Historians call the British Empire the largest state in the history of mankind.
It reached its maximum size by the beginning of the 20th century. Its area was 32 million sq. km. (23% of the Earth's land area), and the number of inhabitants reached 500 million.
The British Empire was founded in 1497 and formally existed until 1997 (exactly 500 years) till the moment of Hong Kong returning to the jurisdiction of China.
In addition to England, the British Empire included 69 countries, including Ireland, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Qatar.
We can find many false explanations about the causes of British power. These include industrial innovation, the successful development of manufacturing and later factory production, and progressive "British ideas" in international trade, which enabled the British to drive competitors out of all lucrative markets.
Even more skeptical is the explanation of the British economic miracle by the existence of a democratic parliament, which limited the power of the monarch, and by the ideas of reformation.
The main reasons for British power are an advanced navy and cunning and devious diplomacy.
Thanks to them all the key resources, trade routes, and markets for products were under British control.
The British gained their economic power through victorious wars, piracy, the slave trade, the pillaging of merchant caravans and the drug trade.
The British, incidentally, are the founders of the drug trade.
It began with the establishment of channels for the sale of opium from their Indian colonies to China and ended with the Opium Wars, in which England defeated the Chinese fleet and imposed bonded terms of trade.
The twentieth century was a century of losing power and actually becoming a colony of the United States.
After Brexit, European countries are starting to provide direct pressure in all spheres. Britain is clearly not in the best position even to defend.
The current situation:
In the global financial markets - is in the horror of things to come.
Divorce from the European Union - when was any divorce ever positive?
A domestic situation with a constant desire to divide.
Don't you think that the currency is overvalued by about 100 percent?
0.7 to the dollar, like all the other commonwealth islands and Canada would be more to the point, isn't it?
T.S.T.W.
Not legal and financial advice;
Any information provided here is only the personal opinion of the author.