The English-Speaking World

Unit 1 (Session 2)
©Miriam Fernández Santiago

Coyright © 2011 All rights reserved

The United Kingdom
England has existed since the 10th
century
Wales formally united England in the
1536 Act of Union.
Scotland agreed to permanently join as
Great Britain in the 1707 Act of Union.
The legislative union of Great Britain
and Ireland was implemented in 1801
(named the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland)
The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921
formalized a partition of Ireland (six
northern Irish counties remained part of
the United Kingdom as Northern
Ireland)
The current name of the country, the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927.
 The United States
The indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland,
including Alaska Natives, are believed to
have migrated from Asia, beginning between
12,000 and 40,000 years ago.
•1533: First European (Spanish)
arrival on current US mainland
“La Florida”
•1606: First successful English
settlements in Jamestown
(Virginia Colony).
•1614: the Dutch settled along the
lower Hudson River.
• 1534 French utposts (New
France around the Great Lakes)
•1776: 13 American colonies
declare their independence from
British crown as United States of
America.
•1860-1865 (Civil War):
Secession of the Confederacy and
final victory of the Union.
 Canada
Late 15th c: British and French
settled along the Atlantic coast.
1763 : France ceded nearly all of its
colonies in North America in after
the Seven Years' War.
1867: Canada formed as  federal 
Dominion of four provinces with the
union of 3 British North American
 colonies .
1926: Balfour Declaration increasing
autonomy from the United Kingdom.
1931: Statute of
Westminster declared self-
governing dominions within
the British Empire to be equal.
1982: The Canada Act finally severed
the vestiges of legal dependence on
the British Parliament.
 Australia
40,000 years ago: 250 language groups of
indigenous Australians

1060: Discovery by Dutch explorers

1770: Australia's eastern half was claimed by

Great Britain and settled through penal
transportation to the colony of New South
Wales.

Subsequent decades: additional five self-

governing Crown Colonies were established..

1901: the six colonies federated, forming the

Commonwealth of Australia. Since
Federation, Australia has maintained a stable
liberal democratic political system which
functions as a federal parliamentary
democracy and constitutional monarchy.
The federation comprises six states and
several territories
 Africa:
British Decolonisation in English-speaking Africa
Africa includes 27 countries: Angola,
Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana,
Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya,
Malawi, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra
Leone, Somalia, South Africa,
Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe.

1870-1900: colonization period.

World War II-1980:

 decolonisation period thanks to
independence movements,
indigenous political parties,
trade unions and pressure from
the USA .
 The East India Company drove the expansion of
the British Empire in Asia
1619:  permission for the EIC to build a factory at
the port of Surat.
1764: EIC gained rights to the revenue of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa in perpetuity without taking over
the civil administration of these regions.
1833: withdrawal of trading privileges and right to
collect taxes.
1950: Republic of India officially proclaimed.

Asia: Indian
1842: End of Opium War: Hong
Kong ceded to the British.
1997: Hong Kong returned to
Raj and
China
Hong Kong