The year 1914 also marked the entrance of Great Britain into the great European war that has since engulfed practically the whole of Europe and one-third of the civilized world. England’s history since has been almost wholly bound up with the diplomatic, economic, and military aspects of that titanic struggle, the real facts of which it will require more than a generation of dispassionate minds to verify, sift and assess at their true values. An attempt is made to give the leading features of this war, and the parts played in it by the various nations involved, under a [separate heading].
IMPORTANT FACTS CONCERNING THE BRITISH EMPIRE
This title is usually given to the total territory governed or administered in the name of the British government centralized in London. It includes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the self-governing Dominions, Dependencies, Crown colonies and Protectorates whose inhabitants look to the king as their ultimate head. Of the whole area of the lands of the globe, the British Empire occupies nearly one-quarter, extending to every continent.
| THE UNITED KINGDOM | |||||||||||||||
| Countries | Area in Square Miles | Population, 1911 | How and When Acquired by England | Character of Government | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUROPE: | |||||||||||||||
| England | 50,839 | 34,043,076 | ... | - | Constitutional Monarchy. Constitute the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. | ||||||||||
| Wales | 7,470 | 2,032,183 | Conquest, 1282 | ||||||||||||
| Scotland | 29,785 | 4,759,445 | Union, 1603 | ||||||||||||
| Ireland | 32,583 | 4,381,951 | Conquest, 1172 | ||||||||||||
| Islands | 302 | 148,934 | ... | ||||||||||||
| DEPENDENCIES AND COLONIES | |||||||||||||||
| EUROPE: | |||||||||||||||
| Gibraltar | 2 | 23,553 | Conquest, 1704 | Military Governor. | |||||||||||
| Malta, etc. | 122 | 215,879 | Treaty cession, 1814 | Governor; Councils. | |||||||||||
| ASIA: | |||||||||||||||
| India (including Burma) | 1,800,258 | 314,955,000 | - | Conquest, begun 1757 Transfer from East India Co., 1858 | - | Viceroy; Council; Departments. Native rulers under Political Supervision. | |||||||||
| Ceylon | 25,365 | 4,038,456 | Treaty cession, 1801 | - | Governor; Executive and Legislative Councils. | ||||||||||
| Cyprus | 3,584 | 261,587 | Convention with Turkey, 1878 | ||||||||||||
| Aden and Socotra | 3,070 | 53,222 | (Aden) Conquest, 1839 | ||||||||||||
| Straits Settlements | 1,500 | 620,127 | Treaty cession, 1785-1824 | ||||||||||||
| Hongkong | 30.5 | 428,888 | Treaty cession, 1841 | ||||||||||||
| Labuan | 31 | 8,411 | Treaty cession, 1846 | ||||||||||||
| British North Borneo | 31,000 | 204,000 | Cession to company, 1877 | - | Governor (British North Borneo Company). | ||||||||||
| AFRICA: | |||||||||||||||
| Union of South Africa (including Cape of Good Hope, Natal, The Transvaal, and Orange River Colony) | - | 473,184 | 5,938,499 | - | Treaty, conquest, and cession, 1588-1900 | - | The Union of South Africa—Governor-General; Executive Council; Senate; House of Assembly. | ||||||||
| St. Helena | 47 | 3,553 | Conquest, 1673 | - | Governor and Executive Council. | ||||||||||
| Ascension | 38 | 266 | Annexation, 1815 | Under the Admiralty. | |||||||||||
| Mauritius, etc. | 1,063 | 373,336 | - | Conquest and cession, 1810, 1814 | - | Governor; Executive and Legislative Councils. | |||||||||
| British East Africa (including the Protectorate of Nyasaland, East Africa, Uganda, Zanzibar and Somaliland) | - | 420,466 | 8,728,276 | - | Conquest and cession, 1870-1890 | - | Governor, Executive and Legislative Councils. | ||||||||
| British West Africa (including Gambia, Gold Coast Colony, Northern Nigeria, Southern Nigeria, andSierra Leone) | - | 495,490 | 17,442,772 | - | Conquest, annexation, cession, 1673-1872 | - | Governor; Executive and Legislative Councils. | ||||||||
| AMERICA: | |||||||||||||||
| Dominion of Canada | 3,745,574 | ... | - | Conquest and settlement, 1670-1858 | - | Governor General; Parliament. | |||||||||
| Ontario | 260,862 | 2,519,902 | Conquest, 1759-1760 | ||||||||||||
| Quebec | 347,350 | 2,000,697 | Conquest, 1759-1760 | ||||||||||||
| New Brunswick | 27,985 | 351,815 | Treaty cession, 1763 | ||||||||||||
| Nova Scotia | 21,428 | 461,847 | Conquest, 1627 | ||||||||||||
| Manitoba | 73,732 | 454,691 | Settlement, 1813 | ||||||||||||
| British Columbia | 312,363 | 362,768 | Transfer to crown, 1858 | ||||||||||||
| Alberta | 253,540 | 372,919 | Settlement | ||||||||||||
| Saskatchewan (including Mackenzie, Ungava, and Franklin) | - | 250,650 | 453,508 | Settlement | |||||||||||
| Northwest Territories | 1,418,000 | 19,330 | Charter, 1670 | ||||||||||||
| Yukon Territory | 196,976 | 7,000 | Charter, 1670 | ||||||||||||
| Prince Edward Island | 2,184 | 93,722 | Conquest, 1745 | ||||||||||||
| Newfoundland (and Labrador) | - | 42,734 | - | 230,000 | Treaty cession, 1713 | Governor; Parliament. | |||||||||
| 120,000 | |||||||||||||||
| British Guiana | 104,000 | 305,090 | - | Conquest and cession, 1803-1814 | - | Governor; Executive and Legislative Councils. | |||||||||
| British Honduras | 8,598 | 44,000 | Conquest, 1798 | ||||||||||||
| Jamaica | 4,207 | 831,123 | Conquest, 1655 | ||||||||||||
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1,868 | 358,641 | ... | ||||||||||||
| Barbadoes | 166 | 196,287 | Settlement, 1605 | ||||||||||||
| Bahamas | 5,794 | 55,872 | Settlement, 1629 | ||||||||||||
| Bermuda | 19 | 19,289 | Settlement, 1612 | ||||||||||||
| Other Islands | 8,742 | 255,000 | ... | ||||||||||||
| AUSTRALASIA: | |||||||||||||||
| Commonwealth of Australia (including Australia, Tasmania, and Papua) | - | 3,091,496 | 5,140,393 | Settlement | - | Separate State Legislatures and Governments (Governors); Federal Parliament and Government; Governor-General andExecutive Council. | |||||||||
| Dominion of New Zealand | 104,471 | 982,926 | Purchase, 1845 | - | Governor and Houses of Parliament. | ||||||||||
| Fiji | 7,435 | 128,404 | Cession from the natives, 1874 | - | Governor and Legislative Council. | ||||||||||