Research

 Climate and Geographic Factors Events and Leaders Transportation and Weaponry Plagues and Diseases Socio-Political Structure Science and Mathematical Contributions Work Cited Essay Home 

**Climate and Geographic Factors **

India [1] British Antarctic Territory [2] Other Colonies
 * dry, hot climate temp range -13°C in winter and +40°C in the summer
 * The great Himalayas in north, mountains reach heights of 9000m above sea level
 * in middle of India lies the Thar Desert which covers over 200,000sq.km of land
 * contains 23 species of lizard and 25 species of snakes
 * Deccan Plateau covers most of India
 * it is covered in water falls and “dry” forests that adapted to vast retain water
 * India has such a diverse climate and regions it can produce many valuable goods that were highly valued by the British Empire
 * produced cotton, silk, tea and opium (which later in the 1939 caused the First Opium War)
 * he furthermost southern colony of the British Empire
 * dry desert
 * receives only 166 mm of precipitation a year
 * average temperature -65°C
 * during the winter the cold freezes the water around the mainland into a sheet of ice that is 375 m thick
 * harsh climate didn't allow any of the civilians of the British Empiire to live there
 * in 1946 a scientific research center was build which allowed scientist to live in the arctic for long periods of time
 * The colonies in Africa have a very hot, humid climate with temperatures reaching +43°C
 * experience heavy winds which raise the sands from the Sahara Desert and create 30 m high dunes
 * Pacific colonies have humid climate get 304 cm of rain a year
 * humidity allows islands to be abundant with rain forest
 * sugar cane thrives in high humid areas

**Events and Leaders ** [3]

 1821 - Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast are combined to form British West Africa 1838 - Myall Creek massacre in Australia 1851- Gold discovered in Australia 1857- Indian Mutiny 1858 - East India Company dissolved 1867 - Canada becomes a Dominion 1869 - Suez Canal opened 1875 - Britain buys Suez Canal shares 1898 - Honk Kong leased by the British Empire 1907 - Anglo Russian entente 1916 – Battle of the Somme 1917 – Passchendale 1921 - Irish Civil War 1926 - Dominion status to white colonies 1940 - Churchill PM 1942 - Dieppe Raid 1943 - Commonwealth troops invade Italy 1944 - D-day 1947 - Indian Independence 1956 - Suez crisis [5] 1960 - 1995 [6] 1996 - South Africa rejoins Commonwealth 1997 - Hong Kong handed back to Chinese
 * 28 Aboriginals were tortured, beheaded and killed
 * by 10 ex-convicts
 * choose to kill women and children out of the 50 men
 * 1839 - First Opium war in China (1839-42)**[[image:hk-map.gif align="right" caption="Hong Kong - World Factbook" link="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/hk.html"]] [4]
 * large imports of tea from China
 * large exports of European silver to China
 * Britain starts exports of opium
 * China’s laws allow this drug
 * by the beginning of the war exports of opium increase fivefold
 * 2 million civilians habitual users
 * Alarmed by the flow of silver China started the first opium war
 * British empire wins war and gains Hong Kong as a Pacific port and trading post for its ships
 * by 1844 Hong Kong's population grew 12 times to 19,000
 * by 1861 grew to 120,000 people
 * space was a problem and the British Empire was issued some land on the mainland
 * in 10 years Victoria’s population tripled
 * 2 tones of gold found every week
 * Self governing colony
 * Diamonds discovered in South Africa
 * allowed easy water transportation between Europe and Asia
 * 192km long
 * Britain becomes second largest shareholder of the canal
 * France primary share holder
 * 99 year lease of Hong Kong and adjacent islands
 * designed to stop the competition for power between Britain and Russia
 * defined the ownership of three regions Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet
 * 1914 - WWI** [5]
 * Highest death count in one day ever recorded (1.5 million casualties)
 * Used bite and hold tactic to get past heavily defended German artillery outposts
 * group of Irishmen want Ireland to be independent from Britain
 * from 2500 to 4000 killed
 * caused the Irish state to be in 4 million pound deficit by the end of war
 * Canada Australia and New Zealand were granted dominion status
 * 1939 - WWII**[[image:churchill.jpg align="right" caption="Winston Churchill - BBC" link="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42301000/jpg/_42301054_churchill_v_sign_416.jpg"]] [5]
 * Hitler’s opponent in motivational speaking
 * had very strong anti-Nazi ideas
 * took risks (Battle of Britain)that eventually lead to the Nazi defeat
 * Evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk
 * Hitler’s first mistake that lead to his defeat
 * allowed 140,000 French and 200,000 British soldiers escape
 * Britain sent 900 boats for this rescue
 * allowed an attempt to create a second front for the German army
 * hit and run technique proposed
 * British forces destroyed before they even got to the shores of Belgium
 * in two months Italy surrenders
 * Germany takes over northern Italy and continues the opposition
 * marks the full Allied invasion of Europe
 * 130,000 troops landed in Normandy, France
 * April 30 Hitler shoots himself
 * May 7 Germany surrenders and Europe is free
 * Egypt overtakes the Suez Canal
 * France and Britain supply Israel with weapons
 * Israel invades Egypt
 * Somaliland, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Cameroon, South Africa, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Uganda, Western Samoa, Kenya, Zanzibar, Malta, Malawi, Ghana, South Rhodesia, Botswana, Lesotho, Gambia, Aden, Mauritius, Swaziland, Fiji, Tongan, Bahrain, Qatar, Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Dominica, Kiribati, Vanunu, Zimbabwe, Belize, and Namibia all become independent (36 Countries/regions)
 * British Empire didn't want to start more wars to keep its colonies (like France And Portugal)
 * Was too financial weak from WWII to start more wars
 * allowed colonies to gain independance

**Transportation And Weaponry ** [7]

__**WWI Weapons**__ Mills Bomb - anti-infantry hand grenade Lewis gun - American designed light machine gun Lee-Enfield - bolt action rifle __**WWII Weapons**__ Sticky bomb - antitank grenade 1940 Satchel charge - often used as a demolition kit 1835 - Railway boom [8] **Plagues and Diseases **
 * clasic design that was modified many times by other nations
 * could be fired out of a rifle up to 150m
 * hand thrown 30m
 * used to have a seven second fuse but was very changed to four seconds because it didnt allow the opponent throw the grenade back
 * was used until 1972
 * very effective and reliable
 * Britain made over 70 million
 * commonly used by the British forces
 * 550 rounds per minute
 * bullet velocity 2500 ft/s
 * used a an aircraft gun
 * popular because of its effectiveness and light weight
 * could be carried by one person (very portable)
 * designed in 1907 and still used today
 * effective range of 503m
 * bullet velocity 2400 ft/s
 * commonly issued rifle in the Commonwealth
 * longest serving military rifle still in service
 * commonly used by the Indian Police
 * 17 million built
 * 20-30rounds per minute[[image:Sticky_Bombs.jpg align="right" caption="Sticky bomb production 1940 - Wiki" link="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Production_of_Sticky_Bombs.jpg"]]
 * fastest bolt action rifle of the day
 * adhesive coating allowed it to stick to armored vehicles
 * this allowed for a more effective explosion
 * sometimes stuck to throwers clothing
 * complete failure, never used since Gammon Bomb invented
 * Contained dynamite or C4
 * sometimes used as a primitive grenade
 * used to contain 2kg of explosive evolved to contain up to 9kg of explosive
 * Used to destroy railroads, bridges
 * Railways were being built all over Britain and commonwealth
 * popular medium of transportation
 * Coal powered
 * cheap for owners

1821 - Famine in Ireland [9] 1831 - Cholera Pandemic [10] 1876 - Famine in India [11] Malaria
 * eliminated 25% of population in 7 years
 * caused by potato disease
 * Third of population depended on potatoes as food
 * uncontrollable potato disease even today
 * Government denied its existence in the beginning
 * epidemic began in Bengal in 1820
 * spread into India and all over the world
 * by 1860 killed over 15 million Indian people
 * by 1960 another 23 million people
 * reached Russia, China, Indonesia, Hungary, Germany, England, France, Canada, USA, Egypt and Mecca
 * can be effectively treated by rehydration
 * modern antibiotics can shorten the duration of the sickness
 * if treated properly the mortality rate is less then 1%
 * covered most of India (670,000 km)
 * affected 58,500,000 people
 * 5.25 million died
 * Britain provided relief to 700 million units (1 unit = relief for 1 person for 1 day)
 * caused by massive drought
 * Leading causes of death in 19th century
 * pour hygiene encouraged the mosquito population to rise
 * mosquitoes main distributors of malaria
 * caused the infected to feel heavy head aches and high fever

**Socio-Political Structure **

Government Religion [12] Slave Trade [13] Women [5]
 * constitutional monarchy - monarch head of state but doesn't have the ultimate power over it, also indirectly chooses the Prime Minister
 * still doesn't have a "confined" constitution
 * "constitution" consists of statues, judge made case law and international treaties
 * Britain's structure of parliamentary government has been copied/used/changed all over the world
 * land divided into constituencies
 * each constituency votes for a party that is going to represent its people
 * the leader of the winning party becomes Prime Minister
 * Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 gave Catholics virtually the same rights as non Catholics
 * before this Act Catholics were not allowed to have any property, to receive property in a will from any relatives
 * also were not allowed to run in any Parliament or vote
 * were not allowed in universities and practice their religion freely
 * any violation to these laws would cause civil penalties
 * Britain shipped 2.5 million African slaves across the Atlantic making Britain the biggest slave trade contributor in the world
 * Slavery Abolition Act 1833 freed slaves every where in the British Empire
 * Government set aside 20 million pounds for slave owner compensation
 * no money given to slaves
 * Sierra Leone was the official colony for slaves in the British Empire
 * in 1917 women of Canada wee given the right to vote on the behalf of their male relatives who are fighting in the war
 * only in 1928 do women get the full voting right as men and under the same terms
 * before WWI women couldn't work, and as soon as they married all their possessions became the legal property of their husbands
 * they had no rights
 * during WWI they were given special rights that allowed them to get "non-womanly jobs" such as construction and factory workers
 * by the end of WWII all of these rights became permanent

**Science and Mathematical Contributions ** [14]

1843 - Joule's Law 1847 - Chloroform 1859 - Evolution
 * James Joule discovers the amount of work needed to produce a unit of heat
 * discovers that heat is a form of energy
 * unit of work called joule
 * proves that mechanical, electrical and heat energy is the same
 * energy can be converted from one form to another
 * starts experimenting on the law of conservation of energy
 * James Simpson discovers a better anesthetic then Ether
 * easier to breathe and less irritating then Ether
 * discovered for the purpose to help women feel less pain when giving birth
 * helped create less women death's from Puerpral Fever
 * used on Queen Victoria during the birth of Prince Leopold in 1853
 * Charles Darwin created a theory of natural selection
 * "infinite series of minute variations gradually turned one form of life into another" - Christopher Booker
 * theory states that all life came from simpler organisms which gradually evolve to be more complex organisms
 * Challenged religion and was very criticized for his work
 * theory also states that all life evolved from one organism

 1876 - Telephone
 * Alexander Graham Bell
 * converts wave vibrations into an electric current, and reconverts them back into sound
 * creates photophone which converts sound into light and back
 * sued lots of times because of commercial uses for his inventions
 * allowed people to communicate over long distances without knowing code
 * primary use was to fire fighters and train operators that needed constant communication

<span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);">**<span style="color: rgb(255,0,0);">Work Cited **

1.Rosenberg, Matt. __India__. 2005. 10 May 2009 <http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcindia.htm>

2.The Commonwealth. 10 May 2009 < http://www.thecommonwealth.org/YearbookInternal/140416/140419/british_antarctic_territory/>

3. __The British Empire.__ 2009. 10 May 2009 < http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/timeline.htm>

4. "**opium trade**." __Encyclopædia Britannica__. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 May. 2009 <[]>.

5. Gladstone, Joseph;Christoffer, Nancy; Brett, Eileen; Kress, Anna; Crann, Bev,__Canada Face of a Nation,__ Tornto:Gage Educational, 2000 (p32-58, 129-155, 185-195)

6.__The British Empire.__ 2009. 10 May 2009 < http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/20century.htm>

7.“**List of Common WWII Infantry Weapons.**” Wikipedia. 2009. 10 May 2009<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_World_War_II_infantry_weapons#United_Kingdom>

8. __The British Empire.__ 2009. 10 May 2009 <http://www.britishempire.co.uk/science/transport/railways.htm>

9.Cecil Woodham-Smith, __The Great Hunger__, Harmondsworth: Penguin,1991 (pg18-29)

10. "**cholera**." __Encyclopædia Britannica__. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 May. 2009 <[]>

11.“**Great Famine of 1876–78.**” Wikipedia. 2009. 10 May 2009< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378#cite_note-igi-III-488-0>

12. "**Catholic Emancipation**." __Encyclopædia Britannica__. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 10 May. 2009 <[]>.

13.__Learning Curve__. 2008. 10 May 2009 < http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/images/slavery/slavery.pdf>

14.Abbott, David; Glass, Catherine. __Brits at their Best__. 2009. 10 May 2009 < http://www.britsattheirbest.com/ingenious/ii_19th_century_1832_1854.htm>

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