Vanessa here,
Migrations have happened through the ages. So peoples in even during the Regency had wanderlust, a strong desire to see the world. And dare I say it, they even moved beyond the ballrooms of Almack’s. They traveled, they went on holiday, and upon occasion they conquered.
After the Seven-Year War, George Macartney in 1773, talked of the vastness of England’s reach, “the British Empire on which the sun never sets.”
The common attitude of having at least 184 colonies (accumulated from the 1700’s to 1950’s) around the globe supports the concept, making adaptations of the phase very popular:
- “The sun never set on the British Flag” (Rev. R. P. Buddicom, 1827)
- “The sun never set on British Empire” (Christopher North 1839)
When I study the list of colonies, I believe they are quite right:
| Antigua and Barbuda | Dog Island, Gambia | Mombasa | Sabah |
| Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina | East Jersey | Colony of Natal | Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla |
| Province of Avalon | Essequibo (colony) | New Brunswick | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Bangladesh | Falkland Islands Dependencies | New England Colonies | Sarawak |
| Barbados | Fiji | New Hampshire | Crown Colony of Sarawak |
| Basutoland | Florida | Province of New Hampshire | Sheikhdom of Kuwait |
| Belize | British Gambia | New Hebrides | Singapore |
| History of Belize | Gambia Colony and Protectorate | New Jersey | Singapore in the Straits Settlements |
| Bengkulu | The Gambia | Province of New Jersey | Post-war Singapore |
| Berbice | Georgia (U.S. state) | New South Wales | South Africa |
| Bermuda | Province of Georgia | New York | South Australia |
| Black River (settlement) | Gibraltar | New Zealand | South Carolina |
| British Honduras | Gilbert and Ellice Islands | Colony of New Zealand | Province of South Carolina |
| British Bencoolen | Gold Coast (British colony) | Newfoundland and Labrador | South Sudan |
| Colony of British Columbia (1858–66) | Grenada | Newfoundland Colony | Southern Colonies |
| Colony of British Columbia (1866–71) | Guadeloupe | Nicobar Islands | Stoddart Island |
| British Kaffraria | British Guiana | Nigeria | Straits Settlements |
| British West Indies | Heligoland | Nikumaroro | Sudan |
| British Western Pacific Territories | Hilton Young Commission | North Australia | Swan River Colony |
| Brunei | History of West Africa | Crown Colony of North Borneo | Tasmania |
| Burma | Hong Kong | North Carolina | Colony of Tasmania |
| British rule in Burma | British Hong Kong | Nova Scotia | Thirteen Colonies |
| Canada | India | Nyasaland | Tobago |
| Province of Quebec (1763–91) | Jamaica | Ohio | Tokelau |
| Province of Canada | Colony of Jamaica | History of Ohio | Transvaal Colony |
| The Canadas | Jordan | Ohio Country | Trinidad |
| Cape Breton Island | Kunta Kinteh Island | Operation Sunrise (Nyasaland) | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Cape Colony | Crown Colony of Labuan | Orange River Colony | United States |
| Province of Carolina | Lagos | Orange River Sovereignty | Historic regions of the United States |
| Carriacou and Petite Martinique | Lagos Colony | Pakistan | Upper Canada |
| British Ceylon | Lakshadweep | Territory of Papua | Van Diemen’s Land |
| Chesapeake Colonies | British Leeward Islands | Pennsylvania | Colony of Vancouver Island |
| Chopawamsic | Lower Canada | Province of Pennsylvania | Victoria (Australia) |
| Colonial Nigeria | Maine | Plymouth Company | Colony of Virginia |
| Colonial Fiji | Malabo | Prince Edward Island | Walvis Bay |
| Côn Đảo | British Malaya | History of Pulicat | Weihai (British Colony) |
| Connecticut | Malayan Union | Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands | Wessagusset Colony |
| Connecticut Colony | Malaysia | Queensland | British West Africa |
| Cook Islands | Malta | Restoration (Colonies) | West Indies Federation |
| Cook Islands Federation | Crown Colony of Malta | Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations | West Jersey |
| Cyprus | Massachusetts | Northern Rhodesia | Western Australia |
| British Cyprus (1914–1960) | Province of Massachusetts Bay | Colonial history of Southern Rhodesia | Western Samoa Trust Territory |
| Delaware | Mauritius | Southern Rhodesia | British Windward Islands |
| Delaware Colony | Middle Colonies | Rivers State | Wituland |
| Demerara | Minorca | Rodrigues | Zimbabwe |
| Demerara-Essequibo | Mississippi | Rupert’s Land | Zulu Kingdom |
Lately, I have been thinking about the hopes and dreams that sent people on a journey to an unknown world. Was it religious freedom like the Quakers? Could it be the quest of gold or the hope for eternal gold by proselytize a different people? What attitudes did they bring? Did social station withstand the hard work of building a colony timber by timber?
For my birthday (March 13 – shameless plug), my lovely husband bought me two copper engraved maps, one of England (1810) and one of South African (1835). I see stories brewing. Stay tuned.
References:
- Bartlett, John (1865). Familiar quotations (4th ed.). Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 388.
- Bacon, Francis (1841). “An Advertisement Touching a Holy War”.
- Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480-1630.
- Wikipedia: English Possessions Overseas.
- Wikipedia: British Colonization of the Americas.
- Wikipedia: British Empire.
Originally posted 2015-03-09 08:00:00.
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