A History of the British Empire

Among European nations, Britain had neither Spain and Portugal's advantage in discovering new sea routes nor France and Russia's vast territory, large population, and abundant resources. Yet this small country rose to power, building an empire that at its height covered 125 times the area of Britain itself and contained a quarter of the world's population: an empire on which the sun never set. The rise and collapse of the British Empire profoundly shaped the entire world. From the Tudor dynasty in the second half of the fifteenth century to the empire's dissolution after World War II, this history was written over twenty years under the leadership of Professor Qian Chengdan, a leading authority on British history, alongside China's top experts in the field. It is the first and, to date, the only multivolume history of the British Empire published in China. A definitive work on the British Empire by Chinese scholars, this book offers a complete account of its origins and development.