Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to take the throne. This “restoration of the monarchy” was accompanied by a great co-
lonial expansion and the rebuilding of London (including Christopher Wren's St. Paul's
Cathedral), which had been devastated by the Great Fire of 1666. Parliament gained ulti-
mate authority over the throne when it deposed Catholic James II and imported the Dutch
monarchs William and Mary in 1688, guaranteeing a Protestant succession.
Britain grew as a naval superpower, colonizing and trading with all parts of the globe
(although it lost its most important colony to those ungrateful Americans in 1776). Ad-
miral Horatio Nelson's victory over Napoleon's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar secured her
naval superiority (“Britannia rules the waves”), and 10 years later, the Duke of Wellington
stomped Napoleon on land at Waterloo. Nelson and Wellington—both buried in London's
St. Paul's Cathedral—are memorialized by many arches, columns, and squares throughout
England.
Economically, Britain led the world into the Industrial Age with her mills, factories,
coal mines, and trains. By the time of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901), Britain was at
its zenith of power, with a colonial empire that covered one-fifth of the world (for more
on Victoria, see sidebar).
 
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