In the 16th century Britain began to establish overseas colonies. By 1783, Britain had built a large empire with colonies in America and the West Indies.

Why did Britain start colonizing?

England also looked at the settlement of colonies as a way of fulfilling its desire to sell more goods and resources to other countries than it bought. ... At the same time, the colonists could be a market for England's manufactured goods. The English knew that establishing colonies was an expensive and risky business.

When did the British empire begin and end?

Others say the start date should be the 1490s, while other historians date the empire from the early 1600s. The end of the empire came in the years after World War 2, with most of Britain's colonies ruling themselves independently by the late 1960s.