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This is a timeline of British history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England, History of Wales, History of Scotland, History of Ireland, History of the formation of the United Kingdom and History of the United Kingdom
- Overview
- 1588
- 1600
- 1603–07
- 1651
- 1655
- 1661
- 1664
- 1670
- 1757
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In 1588 the English fleet defeats the Spanish Armada and establishes the superiority of English ships and seamanship. England is now ready to enter the race for overseas trade and possessions.
Elizabeth I grants a charter to the East India Company, which begins establishing trading posts in India.
Elizabeth’s successor is James I. After succeeding to the throne in 1603 he lays plans to colonize North America. The first permanent English settlement on the continent is Jamestown Colony, Virginia, founded in 1607.
The great Navigation Act is passed. This and other Navigation Acts eventually create a closed economy between Britain and its colonies. All colonial exports have to be shipped on English ships to the British market, and all colonial imports have to come by way of England.
An expedition sent by Oliver Cromwell wrests control of Jamaica from Spain. English settlers bring in vast numbers of enslaved Africans to work the sugar estates on the island.
The first permanent British settlement on the African continent is made at James Island (later Kunta Kinteh Island) in the Gambia River, which becomes a key post in the transatlantic slave trade.
The Dutch trade New Amsterdam (New York City) for a British island in Southeast Asia.
By this time there are British American colonies in New England, Virginia, and Maryland and settlements in the Bermudas, Honduras, Antigua, Barbados, and Nova Scotia, Canada.
British colonial administrator Robert Clive overthrows the nawab, or ruler, of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey on June 23. This victory makes Clive the virtual master of Bengal.
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History of Britain - Timeline and Facts. Thousands of years ago, Great Britain was joined to Europe and was covered with ice. About 15,000 years ago, the weather became warmer. The ice melted and the sea level rose. Great Britain became an island about 8000 years ago. Celtic people called Britons settles in Britain.
This is a timeline of English history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in England and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England .
- 1 January 1947. Britain's coal industry is nationalised. The nationalisation of the coal industry represents a major shift in industrial policy. It allowed for the rationalisation of the coal industry, with the closure of many small pits, although the nationalised industry soon came to need state subsidies in order to delay further restructuring and closures.
- 15 August 1947. India gains independence from Britain. India was regarded as the most valuable British imperial possession. World War Two forced Britain to realise that it could not maintain a global empire and the British agreed to Indian self-government.
- 22 June 1948. Post-war immigration from the Commonwealth begins. The liner 'SS Empire Windrush' docked at Tilbury carrying nearly 500 Caribbean immigrants to Britain, many attracted by offers of work.
- 5 July 1948. National Health Service is established. The National Health Service, established by the post-war Labour government, represented a fundamental change in the provision of medical services.
The history of the United Kingdom began in the early eighteenth century with the Treaty of Union and Acts of Union. The core of the United Kingdom as a unified state came into being in 1707 with the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, [1] into a new unitary state called Great Britain. [a] Of this new state of Great Britain ...
Explore all of British history, from the Neolithic to the present day, with this easy-to-use interactive timeline. Go to the British History Timeline. Norman Britain (1066 - 1154)
