British Empire
The British Empire, which in the early decades of the 20th century held sway over a population of 400-500 million people (roughly a quarter of the world's population), covered nearly 30 million square kilometres, or about two-fifths of the earth's dry surface.
The British Empire came together over 300 years through a succession of phases of expansion by trade, settlement or conquest, interspersed with intervals of pacific commercial and diplomatic activity or imperial contraction. Its territories were scattered across every continent and ocean, and it was described with some truth as "the empire on which the sun never sets." It arguably reached its height in the 1890s and 1900s.
The Empire facilitated the spread of British technology, commerce, language, and government around much of the globe. Imperial hegemony contributed to Britain's extraordinary economic growth and greatly strengthened her voice in world affairs. Even as Britain extended its imperial reach overseas, it continued to develop and broaden democratic institutions at home.
From the perspective of the colonies, the record of the British Empire is mixed. They received from Britain the English language, an administrative and legal framework on the British model, as well as technological and economic development. With varying degrees of success, in decolonisation Britain sought to pass on to her colonies governments based on parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. Some argue that those countries which were colonised by Britain were spared the incompetence and brutality of some other European empires, such as the Dutch, French, Belgian and Portuguese empires; and almost all have since chosen to join the Commonwealth of Nations, the association which replaced the Empire.
Nonetheless, British colonial policy was always driven to a large extent by Britain's trading interests. While settler economies developed the infrastructure to support balanced development, tropical African territories found themselves developed only as raw-material suppliers. British policies based on comparative advantage left many developing economies dangerously reliant on a single cash crop. A reliance upon the manipulation of conflict between ethnic and racial identities, in order to keep subject populations from uniting against the occupying power -- the classic "divide and rule" strategy -- left a legacy of partition or inter-communal difficulties in areas as diverse as Ireland, India, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Iraq, Guyana and Fiji.
The credit for the first ever usage of the words "British Empire" is usually given to Doctor John Dee, Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer, alchemist and mathematician.