English Colonial Empire

State · 1609–1779 CE · at its largest around 1702 CE

England's overseas possessions before the 1707 union with Scotland, including colonies in North America and the Caribbean and trading posts of the East India Company.

On its lands while it lasted

Mali Empire (c. 1235–1670 CE): West African empire founded by Sundiata Keita that at its height in the 14th century stretched from the Atlantic coast to the Niger bend and controlled major gold sources.
Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1646 CE): South Indian empire founded by Harihara I and Bukka Raya I in 1336, a major patron of Hindu culture and temple architecture.
Middle Passage (c. 1526–1866 CE): The forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas. Of about 12.5 million people embarked between the 16th and 19th centuries, some 1.8 million died on the crossing.
Mughal Empire founded (1526–1857 CE): Empire founded by Babur that at its height ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, famed for its wealth, administration and architecture.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547 CE – 1616 CE): Spanish novelist, playwright and poet whose Don Quixote (1605, 1615) is widely regarded as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of world literature.
Galileo Galilei (1564 CE – 1642 CE): Italian astronomer and physicist born in Pisa who pioneered experimental science and telescopic astronomy. Condemned by the Inquisition in 1633, he spent his last years under house arrest near Florence.
William Shakespeare (1564 CE – 1616 CE): English playwright and poet from Stratford-upon-Avon whose plays, performed in London, include Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in English.
Spanish treasure fleet (1566–1790 CE): Convoys of the Flota de Indias sailed from Seville (later Cádiz) to Veracruz, Cartagena and Portobelo, gathered at Havana, and returned via the Florida Straits and the Azores laden with American silver and gold.
Taj Mahal (1632 CE): White marble mausoleum at Agra built by Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, begun in 1632; the most celebrated work of Mughal architecture.
Isaac Newton (1643 CE – 1727 CE): English mathematician and physicist at Cambridge who formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, co-invented calculus and advanced optics.
George Washington (1732 CE – 1799 CE): Commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and first President of the United States (1789–1797).
Napoleon (1769 CE – 1821 CE): Corsican-born general who seized power in France in 1799 and crowned himself Emperor in 1804. He conquered much of Europe before his defeat in 1815 and died in exile on Saint Helena.
Watt steam engine (1769 CE): James Watt patented his separate condenser in 1769, greatly improving the steam engine's efficiency. Built with Matthew Boulton in Birmingham from 1775, it powered the Industrial Revolution.
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783 CE): War in which thirteen British colonies, aided by France, won independence and formed the United States of America.
US Declaration of Independence (1776 CE): Adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776, it declared the thirteen colonies independent and asserted natural rights.