1.
The Crown
–
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their sub-divisions, although the term is not only a metonym for the State. The Crown is a sole that represents the legal embodiment of executive, legislative. These monarchies are united by the union of their monarch. The concept of the Crown developed first in the Kingdom of England as a separation of the crown and property of the nation state from the person. The concept spread through English and later British colonisation and is now rooted in the lexicon of the other 15 independent realms. In this context it should not be confused with any physical crown, the concept of the Crown took form under the feudal system. Though not used this way in all countries that had this system, in England, all rights, land, for instance, was granted by the Crown to lords in exchange for feudal services and they, in turn, granted the land to lesser lords. One exception to this was common socage—owners of land held as socage held it only to the Crown. The Crown as ultimate owner of all property also owns any property which has become bona vacantia, the monarch is the living embodiment of the Crown and, as such, is regarded as the personification of the state. He office cannot exist without the office-holder, the Crown also represents the legal embodiment of executive, legislative, and judicial governance. While the Crowns legal personality is usually regarded as a sole, it can, at least for some purposes. Historically, the Crown was considered to be indivisible, two judgments—Ex parte Indian Association of Alberta and Ex parte Quark —challenged that view. The Crown in each of the Commonwealth realms is a similar, because both Canada and Australia are federations, there are also crowns in right of each Canadian province and each Australian state. The Succession to the Crown Law 2013 defined the Crown, for the purposes of implementing the Perth Agreement in Jersey law, as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Jersey. Legislation in the Isle of Man also defines the Crown in right of the Isle of Man as being separate from the Crown in right of the United Kingdom and this constitutional concept is also worded as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The reserve powers of the Crown for each territory are no longer considered to be exercisable on the advice of the UK government, often cases are brought by the Crown according to the complaint of a claimant. The title of the case follows the pattern of R v Y. Thus R v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union is R v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, where Miller is Gina Miller, in Scotland, criminal prosecutions are undertaken by the Lord Advocate in the name of the Crown
2.
Public administration
–
Public administration is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service. As a field of inquiry with a diverse scope its fundamental goal, is to advance management and policies so that government can function. Public administrators are public servants working in departments and agencies. In the US, civil servants and academics such as Woodrow Wilson promoted American civil service reform in the 1880s, however, until the mid-20th century and the dissemination of the German sociologist Max Webers theory of bureaucracy there was not much interest in a theory of public administration. In 1947 Paul H. Appleby defined public administration as public leadership of public affairs directly responsible for executive action. In a democracy, it has to do with such leadership and executive action in terms that respect and contribute to the dignity, the worth, and the potentials of the citizen. One year later, Gordon Clapp, then Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority defined public administration as a public instrument whereby democratic society may be completely realized. This implies that it must relate itself to concepts of justice, liberty, and fuller economic opportunity for human beings and is concerned with people, with ideas. The key term product refers to items that are constructed or produced such as prisons, roads, laws, schools. As implementors, public managers engage these products and they participate in the doing and making of the living democracy. A living democracy is an environment that is changing, organic, imperfect, inconsistent, more recently scholars claim that public administration has no generally accepted definition, because the scope of the subject is so great and so debatable that it is easier to explain than define. Public administration is a field of study and an occupation, scholar Donald Kettl is among those who view public administration as a subfield within political science. The moral purpose of administration, implicit in its acceptance of its role, is the maximisation of the opportunities of the public to satisfy its wants. The North American Industry Classification System definition of the Public Administration sector states that public administration, dating back to Antiquity, Pharaohs, kings and emperors have required pages, treasurers, and tax collectors to administer the practical business of government. Prior to the 19th century, staffing of most public administrations was rife with nepotism, favoritism, and political patronage, Public administrators have long been the eyes and ears of rulers. In medieval times, the abilities to read and write, add, as the European Imperialist age progressed and the militarily powers extended their hold over other continents and people, the need for a sophisticated public administration grew. Far in advance of the rest of the world until almost the end of the eighteenth century, the eighteenth-century noble, King Frederick William I of Prussia, created professorates in Cameralism in an effort to train a new class of public administrators. The universities of Frankfurt an der Oder and University of Halle were Prussian institutions emphasizing economic and social disciplines, johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi was the most well-known professor of Cameralism
3.
Public service
–
Public service is a service which is provided by government to people living within its jurisdiction, either directly or by financing provision of services. The term is associated with a consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income. Public policy when made in the publics interest and motivations can provide public services, Public service is also a course that can be studied at a college or university. Examples of public services are the fire brigade, police, air force, Public services may be associated with fundamental human rights. The Volunteer Fire Dept. and Ambulance Corps, are institutions with the mission of servicing the community. A service is helping others with a specific need or want, here, service ranges from a doctor curing an illness, to a repair person, to a food pantry. Government agencies are not profit-oriented and their employees are motivated differently, studies of their work have found contrasting results including both higher levels of effort and fewer hours of work. A survey in the UK found that private sector hiring managers do not credit government experience as much as private sector experience, Public workers tend to make less in wages when adjusting for education, although that difference is reduced when benefits and hours are included. Public workers have other benefits such as increased job security. A public service may sometimes have the characteristics of a public good, in most cases public services are services, i. e. they do not involve manufacturing of goods. They may be provided by local or national monopolies, especially in sectors which are natural monopolies and they may involve outputs that are hard to attribute to specific individual effort or hard to measure in terms of key characteristics such as quality. They often require high levels of training and education and they may attract people with a public service ethos who wish to give something to the wider public or community through their work. Historically, the provision of public services in developed countries usually began in the late nineteenth century, often with the municipal development of gas. Later, governments began to other services such as electricity. In most developed countries such services are provided by local or national government, the biggest exceptions being the U. S. and the UK. Nonetheless, such privately provided public services are often strongly regulated, in developing countries public services tend to be much less well developed. For example, water services might only be available to the middle class. For political reasons the service is subsidized, which reduces the finance available for expansion to poorer communities
4.
International Labour Organization
–
The International Labour Organization is a United Nations agency dealing with labour problems, particularly international labour standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all. The ILO has 187 member states,186 of the 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands are members of the ILO, the ILO registers complaints against entities that are violating international rules, however, it does not impose sanctions on governments. Unlike other United Nations specialized agencies, the International Labour Organization has a governing structure – representing governments, employers. The rationale behind the structure is the creation of free and open debate among governments. The ILO secretariat is referred to as the International Labour Office, juan Somavía was the ILOs director-general from 1999 until October 2012, when Guy Ryder was elected as his replacement. This governing body is composed of 28 government representatives,14 workers representatives, ten of the government seats are held by member states that are nations of chief industrial importance, as first considered by an impartial committee. The nations are Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the terms of office are three years. The ILO organizes the International Labour Conference in Geneva every year in June, also known as the parliament of labour, the conference also makes decisions about the ILOs general policy, work programme and budget. Each member state has four representatives at the conference, two government delegates, a delegate and a worker delegate. All of them have individual voting rights, and all votes are equal, the employer and worker delegates are normally chosen in agreement with the most representative national organizations of employers and workers. Usually, the workers delegates coordinate their voting, as do the employers delegates, all delegate have the same rights, and are not required to vote in blocs. Through July 2011, the ILO has adopted 189 conventions, if these conventions are ratified by enough governments, they become in force. However, ILO conventions are considered international labour standards regardless of ratification, when a convention comes into force, it creates a legal obligation for ratifying nations to apply its provisions. Every year the International Labour Conferences Committee on the Application of Standards examines a number of alleged breaches of international labour standards, governments are required to submit reports detailing their compliance with the obligations of the conventions they have ratified. Conventions that have not been ratified by member states have the legal force as do recommendations. In 1998, the 86th International Labour Conference adopted the Declaration on Fundamental Principles, the ILO asserts that its members have an obligation to work towards fully respecting these principles, embodied in relevant ILO Conventions. The ILO Conventions which embody the principles have now been ratified by most member states. Recommendations do not have the force of conventions and are not subject to ratification
5.
United Nations
–
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
6.
United Nations General Assembly
–
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. It has also established a number of subsidiary organs. It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions and its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote, apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace, the one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue and these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members and it now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence, the Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, the next few annual sessions were held in different cities, the second session in New York, and the third session was in Paris. It moved to the permanent United Nations Headquarters in New York at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organised its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, all 193 members states of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly. The agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and this is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session. Items on the agenda are numbered, the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are generally statements symbolizing the sense of the community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, the General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such as the United Nations budget
7.
Guangdong
–
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the Peoples Republic of China. The provincial capital Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous, the population increase since the census has been modest, the province at 2014 end had 107,240,000 people. Since 1989, Guangdong has topped the total GDP rankings among all divisions, with Jiangsu and Shandong second. According to state statistics, Guangdongs GDP in 2014 reached RMB6,779 billion, or US$1.104 trillion, since 2011, Guangdong has the highest GDP among all provinces of Mainland China. The province contributes approximately 12% of the PRCs national economic output, Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China called the Canton Fair in Guangdongs capital city Guangzhou. Guǎng means expanse or vast, and has associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD226. Guangdong and neighbouring Guangxi literally mean expanse east and expanse west, together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called Loeng gwong. During the Song dynasty, the Two Guangs were formally separated as Guǎngnán Dōnglù and Guǎngnán Xīlù, one should note that Canton, though etymologically derived from Cantão, refers only to the provincial capital instead of the whole province, as documented by authoritative English dictionaries. The local people of the city of Guangzhou and their language are commonly referred to as Cantonese in English. Because of the prestige of Canton and its accent, Cantonese sensu lato can also be used for the phylogenetically related residents, Chinese administration and reliable historical records in the region began with the Qin dynasty. After establishing the first unified Chinese empire, the Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at Panyu, the region was independent as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made its own province, for example, internal strife in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between 740s–750s and 800s–810s. As more migrants arrived, the population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture or displaced. Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhous foreign quarter, together with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit, or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit guǎng nán dōng lù in 971 during the Song dynasty, Guangnan East is the source of Guangdong. As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Battle of Yamen 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, large parts of current Guangdong belonged to Jiangxi and its present name, Guangdong Province was given in early Ming dynasty. Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive links with the rest of the world
8.
Emperor Wen of Sui
–
Emperor Wen of Sui, personal name Yang Jian, Xianbei name Puliuru Jian, nickname Naluoyan, was the founder and first emperor of Chinas Sui Dynasty. He was an administrator and a micromanager. The Sui Shu records him as having withdrawn his favour from the Confucians, giving it to the group advocating Xing-Ming, as a Buddhist, he encouraged the spread of Buddhism through the state. He is regarded as one of the most important emperors in Chinese history, during his reign began the construction of the Grand Canal. As a Northern Zhou official, Yang Jian served with apparent distinction during the reigns of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, when the erratic Emperor Xuan died in 580, Yang, as his father-in-law, seized power as regent. After defeating the general Yuchi Jiong, who resisted him, he seized the throne for himself and he was the first Chinese to rule North China after the Xianbei invasion which conquered that area from the Liu Song dynasty. Generally speaking, Emperor Wens reign was a period of prosperity not seen since the Han Dynasty. It was said there was enough food stored for 50 years. At the beginning of his reign, Sui faced the threat of Tujue to the north, and neighbored Tibetan tribes to the west, Goguryeo in the northeast, and Champa threatening the south. By the end of Emperor Wens reign, Tujue had split into an eastern and a western kaganate, Champa was defeated and, while not conquered, did not remain a threat. Emperor Wen is also famous for having the fewest number of concubines for an adult Chinese emperor. Emperor Wen was known for having only two concubines, with whom he not have had sexual relations until after the death in 602 of his wife Empress Dugu. The Yang of Hongnong 弘農楊氏 were asserted as ancestors by the Sui Emperors like the Longxi Lis were asserted as ancestors of the Tang Emperors, Yang Jians clan claimed descent from the Han Dynasty general Yang Zhen. Yang Zhens eighth-generation descendant Yang Xuan served as a governor for a Yan state during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period. Yang Jians father Yang Zhong followed the late-Northern Wei general Yuwen Tai and later became prominent in the successor state of Northern Wei, Western Wei. Yang Jians mother Lady Lü gave birth to him at a Buddhist temple in Fengyi, a Buddhist nun was impressed with his appearance, and raised him in his early years. Yang Jian attended the college for the sons of the nobility. When he was 14 years old, he was appointed to serve in the military under Yüwen Tai, in 555, on account of Yang Zhongs accomplishments, Yang Jian received several official ranks, including the title of the Duke of Chengji
9.
Imperial examination
–
The Chinese imperial examinations were a civil service examination system in Imperial China to select candidates for the state bureaucracy. The examination helped to shape Chinas intellectual, cultural, political, shopping, arts and crafts, the increased reliance on the exam system was in part responsible for Tang dynasty shifting from a military aristocracy to a gentry class of scholar-bureaucrats. Starting with the Song dynasty, the system was regularized and developed into a roughly three-tiered ladder from local to provincial to court exams, the content was narrowed and fixed on texts of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy. Critics charged that the system stifled creativity and created officials who dared not defy authority, wealthy families, especially merchants, could opt into the system by educating their sons or purchasing degrees. In the 19th century, critics blamed the system, and in the process its examinations, for Chinas lack of technical knowledge. The influence of the Chinese examination system spread to neighboring Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan, following the initial success in that company, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants in 1855. Other European nations, such as France and Germany, followed suit, modeled after these previous adaptations, the U. S established its own testing program for certain government jobs after 1883. However, the structure of the system was extensively expanded during the reign of Wu Zetian. Thus the system played a key role in the selection of the scholar-officials, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the system contributed to the narrowness of intellectual life and the autocratic power of the emperor. The system continued with some modifications until its 1905 abolition under the Qing dynasty, other brief interruptions to the system occurred, such as at the beginning of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. The modern examination system for selecting civil servants also indirectly evolved from the imperial one and this changed during the Sui, when recruitment into the imperial civil service bureaucracy became to be considered an imperial prerogative, rather than a duty to be performed by the lower levels. By the Tang dynasty, most of the recruitment into central government bureaucrat offices was being performed by the bureaucracy itself, the regular higher level degree examination cycle was nominally decreed in 1067 to be 3 years. The jinshi tests were not an event and should not be considered so. Oral examination on policy issues were sometimes conducted personally by the emperor himself, beginning in the Three Kingdoms period, imperial officials were responsible for assessing the quality of the talents recommended by the local elites. This system continued until Emperor Yang of Sui established a new category of recommended candidates for the mandarinate in AD605, for the first time, an examination system was explicitly instituted for a category of local talents. However, the Sui dynasty was short-lived, and the system did not reach its mature development until afterwards, a pivotal point in the development of imperial examinations arose with the rise of Wu Zetian. Up until that point, the rulers of the Tang dynasty were all members of the Li family. Reform of the examinations to include a new class of elite bureaucrats derived from humbler origins became a keystone of Wus gamble to retain power
10.
Grand Chancellor of China
–
The term was known by many different names throughout Chinese history, and the exact extent of the powers associated with the position fluctuated greatly, even during a particular dynasty. In the Spring and Autumn period, Guan Zhong was the first chancellor in China, in Qin, during the Warring States period, the chancellor was officially established as the head of all civil service officials. There were sometimes two chancellors, differentiated as being of the left and of the right, in 1 BC, during the Emperor Ai, the title was changed to da si tu. In the Eastern Han dynasty, the chancellor post was replaced by the Three Excellencies, Grand Commandant, Minister over the Masses, in 190, Dong Zhuo claimed the title Chancellor of State under the powerless Emperor Xian of Han, placing himself above the Three Excellencies. After Dong Zhuos death in 192, the post was vacant until Cao Cao restored the position as imperial chancellor, from then until March 15,220, the power of chancellor was greater than that of the emperor. Later this often happened when a dynasty became weak, usually some decades before the fall of a dynasty, during the Sui dynasty, the executive officials of the three highest departments of the empire were called chancellors together. In the Tang dynasty, the government was divided into three departments, the Department of State Affairs, the Secretariat, and the Chancellery, the head of each department was generally referred to as the chancellor. In the Song dynasty, the post of chancellor was known as the Tongpingzhangshi, in accordance with late-Tang terminology. Some years later, the post of chancellor was changed to prime minister, in the late Southern Song dynasty, the system changed back to the Tang naming conventions. During the Mongol-founded Yuan dynasty, the chancellor was not the head of the Secretariat, after the establishment of the Ming dynasty, the post became the head of the Zhongshu Sheng again. The post was after the execution of Hu Weiyong, who was accused of treason, still, appointments of the people who held the highest post in the government were called appointment of prime minister until 1644. Jia Sidao Chen Yizhong 陳宜中 vs Wen Tianxiang Lu Xiufu Note, after the death of Hu Weiyong, instead, the duties normally assumed by a chancellor was instead entrusted to a series of formal and informal institutions, the most prominent of which was the Grand Council. Occasionally, however, one minister may so dominate the government that he comes to be identified, figuratively, one example in the late Qing dynasty was Li Hongzhang. In 1911, the Qing court adopted reforms which, amongst other changes and this position existed for less than a year before the Qing government was overthrown. North-China Branch, a publication from 1876 now in the domain in the United States. History of Administrative Systems in Ancient China, an Outline of The Central Government of The Former Han Dynasty
11.
Yan Liben
–
Yan Liben, formally Baron Wenzhen of Boling, was a Chinese painter and government official of the early Tang Dynasty. His most renowned work is the Thirteen Emperors Scroll, yans paintings included painted portraits of various Chinese emperors from the Han Dynasty up until the Sui Dynasty period. His works were regarded by the Tang writers Zhu Jingxuan and Zhang Yanyuan. From the years 669 to 673, Yan Liben also served as a chancellor under Emperor Taizongs son Emperor Gaozong and it is not known when Yan Liben was born. His ancestors were originally from Mayi, but had relocated to the Guanzhong region several generations prior to Yan Liben and it was said that while Yan Liben was skilled in public work projects, he became particularly known for his artistic skills. His Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy probably dates to this period, although the Chinese aristocracy counted painting as one of their accepted pastimes, the profession of the painter was not a highly venerated vocation. On one occasion, when Emperor Taizong was rowing a boat with his attendant scholars at the imperial pond, Emperor Taizong had the scholars write poems to praise the scene and then summoned Yan to paint a portrait of the scene. Yan was at the time already an official in the administration, but when he summoned Yan. However, now I am only known for my painting skills, however, as he still favored painting, he continued to do so even after this incident. During the Xianqing era of the reign of Emperor Taizongs son Emperor Gaozong and he later succeeded his brother Yan Lide as the minister of public works. In 670, Yan became officially the head of the legislative bureau, list of Chinese painters Tang Dynasty art Chinese art Chinese painting History of Chinese art Fong, Mary H. Tang Tomb Murals Reviewed in the Light of Tang Texts on Painting, Artibus Asiae, works in the collection of the Boston Fine Arts Museum
12.
History of China
–
Written records of the history of China can be found from as early as 1500 BC under the Shang dynasty. Ancient historical texts such as the Records of the Grand Historian and the Bamboo Annals describe a Xia dynasty, with thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the worlds oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization. Much of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy developed during the Zhou dynasty. This is one of multiple periods of failed statehood in Chinese history, between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China, in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang united the warring kingdoms and created for himself the title of emperor of the Qin dynasty. Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly, in the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite, the Scholar-officials. Young men were selected through difficult examinations and were well-versed in calligraphy and philosophy. What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than a million years ago, recent study shows that the stone tools found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated to 1.36 million years ago. The archaeological site of Xihoudu in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded use of fire by Homo erectus, the excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923–27, fossilised teeth of Homo sapiens dating to 125, 000–80,000 BC have been discovered in Fuyan Cave in Dao County in Hunan. The Neolithic age in China can be traced back to about 10,000 BC, Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet agriculture is radiocarbon-dated to about 7000 BC. The earliest evidence of cultivated rice, found by the Yangtze River, is carbon-dated to 8,000 years ago, farming gave rise to the Jiahu culture. At Damaidi in Ningxia,3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6000–5000 BC have been discovered, featuring 8,453 individual characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and these pictographs are reputed to be similar to the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese. Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 7000 BC, Dadiwan from 5800 BC to 5400 BC, Damaidi around 6000 BC, some scholars have suggested that Jiahu symbols were the earliest Chinese writing system. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, Later, Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture, which was also centered on the Yellow River from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC. Bronze artifacts have been found at the Majiayao culture site, The Bronze Age is also represented at the Lower Xiajiadian culture site in northeast China. Sanxingdui located in what is now Sichuan province is believed to be the site of a ancient city. The site was first discovered in 1929 and then re-discovered in 1986, Chinese archaeologists have identified the Sanxingdui culture to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, linking the artifacts found at the site to its early legendary kings
13.
Scholar-official
–
After the Sui dynasty these officials mostly came from the scholar-gentry who had earned academic degrees by passing the imperial examinations. The scholar-officials were schooled in calligraphy and Confucian texts and they dominated the government and local life of China until the middle of the 20th century. Historian Charles Moore concludes that, Generally speaking, the record of these scholar-gentlemen has been a worthy one and it was good enough to be praised and imitated in 18th century Europe. Nevertheless, it has given China a tremendous handicap in their transition from government by men to government by law, since only a few could become court or local officials, the majority of the scholar-gentry stayed in villages or cities as social leaders. As a class, these claimed to represent morality and virtue. Four arts Junzi Yangban Kuge Bildungsbürgertum Elman, Benjamin A, civil Service Examinations, Berkshire Encyclopedia of China, Great Barrington, MA, Berkshire, pp. 405–410 Esherick, Joseph and Mary Backus Rankin. Chinese Local Elites and Patterns of Dominance, max Weber, The Religion of China, Confucianism and Taoism Jerry Bentley and Herb Ziegler. Traditions and Encounters - A Global Perspective on the Past, the Chinese Gentry, Studies on Their Role in Nineteenth-Century Chinese Society
14.
Han dynasty
–
The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period. Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered an age in Chinese history. To this day, Chinas majority ethnic group refers to itself as the Han people and it was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods, the Western Han or Former Han and the Eastern Han or Later Han, the emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States, from the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD, the Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty. The coinage issued by the government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty. The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations, the Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han launched several campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries, the territories north of Hans borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Imperial authority was seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, following Liu Bangs victory in the Chu–Han Contention, the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief. Chinas first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty, the Qin unified the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their empire became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Although Xiang Yu proved to be a commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia. Liu Bang assumed the title emperor at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu, Changan was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han
15.
Emperor Wu of Han
–
Emperor Wu of Han, born Liu Che, courtesy name Tong, was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of China, ruling from 141–87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years — a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later. His reign resulted in vast territorial expansion, development of a strong and centralized state resulting from his governmental re-organization and it was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly or indirectly. Many new crops and other items were introduced to China during his reign, Emperor Wu successfully repelled the nomadic Xiongnu from systematically raiding northern China, and dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of Kangju. This resulted in further missions to Central Asia, michael Loewe called the reign of Emperor Wu the high point of Modernist policies, looking back to adapt ideas from the pre-Han period. His policies and most trusted advisers were Legalist, favoring adherents of Shang Yang and these reforms had an enduring effect throughout the existence of imperial China and an enormous influence on neighboring civilizations. Emperor Wu was also known for his employment of shaman advisers, the personal name of Emperor Wu was Liu Che. The use of Han in referring to emperor Wu is a reference to the Han dynasty of which he was a part. His family name is Liu, the family or clan of the Han dynasty shared the family name of Liu, the family name of Liu Bang. The character Di is a title, this is the Chinese word which in imperial history of China means emperor, the character Wu literally means martial or warlike, but is also related to the concept of a particular divinity in the historical Chinese religious pantheon existing at that time. Combined, Wu plus di makes the name Wudi, the posthumous name used for historical and for religious purposes. One of Han Wudis innovations was the practice of changing names every so many years. Thus, the practice for dating years during the reign of Wudi came to be the nth year of the, when they got close to Han borders, She assassinated the general and claimed to Emperor Wu that he had defeated Joseon in battle. Emperor Wu, unaware of his deception, made him the commander of the Commandery of Liaodong. King Ugeo, offended, made a raid on Liaodong and killed She, in response, Emperor Wu commissioned a two-pronged attack against Joseon. Initially, Joseon offered to become a vassal, but peace negotiations broke down by the Chinese forces refusal to let a Joseon force escort its crown prince to Changan to pay tribute to Emperor Wu, Han took over the Joseon lands in 108 BC and established four commanderies. Also in 109 BC, Emperor Wu sent a force against the Kingdom of Dian. When the King of Dian surrendered, it was incorporated into Han territory with the King of Dian being permitted to keep his traditional authority, Emperor Wu established five commanderies over Dian and the other nearby kingdoms
16.
Sui dynasty
–
The Sui Dynasty was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China of pivotal significance. It was succeeded by the Tang dynasty, which inherited its foundation. Founded by Emperor Wen of Sui, the Sui dynasty capital was Changan and they also spread and encouraged Buddhism throughout the empire. By the middle of the dynasty, the unified empire entered a golden age of prosperity with vast agricultural surplus that supported rapid population growth. A lasting legacy of the Sui dynasty was the Grand Canal, the dynasty, which lasted only thirty-seven years, was undermined by ambitious wars and construction projects, which overstretched its resources. Particularly, under Emperor Yang, heavy taxation and compulsory labor duties would eventually induce widespread revolts, the dynasty is often compared to the earlier Qin dynasty for unifying China after prolonged division. Wide-ranging reforms and construction projects were undertaken to consolidate the newly unified state, after crushing an army in the eastern provinces, Yang Jian usurped the throne to become Emperor Wen of Sui. In a bloody purge, he had fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal family eliminated, Emperor Wen abolished the anti-Han policies of Zhou and reclaimed his Han surname of Yang. In his campaign for southern conquest, Emperor Wen assembled thousands of boats to confront the forces of the Chen dynasty on the Yangtze River. The largest of ships were very tall, having five layered decks. They were outfitted with six 50-foot-long booms that were used to swing and damage enemy ships, besides employing Xianbei and other Chinese ethnic groups for the fight against Chen, Emperor Wen also employed the service of people from southeastern Sichuan, which Sui had recently conquered. In 588, the Sui had amassed 518,000 troops along the bank of the Yangtze River. The Chen dynasty could not withstand such an assault, by 589, Sui troops entered Jiankang and the last emperor of Chen surrendered. Although Emperor Wen was famous for bankrupting the treasury with warfare and construction projects. He established granaries as sources of food and as a means to market prices from the taxation of crops. The large agricultural surplus supported rapid growth of population to historical peak, the state capital of Changan, while situated in a military-secured heartland of Guanzhong, was remote from the economic centers to the east and south of the empire. Emperor Wen initiated the construction of the Grand Canal, with completion of the first route that directly linked Changan to the Yellow River, Later Emperor Yang would enormously enlarge the scale of the Grand Canal construction. Externally, the emerging nomadic Turkic Khaganate in the north posed a threat to the newly founded dynasty
17.
Emperor Yang of Sui
–
Emperor Yangs original name was Yang Ying, but was renamed by his father, after consulting with oracles, to Yang Guang. Yang Guang was made the Prince of Jin after Emperor Wen established Sui Dynasty in 581, in 588, he was granted command of the five armies that invaded the southern Chen dynasty and was widely praised for the success of this campaign. These military achievements, as well as his machinations against his older brother Yang Yong, after the death of his father in 604, generally considered, though unproven, by most traditional historians to be a murder ordered by Yang Guang, he ascended the throne as Emperor Yang. Emperor Yang, ruling from 604 to 618, committed to large construction projects. He commanded the reconstruction of the Great Wall, a project which took the lives of six million workers. These expeditions, along with a series of campaigns against Goguryeo, left the empire bankrupt. With northern China in turmoil, Emperor Yang spent his last days in Jiangdu, Yang Guang was born in 569, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. His parents were Yang Jian the Duke of Sui and Yang Jians wife Duchess Dugu Qieluo. He was their son, after Yang Yong, and he had at least one older sister, Yang Lihua. He was considered handsome and intelligent in his youth, and of Yang Jians and Duchess Dugus sons, sometime during Northern Zhou, on account of Yang Jians achievements, he was created the Duke of Yanmen. In 580, Yang Jian seized power as regent after Emperor Xuans death, in 581, he had Emperor Xuans son, Emperor Jing, yield the throne to him, ending Northern Zhou and establishing Sui Dynasty as its Emperor Wen. Emperor Wen created Yang Yong crown prince and created his other imperial princes. Yang Guang thus received the title of Prince of Jin, also in 581, Emperor Wen made Yang Guang the commandant at Bing Province, in charge of the provinces north of the Yellow River. In 582, Emperor Wen set up a branch of the bureau of his government at Bing Province. He made the official Wang Shao the deputy head and had him assist Yang Guang, later in 582, Emperor Wen took a daughter of his vassal Emperor Ming of Western Liang to be Yang Guangs wife and princess. It was said that Yang Guang loved and respected her, in 585, with Ashina Shetu under attack from one of his subordinate khans, the Datou Khan Ashina Dianjue, Emperor Wen in fact sent Yang Guang to aid Ashina Shetu. In 588, Emperor Wen moved Yang Guangs headquarters to Shouchun, in winter 588, Emperor Wen launched a major attack on rival Chen Dynasty. Yang Guang, his brother Yang Jun, and the general Yang Su were in command of the three prongs of the operation, with Yang Guang in command of the eastern prong as well as the overall operation
18.
Tang dynasty
–
The Tang dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is generally regarded as a point in Chinese civilization. Its territory, acquired through the campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty. The dynasty was founded by the Lǐ family, who seized power during the decline, the dynasty was briefly interrupted when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Second Zhou dynasty and becoming the only Chinese empress regnant. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population by number of registered households at about 50 million people. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang also conquered or subdued several regions which it controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful influence over neighboring states such as those in Korea, Japan. Like the previous Sui dynasty, the Tang dynasty maintained a service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardized examinations and recommendations to office. This civil order was undermined by the rise of military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century. Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era, it is considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry. Two of Chinas most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, belonged to this age, as did many famous painters such as Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, there was a rich variety of historical literature compiled by scholars, as well as encyclopedias and geographical works. The adoption of the title Tängri Qaghan by the Tang Emperor Taizong in addition to his title as emperor was eastern Asias first simultaneous kingship, there were many notable innovations during the Tang, including the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became an influence in Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, Buddhism would later be persecuted by the state, subsequently declining in influence, although the dynasty and central government were in decline by the 9th century, art and culture continued to flourish. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage, which includes the Tang poet Li Bai, the Tang Emperors also had Xianbei maternal ancestry, from Emperor Gaozu of Tangs Xianbei mother Duchess Dugu. He had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui, Li Yuan rose in rebellion in 617, along with his son and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang, who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupied Changan, relegated Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang or retired emperor, and acted as regent to the puppet child-emperor, Emperor Gong of Sui. On the news of Emperor Yangs murder by General Yuwen Huaji on June 18,618, Li Yuan declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang
19.
Wu Zetian
–
Wu was the only Empress regnant of China in more than four millennia. Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong, after his death, she married his successor—his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozongs huanghou in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozongs debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, besides her career as a political leader, Wu Zetian also had an active family life. One of her grandsons became the renowned Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, in Chinese history and literature, Wu Zetian was known by various names and titles. Mention of her in the English language has increased their number. The exact birth name of Wu Zetian is no longer retrievable and she changed her name to Wu Zhao after rising to power, often written as 武曌, with 瞾 being one of the invented characters by Wu. Wu was her surname, which she retained, according to traditional Chinese practice, after marriage to Gaozong. Emperor Taizong gave her the art name Wu Mei, meaning glamorous, during her life, and posthumously, Wu Zetian was awarded various official titles. Both hou and huangdi are titles, born Wu Zhao, she is not properly known as Wu Hou until receiving this title in 655, nor is she properly known as Wu Zetian, her regnal name, until 690, when she took the title, huangdi. Various Chinese titles have been translated into English as empress, including empress in both the sense of empress consort and empress regnant, generally the emperor was male and his chief spouse was given a title such as Huanghou, often translated as empress or more specific empress consort. Since the time of Qin Shi Huang the Emperor of China used the title Huangdi, Wu Zetian was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Huangdi. Wu Zetian is said to be the woman in Chinese history to wear the yellow robe as a monarch. The Wu family clan originated in Wenshui County, Bingzhou, the birthplace of Wu Zetian is not documented in preserved historical literature and remains controversial. Some argue that Wu Zetian was born in Lizhou, while others insist she was born in the imperial capital of Changan. She lived from 17 February 624 –16 December 705, Wu Zetian was born in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Tang. In the same year, an eclipse of the sun was visible across China. Her father Wu Shihuo was engaged in the business and the family was relatively well off. Her mother was from the powerful Yang family, during the final years of Emperor Yang of Sui, Li Yuan stayed in the Wu household many times and became close to the Wu family, whilst holding appointments in both Hedong and Taiyuan
20.
Calligraphy
–
Calligraphy is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument, brush, a contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as, the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner. Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable, classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both. It is also used for props and moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, the principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush. Calligraphy pens write with nibs that may be flat, round, for some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens—steel brushes—can be used. However, works have also created with felt-tip and ballpoint pens. There are some styles of calligraphy, like Gothic script, which require a stub nib pen, Writing ink is usually water-based and is much less viscous than the oil-based inks used in printing. Normally, light boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work, ruled paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often ruled every quarter or half inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used. This is the case with litterea unciales, and college-ruled paper often acts as a guideline well, common calligraphy pens and brushes are, Quill Dip pen Ink brush Qalam Fountain pen Western calligraphy is recognizable by the use of the Latin script. The Latin alphabet appeared about 600 BC, in Rome, and by the first century developed into Roman imperial capitals carved on stones, Rustic capitals painted on walls, in the second and third centuries the uncial lettering style developed. As writing withdrew to monasteries, uncial script was more suitable for copying the Bible. It was the monasteries which preserved calligraphic traditions during the fourth and fifth centuries, at the height of the Empire, its power reached as far as Great Britain, when the empire fell, its literary influence remained. The Semi-uncial generated the Irish Semi-uncial, the small Anglo-Saxon, each region developed its own standards following the main monastery of the region, which are mostly cursive and hardly readable. Christian churches promoted the development of writing through the copying of the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Two distinct styles of writing known as uncial and half-uncial developed from a variety of Roman bookhands, the 7th-9th centuries in northern Europe were the heyday of Celtic illuminated manuscripts, such as the Book of Durrow, Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. Charlemagnes devotion to improved scholarship resulted in the recruiting of a crowd of scribes, according to Alcuin, Alcuin developed the style known as the Caroline or Carolingian minuscule. The first manuscript in hand was the Godescalc Evangelistary — a Gospel book written by the scribe Godescalc. Carolingian remains the one hand from which modern booktype descends
21.
Qing dynasty
–
It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the base for the modern Chinese state. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, in the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Banners, military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into an entity, which he renamed as the Manchus. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, in 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia, the early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and while their title was Emperor, they used khan to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the system in dealing with neighboring territories. The Qianlong reign saw the apogee and initial decline in prosperity. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War, European powers imposed unequal treaties, free trade, the Taiping Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people, most of them due to famines caused by war. In spite of disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea, New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative leader. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformist monarchists such as Kang Youwei, after the deaths of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on October 11,1911, led to the Xinhai Revolution, General Yuan Shikai negotiated the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, on February 12,1912. Nurhaci declared himself the Bright Khan of the Later Jin state in both of the 12–13th century Jurchen Jin dynasty and of his Aisin Gioro clan. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing in 1636, there are competing explanations on the meaning of Qīng. The character Qīng is composed of water and azure, both associated with the water element and this association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water
22.
British Empire
–
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
23.
Navy Board
–
The Navy Board also known as the Navy Office was the organisation with responsibility for day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. In addition, the Board co-ordinated provision of victuals for the fleet and it was also responsible for the appointment of junior officers and warrant officers, and had several other duties in addition. The Comptroller of the Navy, was in charge of Naval spending he also acted as Chairman of the Board from 1660, the Surveyor of the Navy, was in charge of Naval shipbuilding, ship design and running the Royal Dockyards. The Clerk of the Acts, was in charge of the running of the Board. As the size of the fleet grew, the Admiralty sought to focus the activity of the Navy Board on two areas, ships and their maintenance, and naval expenditure. Therefore, from the mid- to late-17th century, a number of subsidiary Boards began to be established to other aspects of the Boards work. Theseincluded, The Victualling Board The Sick and Hurt Board The Transport Board, each of these subsidiary Boards went on to gain a degree of independence. The Surveyor of the Navy, the Clerk of the Navy, as defined by a set of Ordinances drawn up under Henrys successor, Edward VI, the Navy Board was given a high degree of autonomy while yet remaining subordinate to the Lord High Admiral. This - at times ambiguous - relationship with The Admiralty was a characteristic of the Board. During the Commonwealth the business of both Navy Board and Admiralty was carried out by a committee of Parliament, following the Restoration, James, Duke of York oversaw the reconstitution of the Navy Board. Alongside the aforementioned Principal Officers further officials were appointed to serve as Commissioners of the Navy, by tradition, commissioners were always Navy officers of the rank of post-captain or captain who had retired from active service at sea. List of Principal Officers and Commissioners 1660-1796 included, henceforward, the Board would consist of the Controller and a Deputy Controller, the Surveyor and around seven other Commissioners to whom no specific duties were attached. The Treasurer, though technically a member of the Board, was seldom in attendance. In actual fact the post of Treasurer was by this stage more than a sinecure, the main work of his department was carried out by its senior clerk. Not every Dockyard had a resident Commissioner in charge, but the larger Yards, both at home and overseas, generally did. From the 1650s the Board, together with its staff of around 60 clerks, was accommodated in a house at the corner of Crutched Friars and Seething Lane. Following a fire, the house was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren and this new Navy Office provided accommodation for the Commissioners, as well as office space. Different departments were accommodated in different parts of the building, the rear wing housed the offices of the Sick, the Victualling Office was also located nearby, on Little Tower Hill, close to its early manufacturing base at Eastminster
24.
East India Company
–
The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
25.
East India Company College
–
It provided general and vocational education for young gentlemen of sixteen to eighteen years old, who were nominated by the Companys directors to writerships in its overseas civil service. The colleges counterpart for the training of officers for the companys Presidency armies was Addiscombe Military Seminary, the buildings are now occupied by Haileybury and Imperial Service College. Charles Grant, Chairman of the British East India Company and Member of Parliament, was involved in the foundation of the college. The foundation stone of the new buildings were laid on 12 May 1806, the buildings cost the East India Company £92,000 at the time of their erection to the designs of the architect William Wilkins. The grounds were landscaped by Humphry Repton, his most notable work here being the area to the front of Wilkins main range. Repton submitted his account for work undertaken here just eight days before a carriage accident which left him crippled. The new buildings were occupied by students in 1809, the East India Company had been incorporated in 1600 as a commercial entity. For two hundred years its administrators had been recruited, largely by patronage, to commercial transactions in Asia. By 1800 they had become the de facto government for millions of people in those areas, the college was intended to address these shortcomings. In fifty years it trained over two thousand so-called writers to administer the Indian subcontinent, the curriculum was wide, detailed, and targeted to the career responsibilities. It included political economy, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, classics, law and humanity, languages included Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Sanskrit, Telugu and Persian. Among the tutors were some of the finest minds of the day, many from Oxford and Cambridge, from 1839 the College had a journal known as The Haileybury Observer. The East India Company itself was seen as too powerful, there was pressure for meritocracy to replace recruitment by patronage. Graduates of universities in Great Britain should have the chance to serve in India, in 1855, Parliament passed an act to relieve the East India Company from the obligation to maintain the College at Haileybury. Kings College, London, hosted the first open competitive examinations for appointment to the Indian Civil Service. In the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and in anticipation of the winding-up of the affairs of the East India Company itself, for a brief period the buildings became a military depot for troops destined for India. During the Victorian era the difference between the two periods of education on the site were referred to as Old Haileybury and New Haileybury, major J. W. J. Ouseley, Professor of Persian and Arabic Edward Christian James Mackintosh was Professor of Law and General Politics 1818-24. William Empson, was Professor of Law, john Farley Leith QC, later Member of Parliament for Aberdeen Thomas Malthus taught from 1805-34
26.
Guangzhou
–
Guangzhou, traditionally romanised as Canton, is the capital and most populous city of the province of Guangdong in southern China. Guangzhou is currently, the third city in mainland China, behind Beijing and Shanghai, holds sub-provincial administrative status. In 2015 the citys area was estimated to have a population of 13,501,100. Some estimates place the population of the area of the Pearl River Delta Mega City as high as 44 million without the Hong Kong SAR and 54 million including it. Guangzhou is ranked as a Beta+ Global city, in recent years, there has been a rapidly increasing number of foreign residents and illegal immigrants from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, as well as from Africa. This has led to it being dubbed the Capital of the Third World, the migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40 percent of the citys total population in 2008. Long the only Chinese port accessible to foreign traders, the city fell to the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair, for the three consecutive years 2013–2015, Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city on the Chinese mainland. Guǎngzhōu is the pinyin romanisation of the Chinese name 廣州, which was simplified in mainland China to 广州 in the 1950s, before acquiring its current name, the town was known as Panyu, a name still borne by one of Guangzhous districts. The origin of the name is uncertain, with 11 various explanations being offered. The city has sometimes been known as Guangzhou Fu or Guangfu after its status as the capital of a commandery. From this latter name, Guangzhou was known to medieval Persians such as Al-Masudi, under the Southern Han, the city was renamed Xingwang. Under the Qing, it was known to its inhabitants as simply The Provincial Capital. The Chinese abbreviation for Guangzhou is 穗, after its nickname Rice City, the former name City of the Immortals came from the same story. The more recent City of Flowers is usually taken as a reference to the areas greenery. The English name Canton derived from Portuguese Cantão or Cidade de Cantão, although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was also used in English in reference to Guangdong generally. It was adopted as the Postal Map Romanization of Guangzhou and remained in use until the gradual adoption of pinyin
27.
Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet
–
Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, KCB was a British civil servant and colonial administrator. As a young man, he worked with the government in Calcutta, India. A century and a later, Trevelyan continues to divide opinion. The report led to the transformation of the civil service, educational standards and competitive admission examinations ensured that a more qualified body of civil servants would become administrators. Trevelyan never expressed remorse for his comments, even after the full scope of the Irish famine became known. His defenders claim that other factors than Trevelyans personal acts and beliefs were central to the problem. Cecil Woodham-Smith wrote of him, his mind was powerful, his character admirably scrupulous and upright, his devotion to duty praiseworthy, but he had a remarkable insensitiveness. Trevelyan was born in Taunton, Somerset, the son of a Cornish clergyman, the Venerable George Trevelyan, who became Archdeacon of Taunton and his paternal grandfather was Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet an old ethnically Cornish family originating from St Veep, Cornwall. He was educated at Blundells School, Charterhouse School and the East India Company College, notably, Trevelyan was a student of the economist Thomas Malthus while at Haileybury. His rigid adherence to Malthusian population theory during the Irish famine is attributed to this formative tutelage. In 1826, as a man, Trevelyan joined the East India Company as a writer and was posted to the Bengal Civil Service at Delhi. There, by a combination of diligence and self-discipline together with his intellectual talents he achieved rapid promotion. On return to England in 1840 he was appointed as assistant secretary to HM Treasury, in Ireland, he administered famine relief, whilst in Scotland he was closely associated with the work of the Central Board for Highland Relief. His inaction and personal attitude towards the Irish people are widely believed to have slowed relief for the famine. Meanwhile, the Irish watched with increasing anger as boatloads of homegrown oats, food riots erupted in ports such as Youghal, near Cork, where people tried unsuccessfully to confiscate a boatload of oats. At Dungarvan, in County Waterford, British troops were pelted with stones and fired 26 shots into the crowd, British naval escorts were then provided for the riverboats. Trevelyan was Governor of Madras from 1859 to 1860, and Indian Finance Minister from 1862 to 1865, a reformer of the civil service, he is widely regarded as the founder of the modern British civil service. On 23 December 1834, while in India, he married Hannah More Macaulay, sister of Lord Macaulay, who was then a member of the council of India
28.
Civil Service (United Kingdom)
–
As in other states that employ the Westminster political system, Her Majestys Home Civil Service forms an inseparable part of the British government. The executive decisions of government ministers are implemented by HM Civil Service, Civil servants are employees of the Crown and not of the British parliament. Civil servants also have traditional and statutory responsibilities which to some extent protect them from being used for the political advantage of the party in power. Senior civil servants may be called to account to Parliament, as at the end of March 2016 there were 418,343 civil servants in the Home Civil Service, this is down 3. 6% on the previous year. There are two other administratively separate civil services in the United Kingdom, one is for Northern Ireland, the other is the foreign service. The heads of these services are members of the Permanent Secretaries Management Group, the Offices of State grew in England, and later the United Kingdom. Initially, as in countries, they were little more than secretariats for their leaders. In the 18th century, in response to the growth of the British Empire and economic changes, institutions such as the Office of Works, each had its own system and staff were appointed by purchase or patronage. By the 19th century, it increasingly clear that these arrangements were not working. In 1806, the Honourable East India Company established a college, the purpose of this college was to train administrators, it was established on recommendation of officials in China who had seen the imperial examination system. The civil service, based on similar to the Chinese system, was advocated by a number of Englishmen over the next several decades. The report was well-timed, because bureaucratic chaos in the Crimean War promptly caused a clamour for the change, a Civil Service Commission was accordingly set up in 1855 to oversee open recruitment and end patronage, and most of the other Northcote-Trevelyan recommendations were implemented over some years. This system was endorsed by Commissions chaired by Playfair, Ridley, MacDonnell, Tomlin. The Northcote-Trevelyan model remained essentially stable for a hundred years and this was a tribute to its success in removing corruption, delivering public services, and responding effectively to political change. Following the Second World War, however, demands for change again grew, the times were, moreover, ones of keen respect for technocracy, with the mass mobilisation of war having worked effectively, and the French National Plan apparently delivering economic success. Lord Fultons committee reported in 1968 and his 158 recommendations included the introduction of a unified grading system for all categories of staff, a Civil Service College and a central policy planning unit. The new Department was set up by Prime Minister Harold Wilsons Labour Government in 1968 and named the Civil Service Department, the first Minister was Cabinet Minister Lord Shackleton, also Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal. The first Permanent Secretary was Sir William Armstrong, who moved over from his post as Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, after the 1970 General Election, new Conservative Prime Minister Ted Heath appointed Lord Jellicoe in Lord Shackletons place
29.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
–
The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasury as one of the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. Formerly, in cases when the Chancellorship was vacant, the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench would act as Chancellor pro tempore, the last Lord Chief Justice to serve in this way was Lord Denman in 1834. The earliest surviving records which are the results of the audit, date from 1129–30 under King Henry I. The Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy until 1997, the Chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments. The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is Philip Hammond and he is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can. The Chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets Departmental Expenditure Limits, the amount of power this gives to an individual Chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status within his party and his relationship with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown, who became Chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a personal power base in the party. One part of the Chancellors key roles involves the framing of the annual year budget, as of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget, also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement, also known as a mini-Budget, britains tax year has retained the old Julian end of year,24 March /5 April. From 1993, the Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report, the Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997,2001,2002,2003,2006,2007,2008,2012 and 2016 Budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the Chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. He sets the target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee – the so-called external members. The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a period in extreme circumstances. This power has never officially used. At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a team of four junior ministers
30.
William Ewart Gladstone
–
William Ewart Gladstone, FRS, FSS was a British Liberal and earlier conservative politician. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times, more than any other person, Gladstone was also Britains oldest Prime Minister, he resigned for the final time when he was 84 years old. Gladstone first entered Parliament in 1832, beginning as a High Tory, Gladstone served in the Cabinet of Sir Robert Peel. After the split of the Conservatives Gladstone was a Peelite – in 1859 the Peelites merged with the Whigs, as Chancellor Gladstone became committed to low public spending and to electoral reform, earning him the sobriquet The Peoples William. Gladstones first ministry saw many reforms including the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, after his electoral defeat in 1874, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, but from 1876 began a comeback based on opposition to Turkeys reaction to the Bulgarian April Uprising. Gladstones Midlothian Campaign of 1879–80 was an example of many modern political campaigning techniques. The government also passed the Third Reform Act, Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed Irish home rule but this was defeated in the House of Commons in July. The resulting split in the Liberal Party helped keep out of office, with one short break. In 1892 Gladstone formed his last government at the age of 82, the Second Home Rule Bill passed the Commons but was defeated in the Lords in 1893. Gladstone resigned in March 1894, in opposition to increased naval expenditure and he left Parliament in 1895 and died three years later aged 88. Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as The Peoples William or the G. O. M, Gladstone is consistently ranked as one of Britains greatest Prime Ministers. Born in 1809 in Liverpool, at 62 Rodney Street, William Ewart Gladstone was the son of the slave-owning merchant Sir John Gladstone. Although born and brought up in Liverpool, William Gladstone was of purely Scottish ancestry, in 1814 young Willy visited Scotland for the first time, as he and his brother John travelled with their father to Edinburgh, Biggar and Dingwall to visit their relatives. William and his brother were both made freemen of the burgh of Dingwall, in 1815 Gladstone also travelled to London and Cambridge for the first time with his parents. In London he attended a service of thanksgiving with his family at St Pauls Cathedral following the Battle of Waterloo, William Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St Thomass Church at Seaforth, close to his familys residence, Seaforth House. In December 1831 he achieved the double first-class degree he had long desired, Gladstone served as President of the Oxford Union debating society, where he developed a reputation as an orator, which followed him into the House of Commons. At university Gladstone was a Tory and denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform, following the success of his double first, William travelled with his brother John on a Grand Tour of Europe, visiting Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. On his return to England, William was elected to Parliament in 1832 as Tory Member of Parliament for Newark, partly through the influence of the local patron, the Duke of Newcastle
31.
Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
–
Northcote was born in London, the eldest son of Henry Stafford Northcote, eldest son of Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 7th Baronet. His mother was Agnes Mary, daughter of Thomas Cockburn and his paternal ancestors had long been settled in Devon, tracing their descent from Galfridas de Nordcote who settled there in 1103. The family home was situated at Pynes House northwest of Exeter, Northcote was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1847. In 1843 Northcote became private secretary to William Ewart Gladstone at the Board of Trade and he succeeded his grandfather, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, as 8th baronet in 1851. He entered Parliament in 1855 as Conservative Member of Parliament for Dudley, and was elected for Stamford in 1858 and he was briefly Financial Secretary to the Treasury under the Earl of Derby from January to July 1859. Steadily supporting his party, he became President of the Board of Trade in 1866, Secretary of State for India in 1867, on Disraelis elevation to the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876 Northcote became Leader of the Conservative party in the Commons. Taking the titles of Earl of Iddesleigh and Viscount St Cyres, Northcote was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1875 and Lord Rector of Edinburgh University in 1883, in which capacity he addressed the students on the subject of Desultory Reading. From 1886 to 1887 he was also Lord-Lieutenant of Devon and he was not a prolific or notable writer, but amongst his works were Twenty Years of Financial Policy, a valuable study of Gladstonian finance, and Lectures and Essays. His Life by Andrew Lang appeared in 1890, Northcote was appointed a CB in 1851 and a GCB in 1880 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1866. Northcote married Cecilia Frances Farrer, daughter of Thomas Farrer and sister of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer and they had seven sons and three daughters. His second son, Henry, 1st Baron Northcote, was Governor-General of Australia
32.
Crimean War
–
The Crimean War was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to March 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia. The immediate cause involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land, the French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics, while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The longer-term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the unwillingness of Britain and France to allow Russia to gain territory and power at Ottoman expense. While the churches eventually worked out their differences and came to an agreement, Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas issued an ultimatum that the Orthodox subjects of the Empire be placed under his protection. Britain attempted to mediate and arranged a compromise that Nicholas agreed to, when the Ottomans demanded changes, Nicholas refused and prepared for war. Having obtained promises of support from France and Britain, the Ottomans declared war on Russia in October 1853. The war started in the Balkans, when Russian troops occupied the Danubian Principalities, until then under Ottoman suzerainty and now part of modern Romania, led by Omar Pasha, the Ottomans fought a strong defensive campaign and stopped the advance at Silistra. A separate action on the town of Kars in eastern Anatolia led to a siege. Fearing an Ottoman collapse, France and Britain rushed forces to Gallipoli and they then moved north to Varna in June, arriving just in time for the Russians to abandon Silistra. Aside from a skirmish at Köstence, there was little for the allies to do. Karl Marx quipped that there they are, the French doing nothing, after extended preparations, the forces landed on the peninsula in September 1854 and fought their way to a point south of Sevastopol after a series of successful battles. The Russians counterattacked on 25 October in what became the Battle of Balaclava and were repulsed, a second counterattack, ordered personally by Nicholas, was defeated by Omar Pasha. The front settled into a siege and led to conditions for troops on both sides. Smaller actions were carried out in the Baltic, the Caucasus, Sevastopol fell after eleven months, and neutral countries began to join the Allied cause. Isolated and facing a bleak prospect of invasion from the west if the war continued and this was welcomed by France and Britain, as their subjects were beginning to turn against their governments as the war dragged on. The war was ended by the Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 March 1856, Russia was forbidden from hosting warships in the Black Sea. The Ottoman vassal states of Wallachia and Moldavia became largely independent, Christians there were granted a degree of official equality, and the Orthodox Church regained control of the Christian churches in dispute. The Crimean War was one of the first conflicts to use technologies such as explosive naval shells, railways
33.
Presidencies and provinces of British India
–
Provinces of India, earlier Presidencies of British India and still earlier, Presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in the subcontinent. Collectively, they were called British India, in one form or other they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods. During 1612–1757, the East India Company set up factories in several locations, mostly in coastal India and its rivals were the merchant trading companies of Holland and France. By the mid-18th century, three Presidency towns, Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta had grown in size, during the period of Company rule in India, 1757–1858, the Company gradually acquired sovereignty over large parts of India, now called Presidencies. However, it increasingly came under British government oversight, in effect sharing sovereignty with the Crown. At the same time it gradually lost its mercantile privileges, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Companys remaining powers were transferred to the Crown. In the new British Raj, sovereignty extended to a few new regions, increasingly, however, unwieldy presidencies were broken up into Provinces. In 1608, the English East India Company established a settlement at Surat, and it was followed in 1611 by a permanent factory at Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast, and in 1612 the company joined other already established European trading companies in Bengal. Company rule in Bengal, however, ended with the Government of India Act 1858 following the events of the Bengal Rebellion of 1857 and these rulers were allowed a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for British suzerainty. British India constituted a significant portion of India both in area and population, in 1910, for example, it covered approximately 54% of the area, in addition, there were Portuguese and French exclaves in India. Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of two nations, the Dominions of India and Pakistan, the latter also including East Bengal, present-day Bangladesh. The term British India also applied to Burma for a time period, starting in 1824, a small part of Burma. This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma commenced being administered as a separate British colony, British India did not apply to other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, which was a British Crown colony, or the Maldive Islands, which were a British protectorate. It also included the Colony of Aden in the Arabian Peninsula, the original seat of government was at Allahabad, then at Agra from 1834 to 1868. Bombay Presidency, East India Companys headquarters moved from Surat to Bombay in 1687, the East India Company, which was incorporated on 31 December 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers in Masulipatam on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612. The company rented a trading outpost in Madras in 1639, meanwhile, in eastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the Company established its first factory at Hoogly in 1640. Almost a half-century later, after Emperor Aurengzeb forced the Company out of Hooghly, by the mid-18th century the three principal trading settlements, now called the Madras Presidency, the Bombay Presidency, and the Bengal Presidency were each administered by a Governor. After Robert Clives victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, in 1772, the Company also obtained the Nizāmat of Bengal and thereby full sovereignty of the expanded Bengal Presidency
34.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
–
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against British rule. For nearly 100 years, that rule had been presided over by the British East India Company, the rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Companys army in the garrison town of Meerut,40 miles northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a threat to British power in that region. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities formally to have ended until 8 July 1859. The rebellion is known by names, including the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection. Many Indians did rise against the British, however, very many also fought for the British, after the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the rebels very quickly reached Delhi, whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, they declared the Emperor of Hindustan. Soon, the rebels had captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces. The East India Companys response came rapidly as well, with help from reinforcements, Kanpur was retaken by mid-July 1857, and Delhi by the end of September. However, it took the remainder of 1857 and the better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be suppressed in Jhansi, Lucknow. Other regions of Company controlled India—Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, in the Punjab, the Sikh princes crucially helped the British by providing both soldiers and support. In some regions, most notably in Awadh, the took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against European presence. However, the rebel leaders proclaimed no articles of faith that presaged a new political system, even so, the rebellion proved to be an important watershed in Indian- and British Empire history. India was thereafter administered directly by the British government in the new British Raj, on 1 November 1858, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation to Indians, which while lacking the authority of a constitutional provision, promised rights similar to those of other British subjects. In the following decades, when admission to these rights was not always forthcoming, the victory was consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar, when the East India Company army defeated Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. After his defeat, the granted the Company the right to the collection of Revenue in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar. The Company soon expanded its territories around its bases in Bombay and Madras, later, the Anglo-Mysore Wars, in 1806, the Vellore Mutiny was sparked by new uniform regulations that created resentment amongst both Hindu and Muslim sepoys. After the turn of the 19th century, Governor-General Wellesley began what became two decades of accelerated expansion of Company territories and this was achieved either by subsidiary alliances between the Company and local rulers or by direct military annexation
35.
Commonwealth of Nations
–
The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada
36.
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
–
The act provided selection of government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation. It also made it illegal to fire or demote government officials for political reasons, to enforce the merit system and the judicial system, the law also created the United States Civil Service Commission. This board would be in charge of determining the rules and regulations of the act, the Act also allowed for the president, by executive order to decide which positions could be subject to the act and which would not. A crucial result was the shift of the parties to reliance on funding from business, in 1877, there was growing interest in the United States concerning the effects of the spoils system on the American political system. New York City established the Civil Service Reform Association to help address the issues, the presence of these organizations was one of the first steps in trying to up end the spoils system in America. The assassination of President James A. Garfield moved the Civil Service Reform from city organizations to a topic in the political realm. Garfield died two months later, and Vice President Chester A. Arthur acceded to the presidency, once in office, President Arthur pushed through legislation for civil reform. On January 16,1883 Congress passed the Civil Service Act, the Act was written by Dorman Bridgman Eaton, a staunch opponent of the patronage system who was later first chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission. However, the law would also prove to be a political liability for Arthur. The law offended machine politicians, or politicians who belong to a clique that controls a political party. These politicians realized that with the Pendleton Act in place they would have to find a new means of income, the Act initially covered only about 10% of the U. S. governments civilian employees. However, there was a provision that allowed outgoing presidents to lock in their own appointees by converting jobs to civil service, after a series of party reversals at the presidential level, the result was that most federal jobs were under civil service. Civil Service Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 National Civil Service Reform League
"