The British Empire reaches a quarter of the world

After World War I, the British Empire covered about a quarter of the world's land and held roughly a quarter of its people. Independence movements and the costs of World War II led to rapid decolonization.

Context

The empire grew through trade, settlement and conquest from the 1600s, with India, Canada, Australia and large parts of Africa among its major holdings. After World War I it gained further territory as League of Nations mandates taken from Germany and the Ottoman Empire, such as Tanganyika, Palestine and Iraq.

Around 1920 it is commonly said to have covered close to 13 million square miles and to have included something like 450 to 500 million people. Figures vary because sources count dominions, protectorates and mandates differently, so 'about a quarter' is a rounded estimate.

Two world wars drained British finances and strengthened nationalist movements. India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, and most African and Caribbean colonies followed in the 1950s and 1960s. The 1956 Suez Crisis is often cited as showing the limits of British power.

Many former territories joined the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of states. The empire's scale is one reason English, cricket and British-style legal systems are found around the world.

The Dominions such as Canada, Australia and South Africa gained greater self-government in the 1920s and 1930s, so the empire's formal reach was already loosening before 1939.