Postcolonial Britain: A Changing World
“The Atlantic Ocean and its littorals consistently played a central role in the history of the British Empire. From its first colonial ventures in Ireland and the original American colonies, Britain used the Atlantic as a primary artery for extending its influence overseas. The development of the Caribbean plantation economy, the pursuit of the slave trade, the growth of settlement colonies in North America, the establishment of an informal empire in South America, and the migration of the Scots, Irish, Welsh, and English combined to make the Atlantic a linchpin of the empire for three centuries (Harland-Jacobs p. 238).”