English-speaking countries - a legacy of the former greatness of the British Empire

The British Empire of its heyday has reached a truly gigantic size. It became the greatest of all that mankind knew for the entire period of its existence.

British power

The empire expanded its territorial possessions for more than two hundred years, as long as there was no continent on the planet where English-speaking countries were not located. It is generally believed that the peak of her power came at the beginning of the 20th century - in fact, the period when the territories of the third world were finally divided into colonies. And the English crown was able to profit by very tasty pieces of this pie.

English-speaking countries arose on the lands of relatively free continents like America and Australia. The technologically behind the states of Asia and Africa were also actively involved in the orbit of British influence. Moreover, long before the First World War, it was the English who demonstrated an example of the forcible redistribution of colonial territories, fighting for the "Spanish inheritance" in North America, for the territories in India - with the Dutch and for the rich South African diamond fields - with the Boers, Descendants of the Germans and the Dutch.

During its expansion, the British Empire actively disseminated its own language, legal and administrative arrangements, culture in the colonies. If at the end of the 18th century, even in our fatherland in the highest strata of society, French was in vogue, then during the nineteenth century the situation changed - English gradually became the dominant language in the whole world.

English-speaking countries as a legacy of the empire

The last stage of the process of decolonization on our planet occurred after the Second World War. At this time, France lost most of its colonies. Significant changes have occurred in the British world. Modern English-speaking countries, for the most part, were either once settled by people from the island, like Canada, Australia or New Zealand, or are former colonies. For example, English is one of the official and widely used in Nigeria, India, Jamaica and many other countries. However, the British Empire, like the French Empire, has sunk into oblivion. Subjects in its subordination, one by one, emerged from the power of the British, gaining independence.

At the same time, the English-speaking countries, whose list is very wide today, mostly wanted to maintain a warm relationship and some connection with the former metropolis. Thus, the British commonwealth of nations appeared in the second half of the XIX century. However, it received its final formal consolidation only in the middle of the 20th century. Today it includes 14 territories, not counting the island itself. Many of these states to this day, the symbol of their nation is considered the Queen of England. She is the symbolic leader of Canada, Trinidad, New Zealand, Australia, Barbados and a number of other states. Equally significant is the imperial heritage for the rest of the world. English-speaking countries (abstract, article or even any note on the subject you will confirm this) today are dominant, and at the head of their list (after Britain) is the United States. The Anglo-Saxon system of law is prevalent in many regions of the world. Equally obliged by their prevalence of English (and, in general, European) domination in the world, such institutional systems as parliamentarism, civil society and so on. Not to mention the language, as the main tool of international communication to date.