435. A travel center.—England's location has made her the greatest center of travel as well as the greatest center of trade. If an American wants to go quickly from Florida or Iowa to Scandinavia, he hastens to New York, takes a fast steamer to Liverpool or Southampton, and crosses England by train to London, Hull, or Newcastle, where he can get a small steamer to Norway, Den mark, or any Baltic port. By way of England he can go most quickly to Italy or to Russia.
436. Energy and the empire.—No other people have explored so many foreign coun tries; or climbed so many high mountains in South America, Asia, and other parts of the world; or hunted so many elephants in India or lions in Africa; or sent out so many men to run mines, ranches, and railroads in other countries. No other people has ex ported so many manufactured goods, or built up such a large empire.
437. Foreign investments.—As England has prospered in trade, and has her steamship agents in foreign ports and her salesmen in foreign countries, it is easy for her people to learn of business opportunities in foreign lands. Consequently Englishmen with money now own ranches in Australia and Texas, railroads in Argentina and Alabama, oil wells in Mex ico, gold and diamond mines in Africa, and many kinds of property in many lands. Thus England has become a rich country, and she can pay for some of her imports with the earnings of her ships and with the profits from the property her citizens own in for eign lands.
With all this foreign business, London be came the world's greatest banking center and the capital of the largest empire in the world. In addition to being a financial center and a trade center, she has also a great manufactur ing industry. Her manufacturing industries are much like those of New York. (Sec. 341.) 438. Building the empire.--The British explorers, traders, settlers, shipowners, and investors in foreign countries have all helped to build up the empire. Sometimes British colonists have settled almost empty lands, as in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Sometimes the trader and the investor have gotten into difficulties with the natives, and the British Government has taken pos session of the foreign country. Often Eng
land has made treaties with some native chief or king. After the treaty, the chief is usually left in power at home, but the British attend to all foreign affairs of the country, and usually take over more and more of the actual rule of the country. Such a country is sometimes called a British Protectorate. (Secs. 742, 705, 706.) Sometimes adventurous Eng lishmen have gone out like the explorers of old and taken pos session of land. One of these men, Stamford Raffles, was a naval officer in the East Indies. When he heard that a steamship had crossed the Atlantic, he sail ed over and hoisted the British flag on the uninhabited island of Singapore (Sec. 706), at the very corner of Asia, and took possession of it in the name of the King of England, because he thought it would some day be a steamship center. He then wrote to the king and told him about it. Raffles' prophecy was right. Singapore is to-day a great center of trade between Eu rope and Asia. In the central square of the city stands a statue of Sir Stamford Raf fles, for the king made him a knight in return for having made a colony. Name the British ports on the way from England to Japan (Fig. 10).
439. Future.—The Brit ish people can extend their agriculture. They have been so busy at work in factories and building ships that they have used much good land for sheep pasture, when with more labor it might yield great crops of grain, potatoes, and vegetables. Even if fully used, the land could scarcely feed the fifty million people who live in this little country that is not quite so large as New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. But so long as the coal lasts, the British fac tories can run, and, in times of peace, when the sea is free, the ships can come and go with food, raw material, and finished prod ucts. When the coal is all used, the climate will still remain. It is the most important thing of all. It helps make energetic men, and we may expect man's brains to find some other source of power to serve his needs. We may, therefore, this healthful, pleasant region to keep right on increasing in wealth and in population.