During the Great War the location of Mesopotamia and Palestine gave England a special interest in those regions. Germany had been encroaching on Mesopotamia, and thus bade fair not only to dom inate the land route from the Mediterranean to India, but to threaten the sea route. Turkey, on the other hand, began to threaten the Suez Canal from Palestine. Hence England conquered not only Mesopotamia, using India as her base for supplies and troops, but Palestine with Egypt as a base. When peace was declared England was left in control of these regions and in a position to carry out her long-cherished plan of a land route of her own from Egypt and the Mediterranean to India. Outside her actual possessions the influ ence of England is paramount in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet, because her position in India makes her the nearest strong power to each of them.
In the Southern Hemisphere British expansion followed much the same course as in the Northern. Australia, with its sparse native population and its good climate in the southeast, repeated the history of North America on a small scale, as did New Zealand. There was never any revolution, however, because England learned the lesson of good colonial government from her war with the Amer ican colonies. In South Africa the course of events was midway between that in Australia and India. The British settlers encoun tered a denser native population and a less stimulating climate than in Australia. They dominated the natives as in India, but they themselves have gradually been weakened so that progress is not so rapid as in a place like New Zealand. In tropical Africa the conquest of the British Colonies took place much as in the later stages of India's history, but the results have been relatively meager. Elsewhere the British colonies are relatively small or unimportant. In Egypt England acquired a colony because Egypt happens to lie on the highly important route which connects the homeland with India. But in 1922 England gave up her direct control over Egypt except for a canal zone where her position is much like that of the United States in the Panama Canal Zone.
Why the British Empire Has Grown so Great.—(a) Britain's Central Location.—The reasons why the British Empire to-day embraces nearly a quarter of the earth's surface may well be classified according to the table in Chapter I, showing the elements of geog raphy. The location of Britain off the northwest coast of Europe brings it nearer to the middle latitudes of America than is any other country of Europe. This is important because Britain was thus led to occupy the best part of America. That helps to explain why English
is the most widely used language. The location of Britain in respect to India was also influential in causing the Suez Canal to be dug, and was the reason why. England took charge of Egypt and still controls its foreign policy. After Great Britain became imbued with the pur pose to build up a great empire she set herself to control the best lines of approach to each of her possessions. This involved picking up islands like the Bermudas, and Falklands, and ports like Hongkong all over the world. To-day along her most important route leading to India Eng land has secured a whole string of way-stations, including Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Suez, Perim, Aden, Socotra, and the Kuria Muria Isl ands. Thus Britain is the meeting place of the most remarkable net work of lines of communicaton that the world ever knew. She has im proved her own location even though it was already highly faVorable.
(b) The Advantage of the Empire's Island Home.—England is fortunate that her land takes the form of an island, and particularly of an island with a submerged coast. Had her territory been joined to that of the mainland she might perhaps have remained united with France as a single nation. Certainly her interests would have been directed toward the continent as have those of France because of the need of protecting herself from other countries and of main taining constant intercourse with them. Had her coast not been sub merged she would have lacked the hundreds of harbors, great and small, that keep her in touch with the sea. Moreover, when she came in conflict with °ther nations which were also expanding by sea she had an advantage because her long coast gave her far more sailors and ships than had the others, and also led her people to be interested in commerce and remote overseas ventures in a way that is not pos sible for an inland country.
(e) How the Ocean Brought Worldwide Expansion.—Being sur rounded by water Britain had to expand by sea or not at all. Since she expanded across the water she was able to choose whatever places she preferred with much less hindrance than if she had tried to push this way and that by land. As the most active of the great nations on the sea, she was able to take possession of almost all the best regions in America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Even when other nations had preceded her, she often drove them out as happened to Holland in New York, to France in Canada, and to Portugal in Cey lon.