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::South Sulawesi::

2009-07-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Makassar as provincial capital of South Sulawesi (Celebes), has in its history played an important role as the gateway to the former kingdom of Gowa and now to the whole province because of its natural harbour and International Airport accessible by Silk-Air and Malaysia Airlines. The center of business and administration, the city has expanded outwards from its most important landmark, that of Benteng Makassar ( Now : Benteng Ujung Pandang ) which faces the sea front. The province of South Sulawesi comprises the narrow south-western peninsula of this orchid-shaped island which is mainly mountainous. The gateway to Sulawesi is the historic port of Makassar, Makassar is one of the few Indonesian cities to embrace the sea. The focus of the town is a long esplanade curling along the bay, with swaying palms, wide sidewalks and colorful shop houses Their second-storey terraces offering commanding view of the beach, bay and tropical sunsets. While the growing city has sprawled into the surrounding hills during recent decades, commercial and social activity remains centered within a few blocks of the waterfront.

In the late afternoon and early evening hours most of the population seems together along the esplanade, strolling and chatting, snacking at any of the scores of the teashops and roving food stalls ,or simply enjoying the fresh sea breeze as the setting sun touches the horizon, silhouetting the masts and billowing sails of the schooners cruising the bay.

Famed for their seafaring heritage and Pinisi schooners for centuries, the Bugis possess to the present day one of the last sailing fleets in the world. The Bugis vessels have sailed to as far as the Australian coast, leaving behind drawings of their ships on stone with words that have been integrated into the Aboriginal language of north Australia. Situated on the crossroads of well travelled sea-lanes, its capital and chief trading port of Makassar, is till today the gateway to eastern Indonesia. Spanish and Portuguese galleons, followed by British and Dutch traders sailed these seas in search of the spice trade, escorted by their men of war to protect them against the daring raids of the Bugis and Makassarase who attacked the intruders.

The Tomanurung stone with inscriptions can still be seen in a plot neighboring the royal graves, near Sungguminasa, formerly the seat of the kings of Gowa. The Bugis kingdom of Bone, Wajo and Soppeng and the Makassarase kingdom of Gowa emerged in the 13th century. One of the eleven fortresses of the kingdom, it was built in 1545 during the reign of Tuni Pallanga, the 10th sultan of Gowa. When Gowa capitulated to the colonial forces under the treaty of Bungaya in 1667, the fort was renamed Rotterdam by Admiral Speelman who constructed bastions and buildings of typical Dutch architecture making it the center of the civilian government, including a church on its premises. One of the best preserved forts of that area, only the thick walls of earth and stones remain of the original complex, now occupied by educational and cultural offices of the provincial government. The two buildings house the Makassar State Museum, exhibiting archaeological and historical objects, manuscripts, numismatics, ceramics and ethnic costumes and ornaments.

Though unmarked, but of historical interest is the dungeon where one of Indonesia's most prominent heroes in the struggle for freedom, Prince Diponegoro was imprisoned for 27 years. Prince Diponegoro was buried in a family plot in the middle of the city on a street named after him: jalan Diponegoro. The family tree displayed on the wall indicated that none of his descendants returned to the courts of Yogyakarta, instead, they settled in Makassar and their custodian is a great-grandson. Sunsets in the Makassar Strait can be viewed from a promenade at jalan Penghibur or the Paotere anchorage in the north end of the city where the Pinisi schooners are berthed. Across the harbor is Kayangan Island which can be reached in 15 minutes by ferry. A popular recreational resort for the people of the city, there is entertainment in the evening and on Sundays. On the outskirts of Makassar, Paotere is where sailing boats and other small vessels anchor to unload their cargo.The setting casts a glow over the sea with the silhouettes of the boats. This scenery is most often photographed by tourists. Across the harbor of Makassar is Samalona Island which has been developed into a pleasant recreational resort. It can be reached by boat in 45 minutes and has simple accommodation. Recreational sports include diving, snorkeling, water skiing and fishing. Best months to visit are from February to October.

Formerly the seat of the kings of Gowa, about 11 km. from Makassar is the old palace of wood, standing on stilts facing the town square across the administration office. Now the Ballalompoa Museum, weapons and costumes of royalty are on display in glass cases. The royal regalia which includes a stone studded gold crown weighing 1769 grams can be seen only on special request.

Tomb of Sultan Hasanuddin

Sultan Hasanuddin (1629-1690) was famous for his exceptional bravery in his struggle against colonial encroachment in South Sulawesi. His tomb and those of other kings of Gowa are located in a secluded cemetery not far from Sungguminasa, about 8 km from Makassar. The huge crypts are gray with age and just outside the walls of the cemetery, a small fenced-off plot contains the Tomanurung stone on which the kings of Gowa were crowned in a show of pomp and splendor. Not far from the tombs is the oldest mosque in the area, built in 1603. Formerly the holiday resort of the kings. Malino, which is 70 km from Makassar offers a haven from city-life. Located on the slopes of Mt. Bawakaraeng it has a cool climate with forests of pine trees making it picturesque. Deer hunting on horseback was a royal sport in the days gone by.

To the north of Makassar and driving east along the mountain range, is the Bantimurung waterfalls, about 41 km from the capital. A cascade of sparkling water gushes out between rocky cliffs into a stream shaded by tall trees. Here the air is filled with butterflies which fly from shrub to shrub over the water.These rare brightly colored ornithoid butterflies are considered the most beautiful in the world. Toraja Land, through paddy-fields and typical Bugis houses made of wood and bamboo, built on stilts. The long drive from the lowlands of Makassar to the mountain sronghold of Tana Toraja opens up a breath-taking new world. The rugged mountains and verdant valleys are home to a people whose love of religious spectacle is equaled only by their hospitality. With majestic panoramas, captivating villages and dramatic ceremonies, Tana Toraja is the undisputed highlight of any journey to Sulawesi Island.

The area around Sengkang once formed a large gulf that separated southern sulawesi from the rest of the island. Although the coast has receded, the area is still one of wetlands and a shallow lake, now known collectively as Danau Tempe (Lake Tempe). Sengkang sits on the shores of Danau Tempe. it is a quite town that has stunning views out over the water. On Danau Tempe, floating houses with bamboo verandas ,drift with the current , can be seen by hiring a boat and skipper to see them on the water's surface. Besides, Sengkang known as the best home-industry of Silk Sarong among others throughout Indonesia.

*Pictures : Floating village, Danau Tempe.
Silk Sarong are being made

Napoleon Boneparte

2009-07-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

Emperor of the French, 1769 - 1821

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, the son of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte. Through his military exploits and his ruthless efficiency, Napoleon rose from obscurity to become Napoleon I, Empereur des Francais (Emperor of the French). He is both a historical figure and a legend—and it is sometimes difficult to separate the two. The events of his life fired the imaginations of great writers, film makers, and playwrights whose works have done much to create the Napoleonic legend.

Napoleon decided on a military career when he was a child, winning a scholarship to a French military academy at age 14. His meteoric rise shocked not only France but all of Europe, and his military conquests threatened the stability of the world.

Napoleon was one of the greatest military commanders in history. He has also been portrayed as a power hungry conqueror. Napoleon denied those accusations. He argued that he was building a federation of free peoples in a Europe united under a liberal government. But if this was his goal, he intended to achieve it by taking power in his own hands. However, in the states he created, Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, created efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts.

Emperor Napoleon proved to be an excellent civil administrator. One of his greatest achievements was his supervision of the revision and collection of French law into codes. The new law codes—seven in number—incorporated some of the freedoms gained by the people of France during the French revolution, including religious toleration and the abolition of serfdom. The most famous of the codes, the Code Napoleon or Code Civil, still forms the basis of French civil law. Napoleon also centralized France's government by appointing prefects to administer regions called departments, into which France was divided.

While Napoleon believed in government "for" the people, he rejected government "by" the people. His France was a police state with a vast network of secret police and spies. The police shut down plays containing any hint of disagreement or criticism of the government. The press was controlled by the state. It was impossible to express an opinion without Napoleon's approval.

Napoleon's own opinion of his career is best stated in the following quotation:

“I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution.”

History of Babylon

2009-07-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

Ancient empire of Mesopotamia. The name is sometimes given to the whole civilization of S Mesopotamia, including the states established by the city rulers of Lagash, Akkad (or Agade), Uruk, and Ur in the 3d millennium Historically it is limited to the first dynasty of Babylon established by Hamurabi (c.1750 ), and to the Neo-Babylonian period after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Hammurabi, who had his capital at Babylon, issued the code of laws for the management of his large empire–for he was in control of most of the Tigris and Euphrates region even before he defeated the Elamites. Babylonian cunieform writing was derived from the Sumerians. The quasifeudal society was divided into classes–the wealthy landowners and merchants and the priests; the less wealthy merchants, peasants, and artisans; and the slaves.
The Babylonian religion was inherited from the older Sumerian culture. All these Babylonian institutions influenced the civilization of Assyria and so contributed to the later history of the Middle East and of Western Europe.The wealth of Babylonia tempted nomadic and seminomadic neighbors; even under Hammurabi's successor Babylonia was having to stave off assaults. Early in the 18th cent. the Hittites sacked Babylon and held it briefly. The nomadic Kassites (Cassites), a tribe from Elam, took the city shortly thereafter and held it precariously for centuries. Babylonia degenerated into anarchy c.1180 with the fall of the Kassites. As a subsidiary state of the Assyrian Empire (after the 9th cent. ), Babylonia flourished once more. It was the key area in the attempted uprising against the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and Babylon was sacked (c.689 ) in his reign.After the death of Assurbanipal, the last great Assyrian monarch, Nabopolassar, the ruler of Babylonia, established (625 ) his independence. He allied himself with the Medes and Persians and helped to bring about the capture of Nineveh (612 ) and the fall of the Assyrian Empire. He established what is generally known as the Chaldaean or New Babylonian Empire. Under his son, Nebuchadnezzar, the new empire reached its height. The recalcitrant Hebrews were defeated and punished with the Babylonian captivity. Egypt had already been defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in the great battle of Carchemish (605) while Nabopolassar was still alive. The empire seemed secure, but it was actually transitory. The steady growth of Persian power spelled the end of Babylonia, and in 538 the last of the Babylonian rulers surrendered to Cyrus the Great (Belshazzar). Babylonia became an important region of the Persian Empire.

Believe or Not

2009-07-28T04:52:00.000-07:00

If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.
The Mercedes-Benz motto is 'Das Beste oder Nichts' meaning 'the best or nothing'.
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.
The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep at night.
Laughing lower levels of stress hormones and strengthen the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
Dalmatians are born without spots.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
The 'v' in the name of a court case does not stand for 'versus', but for 'and' (in civil proceedings) or 'against' (in criminal proceedings).
Men's shirts have the buttons on the right, but women's shirts have the buttons on the left.
The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.
The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it's already been digested by a bee.
Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.
Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.
Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.
The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.
When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.
The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.
Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.
Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.
It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.
The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples
There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.
Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.
It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.
The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.
The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.
Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.
In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it is smiling).
Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself.?
The only 2 animals that can see behind themselves without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The average person laughs 13 times a day.
Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Speak no evil).
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.
Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.
Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.
Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.
The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet.

History of Inca - Machu Picchu

2009-07-28T04:36:00.000-07:00

Pre-Columbian empire, W South America. The name Inca may specifically refer to the emperor, but is generally used to mean the empire or the people.

Extent and Organization of the Empire

Centered at Cuzco, Peru, the empire at the time of the Spanish conquest (1532) dominated the entire Andean area from Quito, Ecuador, S to the Río Maule, Chile, extending some 2,000 mi (3,200 km). Although the Inca showed a genius for organization, their conquests were facilitated by the highly developed social systems of some of the kingdoms that they absorbed, such as the Chimu, and the established agrarian
communities that covered the area of their conquest. The Inca empire was a closely knit state. At the top was the emperor, an absolute monarch ruling by divine right. Merciless toward its enemies and requiring an obedience close to slavery, the imperial government was responsible for the welfare of its subjects. Everything was owned by the state except houses, movable household goods, and some individually held lands. In addition to cultivating the land, the common people were drafted to work on state projects such as mining, public works, and army service. This obligation was known as mita. From well-stocked storehouses were drawn goods to support priests, government servants, special artisans, the aged and the sick, and widows.The royal family formed an educated, governing upper nobility, which at the time of the Spanish conquest numbered around 500. To further increase government control over an empire grown unwieldy, all who spoke Quechua became an "Inca class" by privilege and became colonists. Lesser administrative officials, formerly independent rulers, and their descendants were the minor nobility, or curaca class, also supported by the government.For purposes of administration the empire was divided into four parts, the lines of which met at Cuzco; the quarters were divided into provinces, usually on the basis of former independent divisions. These in turn were customarily split into an upper and a lower moiety; the moieties were subdivided into ayllus, or local communities. Much as it exists today as the basic unit of communal indigenous society, so the ancient ayllu was the political and social foundation of Inca government. When a territory was conquered, surveys, consisting of relief models of topographical and population features, and a census of the population were made. With these reports, recorded on quipus, of the material and human resources in each province, populations were reshuffled as needed. Thus transplanted, and dominated by Quechua colonists, the subject peoples had less chance to revolt, and the separate languages and cultures were molded to the Inca pattern.Religion, controlled by a hierarchy similar to the government hierarchy, emphasized ritual and organization. Heading the Inca gods was Viracocha. His servants were the sun, the god of the weather or thunder, the moon, the stars, the earth, and the sea. The sun god was foremost among these. Divination, sacrifices (human only at times of crisis), celebrations and ceremonies, ritual, feasts, and fasts were all part of Inca religion.

Inca Agriculture, Engineering, and Manufacturing

Although the Andean area offered a diversity of plant domestication, the handicaps of terrain and climate presented severe obstacles. To overcome them, Inca engineers demonstrated extraordinary skill in terracing, drainage, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers. They lacked draft animals, but domesticated animals (the llama, the alpaca, the dog, the guinea pig, and the duck) were important to daily living; from the wild vicuña, fine wool was sheared.Without paper or a system of writing, the architects and master masons who designed and supervised the construction of public buildings and engineering works in such cities as Machu Pichu and the fortress of Sacsahuaman built clay models and, in actual construction, employed sliding scales, plumb bobs, and bronze and stone tools. Without wheeled vehicles for transport, the huge polygonal stone blocks for fortress, palace, temple, and storehouse were emplaced by ramp and rollers and were fitted with extraordinary precision. Wall corners were always carefully bonded. Adobe bricks and plaster were common, especially along the coastal desert. Buildings were usually of one story.One of the most remarkable evidences of Inca engineering skill was an elaborate network of roads, which in many places still survives. Streams were crossed by a log or stone bridge, placid rivers by balsa ferry or pontoon bridge, and chasms by a breeches-buoy contrivance or by a suspension bridge that might be as much as 200 ft (60 m) long. Road sections were maintained by the nearest village, as were the shelters and military storehouses that were spaced a day's travel apart; a village also supplied messengers for its sector. These men, serving 15-day shifts, relayed messages about every mile. About 150 mi (240 km) could be covered daily, a distance that later took the Spanish colonial post 12 to 13 days to cover.In the manufacture of textiles the Inca utilized almost every available kind of fiber and produced elaborate multicolored tapestries. In ceramics they achieved a fine-grained, highly polished, metallic hardness that stressed functional and utilitarian design. Mining was fairly extensive. Of the metals, copper and bronze were for public use; gold, silver, and tin were reserved for the emperor, the temples, and the upper nobility. Metallurgical processes included the techniques of smelting, alloying, casting, hammering, repoussé, incrustation, inlay, soldering, riveting, and cloisonné.

HistoryThe Empire's Growth

Since the Inca combined much Aymara mythology with their own, their origin myth is obscure. The most common belief is that the legendary founder, Manco Capac (who seems to have been a historical figure), brought his people from mountain caves to the Cuzco Valley. During the early Inca period (c.1200—c.1440) the tribe gradually established its hegemony over other peoples of the valley and under the emperor named Viracocha (the name also of the supreme creator in Inca cosmology) allied themselves with the Quechua. However, it was not until the reigns of Pachacuti (c.1440—1471) and his son Topa Inca, or Tupac Yupanqui (1471—93), that the Inca made their great conquests. The present Ecuador (the kingdom of Quito) was subjugated by Huayna Capac, giving the empire its greatest extent and power. At his death it was divided between his sons, Huascar and Atahualpa, and a long civil war ensued from which Atahualpa emerged triumphant just as Francisco Pizzaro landed on the shores of Peru and the Spanish conquest began.

Spanish Conquest
When Francisco Pizarro landed in South America in 1532, he was welcomed by Atahualpa. By strategem the conquistador lured the emperor into his camp, captured, and then executed him. Shortly thereafter (1533) Pizarro entered Cuzco. Although the Spaniards did not immediately subdue the Inca, the highly personal and centralized political structure of the Inca facilitated the Spanish conquest. Despite the heroic resistance carried on in many sections and the rebellion (1536—37) of Manco Capac, the conquest was assured. Under Spanish rule Inca culture was greatly modified and eventually Hispanicized. The natives were reduced to a subordinate status, and only in recent years have efforts been made to make the indigenous Peruvian population (about 50% of the total) an integral part of the national life.

Manco Capac, legendary founder of the Inca dynasty of Peru
Legendary founder of the Inca dynasty of Peru. According to the most frequently told story, four brothers, Manco Capac, Ayar Anca, Ayar Cachi, and Ayar Uchu, and their four sisters, Mama Ocllo, Mama Huaco, Mama Cura (or Ipacura), and Mama Raua, lived at Paccari-Tampu [tavern of the dawn], several miles distant from Cuzco. They gathered together the tribes of their locality, marched on the Cuzco Valley, and conquered the tribes living there. Manco Capac had by his sister-wife, Mama Ocllo, a son called Sinchi Roca (or Cinchi Roca). Authorities concede that the first Inca chief to be a historical figure was called Sinchi Roca (c.1105—c.1140). Thus the foundation for an empire was laid. Another legend relates that the Sun created a man and a woman on an island in Lake Titicaca. They were given a golden staff by the Sun, their father, who bade them settle permanently at whatever place the staff should sink into the earth. At a hill overlooking the present city of Cuzco the staff of gold disappeared into the earth. They gathered around them a great many people and founded the city of Cuzco and the

The History of British Empire

2009-07-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

Overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primarily from commercial and political motives and emigration movements, its long endurance resulted from British command of the seas and preeminence in international commerce, and from the flexibility of British rule. At its height in the late 19th and early 20th cent., the empire included territories on all continents, comprising about one quarter of the world's population and area. Probably the outstanding impact of the British Empire has been the dissemination of European ideas, particularly of British political institutions and of English as a lingua franca, throughout a large part of the world.

The First Empire
The origins of the empire date from the late 16th cent. with the private commercial ventures, chartered and encouraged by the crown, of chartered companies. These companies sometimes had certain powers of political control as well as commercial monopolies over designated geographical areas. Usually they began by setting up fortified trading posts, but where no strong indigenous government existed the English gradually extended their powers over the surrounding area. In this way scattered posts were established in India and the East Indies (for spices, coffee, and tea), defying Portuguese and later Dutch hegemony, and in Newfoundland (for fish) and Hudson Bay (for furs), where the main adversaries were the French.In the 17th cent. European demand for sugar and tobacco led to the growth of plantations on the islands of the Caribbean and in SE North America. These colonies, together with those established by Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters in NE North America, attracted a considerable and diversified influx of European settlers. Organized by chartered companies, the colonies soon developed representative institutions, evolving from the company governing body and modeled on English lines.The need for cheap labor to work the plantations fostered the growth of the African slave trade. New chartered companies secured posts on the African coasts as markets for captured slaves from the interior. An integrated imperial trade arose, involving the exchange of African slaves for West Indian molasses and sugar, English cloth and manufactured goods, and American fish and timber. To achieve the imperial self-sufficiency required by prevailing theories of mercantilism and, more immediately, to increase British wealth and naval strength, the Navigation Acts were passed, restricting colonial trade exclusively to British ships and making England the sole market for important colonial products.Developments in the late 17th and early 18th cent. were characterized by a weakening of the Spanish and Dutch empires, exposing their territories to British encroachment, and by growing Anglo-French rivalry in India, Canada, and Africa. At this time the British government attempted to assert greater direct control over the expanding empire. In the 1680s the revision of certain colonial charters to bring the North American and West Indian colonies under the supervision of royal governors resulted in chronic friction between the governors and elected colonial assemblies.The early 18th cent. saw a reorganization and revitalization of many of the old chartered companies. In India, from the 1740s to 1763, the British East India Company and its French counterpart were engaged in a military and commercial rivalry in which the British were ultimately victorious. The political fragmentation of the Mughal empire permitted the absorption of one area after another by the British. The Treaty of Paris firmly established the British in India and Canada, but the financial burdens of war involved the government in difficulties with the American colonies. The success of the American Revolution marked the end of the first British Empire.

The Second Empire
The voyages of Capt. James Cook to Australia and New Zealand in the 1770s and new conquests in India after 1763 opened a second phase of territorial expansion. The victories of the Napoleon Wars added further possessions to the empire, among them Cape Colony, Mauritius, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, British Guiana (Guyana), and Malta. During the second empire mercantilist ideals and regulations were gradually abandoned in response to economic and political developments in Great Britain early in the 19th cent. Britain's new industrial supremacy lent greater force to doctrines of free trade, which, as part of their critique of mercantilism, questioned the economic value of political ties between the colonies and the mother country.The plight of large nonwhite populations within the empire became a matter of concern to humanitarians. Abolition of the slave trade (1807) and of slavery (1833) was accompanied in the colonies by efforts to improve the lot of indigenous groups. Better communications and the establishment of a regular civil service facilitated the development of a more efficient colonial administration. But the growth, notably in the English-speaking colonies, of national identity and of relative national self-sufficiency, as well as a trend of opinion in Britain favoring colonial self-government, made the British, now engaged in liberalizing their own governing institutions, willing to concede certain powers of self-government to the white colonies. In 1839, Lord Durham, in response to unrest in Canada, issued his "Report on the Affairs of British North America." Durham stated that to retain its colonies Britain should grant them a large measure of internal self-government.The British North America Act of 1867 inaugurated a pattern of devolution followed in most of the European-settled colonies by which Parliament gradually surrendered its direct governing powers; thus Australia and New Zealand followed Canada in becoming self-governing dominions. On the other hand, the British assumed greater responsibility in Africa and in India, where the Indian Mutiny had resulted (1858) in the final transfer of power from the East India Company to the British government. To govern territories with large indigenous populations, the crown colony system was developed. Such colonies, of which one of the most enduring was Hong Kong, were ruled by a British governor and consultative councils composed primarily of the governor's nominees; these, in turn, often delegated considerable powers of local government to local rulers.In the later decades of the 19th cent. there occurred a revival of European competition for empire in which the British acquired or consolidated vast holdings in Africa–such as Nigeria, the Gold Coast (later Ghana), Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe), South Africa, and Egypt–and in Asia–such as Burma (Myanmar) and Malaya. The size and wealth of the empire and the anxieties produced by European colonial competition stimulated a desire for imperial solidarity. The Imperial Conference, begun in 1887, represented an attempt to strengthen Britain's ties with those colonies that had become self-governing territories.

From Empire to Commonwealth
World War I brought the British Empire to the peak of its expansion, but in the years that followed came its decline. Victory added, under the system of mandates, new territories, including Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, and several former German territories in Africa and Asia. Imperial contributions had considerably strengthened the British war effort (more than 200,000 men from the overseas empire died in the war; the dominions and India signed the Versailles Treaty and joined the League of Nations), but at the same time expectations were raised among colonial populations that an increased measure of self-government would be granted.Nationalist agitation against economic disparities, often stimulated by acts of racial discrimination by British settlers, was particularly strong in India and in parts of Africa. Although loath to lessen its hold over countries it had done much to develop, and thereby to incur great economic and political loss, Britain gradually capitulated to the pressures of nationalist sentiment. Iraq gained full sovereignty in 1932; British privileges in Egypt were modified by treaty in 1936; and concessions were made toward self-government in India and later in the African colonies.In 1931 the Statute of Westminster officially recognized the independent and equal status under the crown of the former dominions within a British Commonwealth of Nations, thus marking the advent of free cooperation among equal partners. After World War II self-government advanced rapidly in all parts of the empire. In 1947, India was partitioned and independence granted to the new states of India and Pakistan. In 1948 the mandate over Palestine was relinquished, and Burma (Myanmar) gained independence as a republic. Other parts of the empire, notably in Africa, gained independence and subsequently joined the Commonwealth.Great Britain still administers many dependencies throughout the world. They include Gibraltar in the Mediterranean; the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, and St. Helena (including Ascension and Tristan da Cunha) in the South Atlantic; Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies; and Pitcairn Island in the Pacific. These dependencies have varying degrees of self-government. In 1982 Britain clashed with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, retaking them by force after Argentina had invaded them to back up its claims of sovereignty.