page_title: Colonialism
section_title: British colonies and protectorates
hierarchical_section_title: Colonialism / List of colonies / British colonies and protectorates
caption_attribution_description: Gibraltar National Day_027
context_page_description: Colonialism is the policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their religion, economics, and other cultural practices on indigenous peoples. The foreign administrators rule the territory in pursuit of their interests, seeking to benefit from the colonised region's people and resources.
  Colonialism is strongly associated with the European colonial period starting with the 15th century when some European states established colonising empires.
  At first, European colonising countries followed policies of mercantilism, aiming to strengthen the home-country economy, so agreements usually restricted the colonies to trading only with the metropole. By the mid-19th century, however, the British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and adopted the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs. Christian missionaries were active in practically all of the European-controlled colonies because the metropoles were Christian.
context_section_description: Aden
  Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
  Ascension Island
  Australia
  New South Wales
  Victoria
  Tasmania
  Queensland
  South Australia
  Western Australia
  Bahamas
  Barbados
  Basutoland
  Bechuanaland
  British Borneo
  Brunei
  Labuan
  North Borneo
  Sarawak
  British East Africa
  British Guiana
  British Honduras
  British Hong Kong
  British Leeward Islands
  Anguilla
  Antigua
  Barbuda
  British Virgin Islands
  Dominica
  Montserrat
  Nevis 
  Saint Kitts
  British Malaya 
  Federated Malay States
  Straits Settlements
  Unfederated Malay States
  British Somaliland
  British Western Pacific Territories
  British Solomon Islands
  Fiji
  Gilbert and Ellice Islands
  Phoenix Islands
  Pitcairn Islands
  New Hebrides (condominium with France)
  Tonga
  Union Islands
  British Windward Islands
  Barbados
  Dominica
  Grenada
  Saint Lucia
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  Myanmar
  Canada
  Ceylon
  Christmas Island
  Cocos (Keeling) Islands
  Cyprus (including Akrotiri and Dhekelia)
  Egypt
  Falkland Islands
  Falkland Islands Dependencies
  Graham Land
  South Georgia
  South Orkney Islands
  South Shetland Islands
  South Sandwich Islands
  Victoria Land
  Gambia
  Gibraltar
  Gold Coast
  India (including what is today Pakistan and Bangladesh) 
  Heard Island and McDonald Islands
  Ireland
  Jamaica
  Kenya
  Maldives
  Malta
  Mandatory Palestine
  Mauritius
  Muscat and Oman
  Norfolk Island
  Nigeria
  Northern Rhodesia
  Nyasaland 
  Seychelles
  Sierra Leone
  South Africa
  Cape Colony
  Natal
  Transvaal Colony
  Orange River Colony
  Southern Rhodesia
  St Helena
  Swaziland
  Trinidad and Tobago
  Tristan da Cunha
  Trucial States
  Uganda
  Tonga
caption: Gibraltar National Day in British-controlled Gibraltar
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