The British Empire

The British Empire, in the early decades of the 20th century, ruled over a population of 400-500 million people - then roughly a quarter of the world's popula­tion - and covered nearly 30 million square kilometres, roughly 40 % of the world's land area.

The Empire facilitated the spread of British technology, commerce, language, and government around much of the globe. Imperial dominance contributed to Britain's extraordinary economic growth, and greatly strengthened its voice in world affairs. Even as Britain extended its imperial reach overseas, it continued to develop and broaden democratic institutions at the homeland.

The Victorian Era was at the height of the Industrial Revolution, a period of great economic, and technological change in the United Kingdom.

During Victoria's last years, the United Kingdom was involved in the two Boer Wars, which received the enthusiastic support of the Queen. These wars resulted in e victory of the British over the Dutch settlers in Southern Africa, the liquidation of the two independent republics they had founded and the incorporation of the territories into the British Empire. During the later war with Germany, the Royal familychanged its surname in 1917 to Windsor (after the town and castle) to minimize embarassment.

In 1906, Britain was the undisputed world's richest and most powerful nation.

Language

As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by billions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today but the law does not recognise any language as being official. English is the only language used in England for general official business.

An Indo-European language in the Germanic family, English is closely related to Dutch, suggesting geographic proximity between the ancient Dutch and ancient Anglo-Saxons before the latter invaded Britain. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman conquest in 1066, English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling.

The only native spoken language in England other than English is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. It has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16