Why did the British Empire expand?
Starter: I went to the British Empire and on my travels I found …
Rice
Tobacco
Grain
Furs
Sugar
Cotton
Coffee
Timer
Tea
Ginger
Rum
Slaves
Herbs
Diamonds
Gold
Copper
Fruit
Silk
Dyes
Opium
Tin
Iron ore
Rubber
Alcohol
Nickel
Oil
Lead
Cardamom
Saffron
Tumeric
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Why did the British Empire expand?
In the 16th and 17th
centuries very little was
known about what the
globe looked like.
Explorers like Francis
Drake and Walter Raleigh
were curious about the
unmapped parts of the
world so they set sail for
adventure!
One of the products
which British people
traded in was slaves.
Ships sailed to Africa
from Britain with
manufactured goods to
exchange for slaves,
which were then shipped
to America to be sold to
plantation owners.
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Queen Elizabeth I
encouraged explorers to
sail the globe in order to
find new places for
people to live. They
often brought back new
products, for example
Columbus brought the
potato to Europe.
Some colonies were set
up by British people who
wanted to move abroad
to live. For example,
some British people
started moving to North
America in around 1600
to avoid religious
persecution.
The colonies on the east
coast of America and the
West Indies sent sugar,
tobacco, cotton and
timber to Britain. These
helped British merchants
to get very wealthy.
Many of the people who
started to settle overseas
were missionaries. They
thought that by moving
abroad they could spread
the word of God.
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Some parts of the Empire
were taken by Britain as
the result of wars. For
example, in 1713 and
1763 Britain took land in
Canada and the West
Indies from France after
fighting wars.
The British government
used the army and navy
to protect British trade
abroad − it fought many
wars for this reason.
Some of the first settlers
in Australia were
criminals whose
punishment was to be
‘transported’ there. This
began in 1788.
British people gained
power in lots of parts of
the globe because of
trade. Companies set up
trading stations in places
where they could get
new products. For
example the East India
Company set up in India
to help the exportation of
cotton and spices.
Page 2 of 4
Why did the British Empire expand?
Use your cards to record examples of each of the following factors leading to empire expansion
Trade
War
Exploration
Settlers
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20478
Others
Page 3 of 4
Why did the British Empire expand?
Teaching notes
Possible learning objectives:
•
•
•
To know some of the resources which Britain traded in with its empire.
To categorise reasons for the expansion of the British Empire from the 17th century onwards.
To decide whether the British Empire was only about getting rich.
Starter: I went to the British Empire and on my travels I found …
Give each student one of the cards on p.1. Nominate one student to go first. They should say out loud “I went to the British Empire
and on my travels I found …” and then add the item on their card. The next student then repeats the first sentence and adds their own
item to the list and so on through the class. The aim is to achieve as long a list of items by memory as possible without making a
mistake.
Main: British Empire card sort
1) Give students sets of the cards on p.2 and ask them whether they can think of any categories for the. Feedback suggestions.
2) Give students p.3 as suggested categories and ask them to record examples from the cards in the relevant boxes.
Plenary: Was it only about money?
Stage a mini debate in groups or as a class – ‘The British Empire was all about Britain getting rich’. Do you agree?
Divide students as suits your group and ask each side to pick out a few arguments to support their case.
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