace and friendship between his Britannick Majesty, the Most Christian King, and the King of Spain, Paris, 10 February 1763 (Article IV).

Copyright: Public domain.