THE BUILDUP TO EMPIRE 1550 TO 1750

It is interesting to have a closer look at the 150 year period from about 1600 to 1750 to assess the magnitude of England's achievement.

1588 English Naval tacticians under Francis Drake were already formidable as they defeated the much larger Catholic Spanish Navy which was sent with the Pope's approval to occupy Protestant England ruled by "that bastard woman" Queen Elizabeth the 1st . (Spanish Armada)

But the story really started some 100 years previously
1434-1500 European trade with the Far East, which was mainly spices from Java, particularly pepper and with China for silk and porcelains, had been made impossible or at least very expensive and precarious via the traditional route through the Mediterranean to Alexandria(Egypt) and the Red Sea because of the hostile Islamic Ottomans headquartered in Istanbul Turkey. Actually the strength of the Ottoman Navy was due to a deal they struck with Barbarossa or Red Beard who was a North African Muslim (Berber) sea pirate. Hence the Barbary Coast.

A Portuguese writer summarised the aims of the Christian Kings as the solution to the Islamic blockade of the Mediterranean as: To discover what lay beyond the Canaries; to trade with any Christian who might dwell in the land beyond: to discover the extent of the Islamic dominions, to find a Christian king who would help him fight the infidel; to spread the Christian faith; to fulfil the predictions of the horoscope; which bound him to engage in great and noble conquests and attempt the discovery of things that were hidden from other men.

The main seafaring/trading nations of Europe were, Italians from the city states of Venice and Genoa, Spain, Portugal, Holland and to a lesser extent England and France. The Royal families of Spain and Portugal took the initiative and financed brave seafaring explorers to find another route for this trade. Initially the Spanish went west and discovered America and the Portuguese went East round the southern tip of Africa and set up save haven ports en-route to Java in (Portuguese) Angola, (Portuguese) Mozambique, Mombassa, the Indian west coast (Goa) and Malacca in Malaysia.

1500 About 6000 Spanish, following the lead of the Genoan Columbus, emigrated in large numbers to South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The Spanish became rich with the gold and silver they found belonging to the local Aztec and Inca civilisations which they destroy. At the same time the Portuguese started sugar plantations in Brazil manned with slaves bought in Africa.

1607 The English set up their first official colony in North America in Jamestown Virginia. (Note; 7 years after the formation of the East India Company in Calcutta) (Sir Walter Raleigh was a prisoner in the Tower for treason at the time) In the next 50 years many North American settlements were made by the English who dominated the east coast and central Canada (Hudson Bay Company 1668). At exactly the same time the French, using the St Lawrence and Mississippi rivers, settled in central North America from Quebec, the capital of New France 1608, to New Orleans, 1699. Then the Spanish who dominated Mexico moved north along the American west coast towards Los Angeles in 1780. The Russians who occupied Alaska and the North American West Coast moved south towards Los Angeles. The Dutch had a colony in New York then called New Amsterdam. 1626-1664.

1750-1770 At this time the two huge land masses of North America and the Indian sub-continent, were part occupied and ruled by the English and French plus of course the local "native" populations which the English called Indians in both territories. In North America the Native Americans or "Red Indians", were relatively small in number and still almost a Stone Age civilisation. In India at this time the population was huge by comparison (some 200 million) and were highly cultured and civilised Hindus ruled by the Islamic Mughals. During these 20 years, the English removed the French from both territories and the battles with France returned to a solely European theatre. The tactics used by the English to remove the much larger French forces from both India and America simultaneously was by blockading the French Atlantic coastal ports thus keeping the French supply ships in harbour and the French troops short of reinforcements, armaments and any special foods. The key French-English coastal battles took place in 1757 and 1761.

1757 At the same time the English under Baron Robert Clive won crucial battles in India against the French, notably at Plassey (north of Calcutta) giving them total control of the rich province of Bengal (now mainly Bangladesh). Money generated from taxing the relatively wealthy Bengalis enabled the English to finance a huge standing army (mainly locals) and conquer the rest of India.

Note
The English had another advantage over the French during these times, a source of money to finance the army and navy. This was because both Oliver Cromwell and Charles 2nd had realised that Jews were the best bankers in Europe and agreed to them resettling in England. The Jewish banking families financed virtually all England's war efforts whereas the French who hated the Jews were generally strapped for cash.