Colonies were early established in the West India Islands, including Barbados, half of Saint Christopher's (1625) and soon after many smaller islands. Yet the West India posses sions did not become important as plantations i until the sugarcane was introduced into Bar bados in 1641 and intoJaniaica in 1660. This island had been taken from the Spaniards in 1655. The cultivation of coffee was introduced into the West India Islands in 1732. New foundland was taken possession of by the Eng lish in 1583, and colonized in 1621 and 1633. Canada was surrendered by France to Great Britain at the Peace of Paris in 1763 (see sec tion on French colonies below). In 1764 be gan the dispute between Great Britain and its North American colonies, on the question whether the former had the right to impose taxes on the colonies when they were not rep resented in the British Parliament; and on 19 April 1775 commenced the war which termi nated with the acknowledgment of the inde pendence of the 13 provinces. Though the United States thus entered on their independent career, Canada still remains as a great and flourishing self-governing dominion.
Australia was discovered in the beginning of the 17th century. The first Australasian settle ments of Great Britain were penal colonies. New South Wales, discovered in 1770, was established as a penal colony in 1788; Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), discovered by Tasman in 1642, followed in 1803. West Australia, for some time a penal settlement, was founded as a free colony in 1829; Victoria (Port Phillip) was colonized in 1835, and made an independent colony in 1851; South Australia was settled in 1836; Queensland became a separate colony in 1859; New Zealand, discovered by Tasman in 1642, began to be used in connection with the whale fishery about 1790, was settled in 1839 and made a colony in 1840. In 1851 gold was discovered to be plentiful in Victoria. This gave a great impetus to the prosperity of the Aus tralian colonies, and the influx of population it caused has largely contributed to promote their general development. A federal union of the British colonies in Australia was proclaimed 1 Jan. 1901, with the title of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Fiji Islands became a colony in 1874, and other islands in the Pacific have been acquired since, as well as part of New Guinea and part of Borneo.
The acquisition of the South African col onies dates from the Napoleonic period, the Cape Colony and Mauritius being both secured to Great Britain in 1814. Natal was proclaimed a British colony in 1843. The Guinea Coast settlements date from the 17th century. Ex tensive spheres of influence have been recently acquired, being partly developed by chartered companies.
In Europe Great Britain has only two pos sessions of the nature of colonies, acquired for military reasons: Gibraltar in 1704; Malta and Gozo, 1800.
It is estimated that the existing British col onies and dependencies embrace fully one-fifth of the land surface of the globe, and a rather larger proportion of its population. The whole of the British colonial possessions have been grouped in about 40 administrative divisions and they are situated in every quarter of the globe. See GREAT BRITAIN.
According to their governmental relations with the Crown the •colonies are arranged un der three heads: (1) Crown colonies, in which the Crown has the entire control of legislation, while the administration is carried on by pub lic officers under the control of the home gov ernment; (2) colonies possessing representative institutions, but not responsible government, in which the Crown has no more than a veto on legislation, but the home government retains the control of public officers; (3) colonies pos sessing representative institutions and respon sible government, in which the Crown has only a veto on legislation, and the home government has no control over any officer except the gov ernor. All colonies are, however, disabled from
such acts of independent sovereignty as the initiative in war, alliances and diplomacy gen erally.
France.— France was somewhat late of entering fully upon a colonial career, being re tarded by internal dissensions and religious wars. Between 1627 and 1636 Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc colonized Saint Christopher's, Gua deloupe and Martinique. Champlain was the pioneer of the French in the exploration of the North American continent, where they soon had considerable possessions, including Canada—in which they had settlements as early as 1604-05, and where Champlain founded Quebec in 1608 — and Louisiana, colonized in 1699. Commercial companies were then deemed essential in colo nizing, and a West India Company and an East India Company were established by Colbert in 1664. He purchased on several West India Islands, as Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia., Grenada and others, settlements already formed by private persons, and sent out colonists in 1664 to Cayenne. But the settlements in part of San Domingo, by the buccaneers, became of more importance than those effected by the government. The West India Company survived only 10 years. The East India Company, after fruitless attempts to form a colony in Mada gascar, founded Pondicherry on the Coroman del coast in 1683. This became the capital of extensive French possessions in the East Indies. The French also acquired Bourbon (Reunion) in 1649 and the Isle de France (Mauritius) in 1715. At the beginning of the 18th century France had attained an important position as a colonial power. In North America her settle ments extended from Canada to California, particularly along the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, embracing many districts which have since become of the highest im portance. Nova Scotia (Acadie) and New foundland (Terre Neuve), which had been disputed with Great Britain, were then in her possession. Her West Indian islands were more flourishing than those of England, and she still had a prosperous career before her in India. The superiority of the fleet of England gave that power a great advantage in colonial con tests, and many of the French colonies subse quently fell under the power of Great Britain. The struggle for the supremacy in India, though France was finally unsuccessful, was long and gallantly maintained, and more than once seemed to promise a different issue. The North Atnerican colonies were partly lost by conquest and partly suffered to fall into decay. Of the West India possessions several were taken by Great Britain and finally ceded to her. Canada was finally ceded to England in 1763; Louisiana, after being surrendered to Spain, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the English, was sold by Napoleon to the United States in 1803. At the general pacification of 1815 France recovered some remains of her colonial possessions, and since then she has acquired extensive regions beyond sea, some of them highly valuable. She occupied in 1830 and began in 1833 to colonize Algeria, a country whose irregular and lawless government had exposed her as well as other European states to frequent annoyance. Tunis, Senegambia, great tracts of the Sahara, Sudan and Kongo regions, the islands of Madagascar and Reunion are all comprised in France's African posses sions, while in Asia she possesses a large por tion of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, and in America French Guiana. Some of the French colonies are represented in the National As sembly by members chosen for the purpose.