State · 1583 – 1997

British Empire

A state of 1583 – 1997 — 414 years in Europe. It replaced English overseas possessions. The atlas records 339 things within it — wars and battles 107 · unrest and atrocity 24 · famine and plague 2 · natural disasters 2 · treaties 3 · people 200 · works and ideas 1. Its line of rulers holds 19 people.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 414 years; 1583 – 1997
Rulers: 19; the Monarch of England
Most ground: 23.79 million km²; in 1919
Within it: 339; recorded rows
Symbols: 2; on record, with years

Map: British Empire in 1919, its borders in gold among its neighbours — British Empire in 1919, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 23.79 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

British Empire in 1706, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

British Empire in 1919, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

English overseas possessions · replaces · 1580 – 1707

Rulers

The line of Monarch of England.

killed, executed or dead in battledeposed, abdicated, exiled or removeddied in officeleft alive by a regular road

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Elizabeth I	1558 – 1603	45 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death
James VI and I	1603 – 1625	22 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death
Charles I of England	1625 – 1649	24 years	executedWikidata's manner of death	child
Charles II of England	1660 – 1685	25 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
James II of England	1685 – 1688	3 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone	sibling
Mary II	1689 – 1694	5 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone	child
William III of England	1694 – 1702	8 years	died by accidentWikidata's manner of death	spouse
Anne, Queen of Great Britain	1702 – 1714	12 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death
George I of Great Britain	1714 – 1727	13 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death
George II of Great Britain	1727 – 1760	33 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
George III	1760 – 1820	60 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	grandchild
George IV	1820 – 1830	10 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
William IV	1830 – 1837	7 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	sibling
Queen Victoria	1837 – 1901	64 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	nephew or niece
Edward VII	1901 – 1910	9 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
George V	1910 – 1936	26 years	died by suicideWikidata's manner of death	child
Edward VIII	1936 – 1936	under a year	abdicatedWikidata's end cause on the term	child
George VI	1936 – 1952	16 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	sibling
Elizabeth II	1952 – 2022	70 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child

19 rulers, 19 with terms dated as terms, covering 1558 – 2022. Median reign 16 years. 7 of 18 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Heads of government

The line of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.

Harriet Jones	undated
Francis Urquhart	undated
Jim Hacker	undated
Judge McGruder	undated
Basil Feilding	lived 1719 – 1800
Robert Walpole	1721 – 1742
Spencer Compton	1742 – 1743
Henry Pelham	1743 – 1754
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle	1754 – 1756
William Cavendish	1756 – 1757
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle	1757 – 1762
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute	1762 – 1763
George Grenville	1763 – 1765
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham	1765 – 1766
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham	1766 – 1768
Augustus FitzRoy	1768 – 1770
Frederick North, Lord North	1770 – 1782
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne	1782 – 1783
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham	1782 – 1782
William Pitt the Younger	1783 – 1801
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland	1783 – 1783
Henry Addington	1801 – 1804
William Pitt the Younger	1804 – 1806
William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville	1806 – 1807
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland	1807 – 1809
Spencer Perceval	1809 – 1812
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool	1812 – 1827
George Canning	1827 – 1827
Frederick John Robinson	1827 – 1828
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington	1828 – 1830
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey	1830 – 1834
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington	1834 – 1834
Robert Peel	1834 – 1835
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne	1835 – 1841
Robert Peel	1841 – 1846
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell	1846 – 1852
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby	1852 – 1852
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen	1852 – 1855
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston	1855 – 1858
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby	1858 – 1859
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston	1859 – 1865
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell	1865 – 1866
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby	1866 – 1868
William Ewart Gladstone	1868 – 1874
Benjamin Disraeli	1868 – 1868
Benjamin Disraeli	1874 – 1880
William Ewart Gladstone	1880 – 1885
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury	1885 – 1886
William Ewart Gladstone	1886 – 1886
William Ewart Gladstone	1892 – 1894
Archibald Primrose	1894 – 1895
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury	1895 – 1902
Arthur Balfour	1902 – 1905
Henry Campbell-Bannerman	1905 – 1908
H. H. Asquith	1908 – 1916
David Lloyd George	1916 – 1922
Bonar Law	1922 – 1923
Stanley Baldwin	1924 – 1929
Ramsay MacDonald	1924 – 1924
Ramsay MacDonald	1929 – 1935
Stanley Baldwin	1935 – 1937
Neville Chamberlain	1937 – 1940
Winston Churchill	1940 – 1945
Clement Attlee	1945 – 1951
Winston Churchill	1951 – 1955
Anthony Eden	1955 – 1957
Harold Macmillan	1957 – 1963
Alec Douglas-Home	1963 – 1964
Harold Wilson	1964 – 1970
Edward Heath	1970 – 1974
Harold Wilson	1974 – 1976
James Callaghan	1976 – 1979
Margaret Thatcher	1979 – 1990
John Major	1990 – 1997
Tony Blair	1997 – 2007

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

227,900 km² in 1708, 23,100 km² in 1997; at its largest 16.42 million km² in 1908. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flags and arms, in order

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedFlag of the United Kingdom (1-2) · Public domain
coat of arms, undatedCoat of arms of the United Kingdom (1901–1952) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sodacan

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1700 – 179986 rows · 26 wars and battles · 4 risings, regime changes and massacres

Abigail Adams · politician · 1744 – 1818
Aaron Burr · politician · 1756 – 1836
Martha Washington · politician · 1731 – 1802
Boston Tea Party · unrest · 1773
Samuel Adams · philosopher · 1722 – 1803
John Jay · politician · 1745 – 1829
Patrick Henry · politician · 1736 – 1799
John Marshall · politician · 1755 – 1835

and 78 more in the atlas.

1800 – 189975 rows · 24 wars and battles · 6 risings, regime changes and massacres

Ramakrishna · philosopher · 1836 – 1886
Ronald Ross · scientist · 1857 – 1932
Lawrence Bragg · scientist · 1890 – 1971
Indian Rebellion of 1857 · unrest · 1857 – 1858
Anglo-Zanzibar War · war · 1896
Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi · politician · 1828 – 1858
Second Boer War · war · 1899 – 1902
Bal Gangadhar Tilak · politician · 1856 – 1920

and 67 more in the atlas.

1900 – 1999178 rows · 57 wars and battles · 14 risings, regime changes and massacres

Kofi Annan · politician · 1938 – 2018
Wangarĩ Maathai · scientist · 1940 – 2011
Nadine Gordimer · writer · 1923 – 2014
Lee Kuan Yew · politician · 1923 – 2015
Ariel Sharon · politician · 1928 – 2014
Desmond Tutu · religious leader · 1931 – 2021
Yitzhak Rabin · politician · 1922 – 1995
Wole Soyinka · philosopher · 1934 – present

and 170 more in the atlas.

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood414 years
stood longer than 82% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held23,794,900 km²
held more ground at its peak than 100% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century4.8
had more wars on record per century than 99% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median16 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 51% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record19
has more rulers on record than 91% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 3 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

in the articlelinked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Challenge, failed response and dissolution
Toynbee 1934 · Toynbee & Somervell 1946
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 2 conditions held here (it needs all of them), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — the state's ending.
- territory shrank by 25% over the 100 y ending 25 y before — territory -98
- unrest, adverse regime change or atrocity within 100 y in the state, or a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 50 y, or battle within 50 y in the state — prior; warEnded

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1542 – 2038, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1919, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q8680 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.