British Colonialism

Introduction

British colonial presence on Magellania is probably the second or third oldest European oldest. 

Francis Drake and the early British Colonialism

The first Englishman to land on Magellania was the privateer and explorer Sir Francis Drake. He first reached Magellania in 1579.

Seeing potential conflict with Spain, Britain decided to establish its first proper colony in the deep south of Magellania, Port Elizabeth. This first colony in the South was constantly plagued the by poor climate and the unfamiliar environment. Not once, but several times were its inhabitants threatened by starvation. 

On the other side of the continent, the town of Port Drake experienced its heyday as pirate nest. British and other vessels preyed upon Spanish merchants and galleys headed for Puerto de Magellan.

Several of the smaller islands would first serve as penal colonies before becoming real settlements. Only in the middle of the 17th century, English monarchs made it their agenda to take control of the Drake Passage and secure their power in the Balboan Ocean. This would also lead to the establishment of English and Dutch spheres of influence in the Treaty of Westminster. The growing English presence on Magellania would also open them up for more involvement in South America. 

Elizabethania and the Anglo-Dutch Treaty

Following the third Anglo-Dutch in 1674, the British and the Dutch partitioned Magellania among themselves, dividing it into an eastern British sphere and a western Dutch sphere. Neither of these claims gave much respect to Spanish territories and claims. 

With the War of Spanish Succession began the gradual encroachment on Spanish colonies. During this war, England supported the Habsburg side under Charles IV. To counter a possibly Bourbon occupation, British forces moved onward to occupy the Spanish colonies in eastern Magellania. The takeover of Spanish settlements proved to be easy, mainland colonies were sparsely populated to begin with. Resistance came mainly from native groups that until then had retained certain ancestral customs under Spanish rule. The former Spanish colony of Nuevo Léon was split and integrated as the North Liony and South Liony into the British colonial realm. 

The British colonial wars in this part of Magellania would last for several more decades. To give some legitimacy to their takeover, the British gifted several former Spanish towns back to the Habsburgs in 1740, after the ascension of Archduchess Maria Theresia.

Expansion in the 19th Century

The western parts of the British sphere remained sparsely populated well into the 19th century. For their appearance of untamed nature they were given the names of Artemisia and Apollonia. To honour the death of Lord Byron in 1824, the capital of Artemisia was named Byronstown. During the 1830s-1850s, Britain acquired several Spanish colonies in the Magellanian Sea. This was done as an act against the widespread plantation slavery on the Magellanian Isles and the increasing problems of piracy following the decline of the colony. Another major factor was the British victory in the first Opium War and their increasing colonial endeavours in China and the Carolinian ocean. The islands of Isabella and Ferdinand were renamed into Albert and Victoria after their acquisition in 1846.