French-speaking majority in Canada was overshadowed by a great number of english(-speaking) immigrants (loyalists). By the mid-19th century, english became dominant in Canada.
In 1791, a constitutional act was enacted to accommodate the english speakers ← this divides the province of Quebec into 2 parts: West/Upper Canada, and East/Lower Canada, the former becoming English, the latter - French.
This is when the border between Quebec and Ontario was drawn.
1837 rebellion in the Canadas (BNA), the House of Assembly felt neglected by the London governor, so the British sent Lord Durham to see why the loyalists were protesting.
BNA: British North America following the Seven Years’ War,
The problems Durham found were addressed by the introduction of the Responsible Government. Therein, the governments are responsible to parliament rather than to the monarch or the imperial government.
With this, Canada is not subject to the metropole, but receives responsible government. This is the first step to increasing autonomy.
It was first introduced in Nova Scotia in 1848, but then was spread to the other provinces.
Three colonies are ten separated into four provinces, with Canada becoming a federal dominion with its own institutions.
15 of the 56 member states of the Commonwealth are realms, which means they still recognize the monarch.
The ‘Great Game’: Indian March of Paul 1, russian vicotires on persia, Britain perceived a russian threat.
Apparently this was an imaginary threat: the russians never made it that far. Arthur Connolly is the one who came up with the term ‘great game’ - a game over dominance in asia.
Rudyard Kipling wrote a series of other novels all taking place in the context of the Great Game, fueling in this way british society, alarming the brits to the russian threat.
First Afghan War (1839-42). in 1842 the british retreated because of permanent insurrections.
The brits then conquered Sindh to avoid the russians sailing into their territory via the Indus river.
James Napier was the General that invaded Sindh, and was criticized for it even during this tame, as the Sindh were allies previously. A statue to him stands on Trafalgar square next to Nelson.
The conquest of Punjab in the NW of present-day India, part of it being in Pakistan (as it was separated).
Punjab is where Sikhism came from and is spread.
The succession war that happened after Punjab was led and was strong by Ranjit Singh, was profited off of by the brits.
As a result, Britain came to rule the whole of India, including Pakistan, parts of Burma, Myanmar, …
In the 1950s it comes to a break,
Crimean War (1853-56) → Ottomans aided by France and Britain, against russia.
Indian Rebellion (1857-58) → largest anti-colonial rebellion in world history; different states and ethnic/social groups rose into rebellion, launched a war against british rule in India. Not the whole of India, there were regions that sided with the brits, but nevertheless this was a huge conflict concentrated especially in the north of India, starting near Delhi as a mutiny, then spreads to other cities like Kanpur and Lucknow. Eventually, Major General Henry Havelock (among others) succeeded in crushing the rebellion. Obviously with a lot of violence. there are very charged ways of calling this rebellion, as for instance ‘the great mutiny’ (in british schools), or ‘the first war of independence’ (as the indians would).
This was revived when russia started trying to conquer the far east again. This invasion happened as part of the opium wars (maybe?).
This conquest also went to Central Asia.
This, in turn, revives british imperialism in the 1870s, and led to new British expansion as well. The Brits conquered Baluchistan, in 1877 the Brits and russians agreed to grant East Turkistan to China.
Second Afghan War in the late 1870s, the Brits were defeated again.
In 1895, the Dalai Lama started pro-russian policy, obviously alarming the brits who then started a campaign to conquer Lhasa (the leader of the campaign was Younghusband)
Eventually the brits recognized tibetan independence and agreed on trade and borders, forming an alliance. The borders formed then, (even today) lead to border conflicts between india and china.
China was recognized as the sovereign of Tiber by both london and saint-petersburg.
The tibet would soon become independent again due to the collapse of the Chinese empire.
The Dalai Lama was then lead into exile.
Decline of russia following defeat in the russo-japanese war and the rise of germany
1907 saw the alliance of london and spb, following the franco-russian alliance of 1892 and the Entente Cordial between France and Britain in 1904, and the Triple Entente
Persia was divided in 1907, with the northern part going to the russian sphere of influence, south-eastern part going to britain, and the region in between remaining independent; the shah remained in power there, but there was a neutral european controller as well. Of course they were a Belgian.
Three anglo-burma wars, that ultimately lead to Burma receiving separate status from British india.
south-east asia:
There was the gradual decline of the VOC: started accruing debt, and perished by corruption (Vergaan Onder Corruptie).
The Dutch East Indies got occupied by the British cause they had a skill issue.