In the long-run, the success of the British Empire depended on an economic system that had stable money and encouraged trade and entrepreneurship, a strong navy that guaranteed protection for all the colonies (none was ever captured by an enemy), and a legal system that was stable, fair and lacking in petty corruption or bribery.
==Settlement==Millions of Britons migrated and settled some of the Empire--especially the [[Colonial America|13 American colonies]], Canada (and Newfoundland), Australia, New Zealand and (in part), South Africa. Some settlers came as prisoners, especially to Australia. Others came as slaves, especially to the West Indies and the 13 American colonies. [[Image:B-Emp-1763.jpg|thumb|375px]] In the rest of the Empire Britain sent in soldiers, administrators, businessmen and missionaries on temporary duty, as in India and Africa, along with a relatively small number of permanent settlers.===First efforts, 1497-1640===Portugal and Spain built the first empires, based on the wealth of Brazil and Mexico and Peru. England was allied with Portugal, but was a foe of Spain, a much larger country with a stronger navy in the century after Columbus. The English responded as predators, raiding and seizing Spanish ships, under the cover of "privateering" authorized by the government. Spain in 1588 sent a major fleet (the Armada) to conquer England, but it was destroyed by storms, and Spain lost her superiority at sea. England set out small expeditions to claim land (such as [[Newfoundland]], settled in 1610) and set up bases to raid the Spanish main. Most of the early efforts were of small scale, and failed, such as the "Lost Colony of Roanoke" (1585-87), where a hundred settlers in North Carolina simply vanished. The Scots (independently of England), attempted a vast colony in Darien, the Panama region of Central America; it was a total failure.===13 American colonies===The small settlement at [[Jamestown]] miraculously survived and once the value of native tobacco was appreciated it became the nucleus for the highly successful colony of [[Virginia]]. In 1619 the Virginians set up an elected legislative assembly, the house of burgesses, which is now the state legislature. It was the first distinctively American local government and became the model for other colonies. Religion motivated some 30,000 [[Puritans]], a community-oriented, modernizing group that settled Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 1630s, and created the [[Yankee]] model of being American. The main colonies were created by the English, but one was captured. The English captured the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]] in 1664 and renamed it New York; the Dutch settlers remained and the rich poltroons had huge estates along the Hudson River. Each of the 13 American colonies was different, but typically a colony was ruled by a governor appointed from London who controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally elected legislature to vote taxes and make laws. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of ample supplies of land and food, and low death rates. They were richer than most parts of Britain, and attracted a steady flow of immigrants, especially teenagers who came as indentured servants. The tobacco and rice plantations imported black slaves from the British colonies in the West Indies, and by the 1770s they comprised a fifth of the American population. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against French and Spanish power, for a series of major wars made welcome the protection afforded by the Royal Navy. London regarded the American colonies as existing merely for the benefit of the mother country. The Americans developed their own legal and political traditions, focused on self government with elected legislatures and in new England, elected town officials). They developed a political philosophy of [[Republicanism]] to justify their system, which had no aristocrats. The British threat to American self-government was the cause of the [[American Revolution]], where fighting lasted 1775-1781.SGAyyyyyyh
==Second British Empire==