Territories of the British Empire J-Z - The British Empire

British Empire
1815-1914
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Territories of the British Empire
J-Z
Jamaica
Jamaica was seized from Spain in 1655. Its status was confirmed by the Treaty of Madrid in 1670 and the island quickly became a sugar producing island as well as being used by pirates and buccaneers. Sit Thomas Modyford was the island's first governor in 1661 being sent from Barbados and taking with him a thousand  settlers. As early as 1670 there were 57 plantations  and by 1780 more than a thousand sugar plantations. Later coffee and rum became important exports. Slow progress towards emancipation of the slaves led to the Baptist War revolt in 1831, but when  slavery was abolished in 1833 there was economic chaos and a slump in sugar production. In October 1865, following years of exploitation of the ex-slave community, the Morant Bay rising occurred followed by the brutal repression of Governor Eyre during which 439 black people were executed and 1000 homes burned. The Governor was subsequently exonerated of any charge of wrongdoing.

Kenya
 
The coast of Kenya has a history of association with traders going back to the 10th century . Vasco da Gama visited in 1498 and Portuguese traders established posts from 1505. Trading communities were also established in Zanzibar by Arabs from Oman. The inland was left undisturbed until the coming of missionaries in 1848 and the opening up of farmland by the British East Africa Company from 1888. In 1895 a protectorate was established which led to a steady flow of settlers and the construction of the Uganda railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria. The protectorate did not become a Crown Colony until 1920.Nairobi was founded as a railway terminus attracting Asian traders as well as a social elite from Europe.
A legislative council set up in 1907 provoked opposition form Africans seeing the institution as a way of extending white rule and a means of forcing Africans to leave their traditional hunting grounds. During World War One a successful invasion of German East Africa was led by General Smuts. After the war a number of set backs hit agriculture such as locusts between 1924 and 1934. The white population though continue to grow as the rights of Africans continued to be ignored. In 1928 a political movement was launched by Jomo Kenyatta and Harry Thuku to safeguard African rights but the failure to grant any political rights led to the growth of secret societies such as Mau Mau. Limited reforms were introduced in 1954 but they came too late. At the 1960 Lancaster House Conference in London, the British government made it clear that majority rule based on universal suffrage must be introduced along with the redistribution of a million acres of land to African farmers. Independence was achieved on 12 December 1963 following the introduction of full self- government.
Kuwait
Kuwait is an emirate at the north-western head of the Persian Gulf. It had developed trade links with India during the late 18th century. In 1899 the emirate became a British Protectorate which gave the Amir increased protection against encroachment from the Turks. British forces protected Kuwait during World War One after which its strategic importance led to the continued involvement of the British until 1961 when the protectorate was replaced with a ten year defensive pact. In the 1970s Kuwait began to follow a more neutral policy although British troops did play a part in the liberation of Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion.
Malaya
 
Malaya was a former federation of British colonies on the Malay peninsula. A British foothold was established by the British East India Company on the Malayan peninsula during the late 19th century. The various political entities were referred to by the British as the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang and Malacca) with whom various treaties were signed. In 1896 a British Protectorate was established over Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang, and in 1915 Britain signed a defensive treaty with the Sultan of Johore. All these states together formed the Unfederated Malay States. In 1948 the Federation of Malaya was created but it was considered to be dominated by Malays despite the half million Chinese living in the region. This led to  the Malayan emergency which was a communist uprising which began in June 1948 and continued throughout the 1950s.

Maldives
The Maldives is an archipelago of 2,000 coral islands which were taken under British Protection in 1887 and administered from Ceylon. The islands were declared to be independent in 1965.
Malta
Malta is a small group of islands in the mid-Mediterranean which have been of strategic importance to Britain. In 1798 the French occupied the islands which belonged to the Knights of St John. In 1802 during the Napoleonic Wars when Malta was occupied by Napoleonic forces, the Maltese people asked for British protection and for their civil and religious rights to be acknowledged. The islands (of Malta and Gozo) were formally annexed in 1814 and Grand Harbour, Valetta, became an important base for the Mediterranean fleet until 1979. During WW1, the island became a hospital base for the invasion of Gallipoli.
Mauritius
A volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius was explored by the Portuguese in the 1511 and settled by the Dutch in the 17th century. The French took possession of the island in 1715 and held it until the Royal Navy seized the island in 1810. British possession was formalised in 1814 by the terms of the Treaty of Paris. During the 19th century Mauritius was a crown colony and naval base. The economy of the island was based on sugar and the French plantations had brought slave labour from East Africa. After the abolition of slavery, indentured labour was brought from India. Mauritius became independent in 1968.

Manitoba
Manitoba is the easternmost of Canada's prairie provinces. It became British following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, being run by the Hudson Bay Company, until in 1870 a small area around Winnipeg was transferred to the new Dominion in response to the uprising by the Metis in the Red River colony. Garnet Wolseley was sent to quell the uprising.

Mashonaland
Mashonaland, now in north eastern Zimbabwe, was occupied by the Shona people but forced by the British South Africa Company to grant mineral and settler rights after the allocation by the British Government in 1889 of a charter  to the British South Africa Company. The area remained in the hands of the BSAC until 1924 when it became a Crown Colony. With Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the territory became part of the Central African Federation in 1953 before gaining independence as Zambia in 1964.

Matabeleland
Now in southern Zimbabwe, Matabeleland was  in the late 19th century the home of the Ndebele people during the Scramble for Africa. Their king, Lobengula, granted to Cecil Rhodes the right to develop the area's minerals. The Ndebele rose up against the British in 1893, but the uprising was put down by Rhodes.

Montserrat
A volcanic  island in the Caribbean 27 miles south-west of Antigua, Montserrat was visited by Columbus in 1493 and settled by Europeans in 1632, when the British brought in Irish indentured workers from St Kitts. The island was brought under Crown rule in 1663. The French captured the island on three occasions (1664, 1667 and 1782) although it was quickly retaken. In 1783 British possession of the island was confirmed by treaty. From 1871 to 1956 Montserrat was linked to the Leewards Islands Colony. In 1960 the island received a degree of self-government with partially elected legislative and executive councils.
Natal
Natal is now a province on the south coast of South Africa. A coastal settlement was established in 1824, mainly for hunters. In 1835 the town of Durban was founded (named after D'Urban, Governor of the Cape Province). Meanwhile forty miles inland the Boers established a capital for their settlers who had come from the Cape Province during the Great Trek. The Boers called their settlement Natalia but in 1843 this was annexed by the British and joined to Cape Province. In 1856 the separate colony of Natal was established. There was an important sugar industry which led to the importation of indentured labour from India. Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa in 1877 to attempt to create a federation of the various white settler colonies but only succeeded in creating an uprising of the Zulu nation and the debacle of Isandhlwana. Boer troops entered Natal during the First Boer War, defeating British forces at Majuba Hill in 1881 and then again during the Second Boer War in 1899 when they laid siege to Ladysmith and held up Buller's relief force at Colenso defeating them in a number of engagements including at Spion Kop.

Nepal
A Himalayan kingdom which fought a war with the British from 1814 to 1816 during which large numbers of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers were recruited in to the British Indian army. A British resident was appointed to the Nepalese court from 1816. Nepal has had full independence since British rule in India ended in 1947.
Nevis
The Caribbean island was settled from St Christopher in 1628 and came under Crown rule in 1663. In 182 it was united with St Christopher into a single government.
New Hebrides
A group of 80 islands in the Pacific 500 miles west of Fiji, now known as Vanuatu. The islands were discovered by the Portuguese in 1606 and remained a source of tension between Britain and France throughout the 19th century, until a joint Anglo-British administration (known as a condominium)  was set up in 1906, which included an agreement on land-holding and the employment of native labour. These arrangements ended on 30 July 1980 when the republic of Vanuatu was established.
New Brunswick
a Canadian maritime province that was granted to Britain by the French at the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Responsible government came in 1848 and in 1868 the area became part of the dominion of Canada.
Newfoundland
British claims to the territory went back to the reign of Henry VIII. A governor was appointed in 1729 and settlement increased throughout the 18th century. Self-government was granted in 1855 but it was decided not to join the Canadian federation.
New South Wales
Cook discovered Botany Bay in 1770 and the botanist  Joseph Banks urged the government to use one of its harbours as a penal colony. With the independence of the American colonies it became urgent to find  another penal colony so Banks' suggestion was a timely one for the government. The first penal colony was established in 1788 in Botany Bay when the first fleet of eleven ships arrived.  Officials hoped that penal servitude would be not only be  a check on crime but would in time lead to the reform of criminals by making them  the basis of a new colony. The first governor of the colony was Captain Arthur Philip - he had with him male and female convicts, soldiers, free settlers and officials - and having anchored off Botany Bay decided on a better location for his ships, a nearby bay which became Sydney Harbour. Within twenty years the population of the colony had risen to 38,000 and the economy was sound, although free settlers continued to  be scarce. Sheep, introduced in 1797,  had become the most important part of the economy with over 300,000 sheep producing 10 million pounds in exports by 1830. Penal transportation continued until 1840 by which time 80,000 inhabitants had come as convicts compared to 70,000 free  settlers. A nominated  legislature was set up in 1823 followed by a partially  elected one in 1843. Federation of the Australian colonies came in 1901.

New Zealand
The islands were visited by whalers, sealers and timber traders from the 1790s. The first Christian mission was established in the Bay of Plenty in 1814 before Wakefield and the New Zealand Company brought large scale emigration to the islands in the 1830s. To head off a possible French interest in the islands, in 1840 Captain William Hobson was sent to establish British sovereignty and sign a treaty with the local Maoris (1840 Treaty of Waitangi). A separate colony was established in 1841 and much of the early development of towns was through the New Zealand Company. In 1852 a quasi -ederal structure was created by Governor Grey, with self-government following in 1856. The economy of the islands became to be based on wool and with the coming of refrigeration in the 1880s, exports of meat began and became a major industry.

Nigeria
The  earliest British involvement began with the taking of  Lagos in 1851 for use as a naval  base for the squadron involved in stopping the slave trade. The territory was administered from Sierra  Leone initially until a separate colony was  established in 1886. The government reluctantly established the crown colony only after French and German interest in the palm oil trade. At the same time the Royal Niger Company negotiated treaties with many inland tribal leaders until in 1900 all of the Company's land was passed over to the British government which established the protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. The name was suggested by Flora Shaw, colonial editor of the Times.

North Borneo
The Territory was ceded by the Sultan of Brunei to a group which became the North Borneo Company in 1881. North Borneo was brought under Crown rule in 1906. It was occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945 and as Sabah became part of Malaysia in 1963.

North Rhodesia
The territory known as Northern Rhodesia was allocated as a sphere of influence to the British South Africa Company in 1889, and settled by the company after 1890. Crown rule replaced company rule in 1924. Northern Rhodesia became part of the Central African Federation in 1953 and gained independence in 1964 as Zambia.
Nyasaland
Missionaries reached the shores of Lake Malawi in 1859 but it wasn’t  until the 1890s when the slave trade  had been eradicated that the area was settled by Europeans. The Church of Scotland founded a mission in the highlands in 1876 naming the centre, Blantyre,               after Livingstone’s birthplace. Nyasaland became a British protectorate in 1891 to prevent any German and Boer involvement in the area. Harry Johnstone became the consul-general but in 1907 following the naming of the area as Nyasaland  it was given a colonial governor. An uprising in 1915 urged the British to introduce political reform. In 1953 Nyasaland joined North and South Rhodesia in a short lived federation. In 1958 the exiled Hastings Banda returned to develop the nationalist movement and a state of emergency was declared. Independence was granted in 1964.
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands were discovered by European explorers in 1767 but were not settled by Europeans. In 1790, nine mutineers from HMS Bounty landed on Pitcairn and together with 12 Tahitians established a settlement. Nothing was known of the settlement until 1806, and their descendants remained on the island until 1856, when they were removed to Norfolk Island. Within eight years a quarter of the families had returned  and in 1898 given legal protection under the British High Commissioner in Fiji.
St Christopher (St Kitts)
St Kitts was discovered by Columbus in 1493 and in 1624 chosen by Sir Thomas Warner as the first island of English settlement in the Caribbean. Warner also colonized neighbouring St Nevis in 1628. It came under Crown rule in 1663. Possession of the island continued to be disputed between the Spanish and the French until 1783 although British possession had been accepted at the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was occupied by the French from 1782 to 1783. The island was dependent on sugar plantations, and when emancipation of slaves came in the 1830s the plantations continued to prosper economically as they were smaller than those in Jamaica, and there was sufficient labour on the island. The governments of St Kitts and Nevis were combined in 1882 and the islands were part of the Leeward Islands from 1871 to 1956, and of he British West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. The islands became independent in 1983.

St Helena
St Helena is an island in the middle of the South Atlantic. It was initially claimed by the Dutch but then annexed by the East India Company in 1651, as a supply base for their ships.  The British government assumed full responsibility in 1834 and it was  to St Helena that Napoleon was sent in 1815, and where he  died in 1821. St Helena became a Crown Colony in 1834, and although its use diminished after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, it retained an important cable station.
St Lucia
 
An island in the Lesser Antilles, the British tried to take possession of the island in 1605 but were repulsed by the  Carib inhabitants. A second attempt was made from Bermuda in 1638 but this was followed by their massacre in 1641. The French were able to establish a settlement but conflict between the French ad the British led to the island frequently changing hands. Eventually at the Treaty of Paris  in 1814, the French ceded possession to the British. In 1869 the reformist Govrnor, William Des Voeux arrived on the island. He found the island in a shambles and he began to imprve facilities and bring justice to the island. His attempts to imprive the plight of the black population id not endear him to the plantation owners though however the laws he introduced became hte model for other such small communities. The island received representative government in 1924, internal self-government in 1967 and full independence in 1979.

St Vincent
An island in the Grenadines, St Vincent was discovered by Colombus in 1498. Attempts by the British and French to settle on the island were resisted by the Carib inhabitants but in 1773  a treaty was signed by which the Caribs surrendered sovereignty in return for land rights. There were rebellions by the Caribs, supported by the French, in 1795-96, which resulted in the deportation of the Carib community. The development of agriculture was hampered by volcanic eruptions in 1812 and 1902. In 1855 St Vincent became part of the Windward Islands colony, and received self-government in 1969, before independence in 1979.
Sarawak
Sarawak is an area of north-western Borneo, now within Malaysia. In 1841, the Sultan of Brunei appointed James Brooke as Rajah of Sarawak. He and his heirs ruled the territory as ‘white rajahs’ for more than a hundred years. It became a British Protectorate in 1888. Executive and legislative councils were established in 1941 just weeks before the Japanese occupied the territory. Civilian government was restored in 1946 and soon after the ruling council voted to become a British Crown Colony. In 1963 Sarawak joined Malaysia.
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the land of the Matabele and Mashona people north of the Transvaal. Following the movement up the Zambezi by missionaries and traders, Cecil Rhodes believed there was the possibility of gold being mined, and in 1890 settlers under administration of the British South Africa Company moved north from Bechuanaland into the lands of the Mashona, Matabele and Ndebele. There followed constant fighting until the lands of the local people were confiscated after 1896. In 1911 the lands of the British South Africa Company were divided administratively into Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia with the Zambezi as the border.

Northern Rhodesia
The British South Africa Company acquired rights in this when they signed an agreement with the leader of the Barotse people in 1891. Various territories were amalgamated by the Company into Northern Rhodesia in 1911 but the territory was dependant to a large degree on the policies decided in Salisbury, capital of Southern Rhodesia.

Seychelles
This group of more than 180  islands in the Indian Ocean was established by the French as a spice colony but taken by Britain in 1794 and administered from Mauritius from 1811 until they became a separate colony in 1888. Independence was achieved in 1976.
Sierra Leone
The territory in West Africa was associated with the slave trade from 1562 and later used by the Royal African Company. The spread of ideas on the emancipation of slaves led to the creation of the Sierra Leone Company in  1790 which bought land and founded Freetown as a settlement for 60 Europeans and 400 freed slaves, mainly from Bristol and other British  ports. The Church Missionary Society became involved with the territory which was taken over by the government in 1807 after which it became a crown colony. Inland territory was incorporated in 1896 and independence came in 1961.

South Africa
Attempts by Lord Carnarvon and Cecil Rhodes to bring about a federation of British colonies, protectorates and Boer republics failed but following the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, Lord Milner, the British High Commissioner, revived proposals for federation which were enacted in September 1909, becoming reality on 31 May 1910 with the creation of the Union of South Africa. The Union had dominion status until it left the  Commonwealth on 31 May 1961.

Straits Settlements
The East India Company acquired Penang in 1786, Singapore in 1819-24, and Malacca in 1824, and these territories were unified as the Straits Settlements in 1826 with a joint government. Following the Indian Rebellion, the Settlements were administered by the government of India from 1859 and as a separate Crown Colony from 1867. After the occupation by the Japanese during the Second World War, Malacca and Penang became a part of the Malayan Federation in 1948 whilst Singapore remained a separate colony.

Sudan
Northern Sudan was occupied by Egyptian troops in 1820 and the city of Khartoum established. An Egyptian governor was appointed in 1830, although effective control lapsed in mid-century. In 1881 the Dongola slave-trader Mohamed Ahmed bin Abdullah led an Islamic uprising and established himself as the Messiah. An Egyptian army was destroyed in 1883, and 1885 he laid siege to Khartoum, killing General Gordon, despite a relieving expedition under General Garnet Wolseley being sent to relieve the town. In 1898, fearing possible French moves, the British, acting nominally for Egypt, reconquered Sudan following the Battle of Omdurman. A joint condominium with Egypt was established until Sudan became independent in 1956, with the area being treated as a British Protectorate.

Trinidad
An island in the Caribbean captured from the Spanish in 1797 and ceded to Britain in 1802 along with Tobago. The two islands became a joint colony in 1888.
Uganda
he accession of a weak ruler to the area of Buganda brought a breakdown in law and order and threatened the safety of existing missionaries. To stabalise the area and prevent  German interest the Imperial East Africa Company sent Frederick Lugard to negotiate a treaty with the Kabaka (ruler). Lugard was eventually successful in negotiating a treaty with the Kabaka and then when he returned to the UK persuaded the authorities to make  Uganda a protectorate. The Protectorate was declared in June 1894.

Zanzibar
A large island off the coast of east Africa, separated from the mainland by a 22 mile channel. The island and its neighbour Pemba were used for slave trading by Arabs from Oman. In 1832 Sultan Seyyid Said, the Omani ruler of Muscat, decided to move his capital to Zanzibar to consolidate  Musca’s commercial links with east Africa. Treaties with Britain in 1839 and 1845, and the appointment of a British consul failed to stop the slave trade in the region. A further treaty in 1873 was followed by regular naval patrols around Zanzibar. A subsequent treaty with the British East Africa Company in 1887 settled the question of the future of the territories on the mainland and as ports were established on the mainland at Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar declined in importance. Zanzibar became a British protectorate in 1890, and became an independent Sultanate on 6 December 1963. The Sultan was forced out of power just weeks later, but the government could not hold on to power and in April 1964, Zanzibar and Pemba formed a united republic with Tanganyika which became Tanzania.
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