163-620: 53°25′46″N 2°59′37″W / 53.42932°N 2.99373°W / 53.42932; -2.99373 PSS (UK) is a national social enterprise in the United Kingdom . Liverpool Personal Services Society was founded by Eleanor Rathbone and Dorothy Keeling in 1919, for over 100 years PSS has provided a range of support services. The charity operates services in Liverpool, Manchester, Wirral, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and North Wales. PSS's head office
326-719: A much more limited form of home rule , opted-out of joining the Free State and remained part of the Union under this limited form of self-government. In light of these changes, the British state was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 12 April 1927 with the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act . The modern-day United Kingdom is the same state, that is to say a direct continuation of what remained after
489-828: A short-lived revolt in 1857. In overseas policy, the central policy was free trade , which enabled British financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Beginning in earnest in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Imperial government granted increasing levels of autonomy to locally elected governments in colonies where white settlers had become demographically or politically dominant, with this process eventually resulting in Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland and South Africa becoming self-governing dominions . While these dominions remained part of
652-507: A South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago. Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in
815-619: A century. In 1927, it evolved into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , after the Irish Free State gained a degree of independence in 1922. The United Kingdom, from its islands off the coast of Europe, financed the coalition that defeated France during the Napoleonic Wars , and further developed its dominant Royal Navy enabling the British Empire to become the foremost world power for
978-550: A commitment to the landed aristocracy. He used his London residence as a venue for intimate dinners and private consultations, together with extensive correspondence that kept him in close touch with party leaders in the Commons and with leading figures in the Lords. He gave public rhetorical support to Ultra-Tory anti-reform positions, but then deftly changed positions toward the party's centre, especially when Peel needed support from
1141-493: A complete list, see Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs . The coalition that defeated Napoleon was financed by Britain, and held together at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815. It successfully broke Napoleon's comeback attempt in 1815. Castlereagh played a central role at Vienna, along with Austrian leader Klemens von Metternich . While many Europeans wanted to punish France heavily, Castlereagh insisted on
1304-595: A constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies after their wars of independence in 1824. British merchants and financiers and, later, railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations. In the 1825 to 1867 era, widespread public demonstrations, some of them violent, escalated to demand reform. The ruling Tories were dead set against anything smacking of democracy or popular rule and favoured severe punishment of demonstrators, as exemplified by
1467-556: A few minor cabinet positions, but his reputation rests on his organising skills and his rhetorical leadership for reform. One historian summarised Bright's achievements: Asia Asia ( / ˈ eɪ ʒ ə / AY -zhə , UK also / ˈ eɪ ʃ ə / AY -shə ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth 's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to
1630-419: A long process, emphasising the urgent need in 1832 to settle the intense and growing political unrest across Britain. He believed that the respectable classes deserved to have their demands for greater representation met, but he refused to extend political power to the mass of the lower middle class and working class, saying that they were not ready to be trusted with it. He wanted to preserve the basic elements of
1793-676: A major hub for outsourcing. Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa Mombasa (see also: Indo-Pacific ), from there to Djibouti , then through
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#17327986105231956-521: A major impact on British opinion at the time and on history ever since as a symbol of officialdom brutally suppressing a peaceful demonstration thinking mistakenly that it was the start of an insurrection. The Ultra-Tories peaked in strength about 1819–1822 then lost ground inside the Tory Party. They were defeated in important breakthroughs that took place in the late 1820s in terms of tolerating first dissenting Protestants. An even more decisive blow
2119-575: A marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος . The term was later adopted by the Romans , who used it in reference to the province of Asia , located in western Anatolia. One of the first writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny . The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia , South Asia , Southeast Asia , Central Asia , and West Asia . The coastal periphery
2282-572: A mild peace, with the Kingdom of France to pay 700 million livre in indemnities and lose the territory seized after 1791. He realised that harsher terms would lead to a dangerous reaction in France, and now that the conservative old-fashioned Bourbons were back in power, they were no longer a threat to attempt to conquer all of Europe. Indeed, Castlereagh emphasised the need for a " balance of power ", whereby no nation would be powerful enough to threaten
2445-707: A mix of many different climates ranging from the equatorial south via the hot deserts in parts of West Asia , Central Asia and South Asia , temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in North Asia . The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Suez Canal , the Gulf of Suez , the Red Sea , and the Bab-el-Mandeb . This makes Egypt a transcontinental country , with
2608-541: A popular revolution along the French model, employed severe repression. In the mid-1820s, however, as popular unrest increased, the government made a series of dramatic changes. The more liberal among the Tories rejected the ultraconservative "Ultra Tory" faction. The party split, key leaders switched sides, the Tories lost power, and the more liberally minded opposition Whigs took over. The Tory coalition fell apart, and it
2771-546: A spectrum. China and India traded places as the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest GDP per capita until 1500. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during
2934-632: A successful campaign against the Corn Laws. These were tariffs on imported food that kept up the price of grain to placate Tory landowners. The major factor in the cost of living was the price of food , and the Corn Laws kept the price high. Bright was a powerful speaker, which boosted him to election to parliament in 1843. His radical program included extension of the suffrage, land reform and reduction of taxation. He opposed factory reforms, labour unions and controls on hours For workers, women and children, arguing that government intervention in economic life
3097-495: A uniform fashion, and city officials were elected by the local taxpayers. By far the most important of the reforms was the democratisation of Parliament, which began in a small but highly controversial fashion in 1832 with the Reform Act of 1832 . The main impact was to drastically reduce the number of very small constituencies , with only a few dozen voters under the control of a local magnate. Industrial cities gained many of
3260-838: A watered-down reform. He routinely gave the same advice to foreign governments. Diplomats across Europe took careful note of his move from the Tories to the Whigs, and suspected him of sympathy with the reform movements which were setting off upheavals in France, Belgium and elsewhere, and which frightened the reactionary governments of the major powers Russia, Austria and Russia. In reality he drew his foreign policy ideals from Canning. His main goals were to promote British strategic and economic interests worldwide, remain aloof from European alliances, mediate peace in Europe and use British naval power sparingly as needed. He worried most about France as an adversary, although he collaborated with them as in securing
3423-1054: Is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains , and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma–Manych Depression ) and the Caspian and Black Seas . It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them ( Georgia , Azerbaijan , Russia , Kazakhstan and Turkey ) are transcontinental countries lying partly in Europe . Geographically, Russia
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#17327986105233586-514: Is growing rapidly. In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires (people with net worth over US$ 1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. In 2011, Asia topped Europe in number of millionaires. Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa-millionaire overtook North America's wealth for the first time as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At
3749-771: Is in Eleanor Rathbone House, Derby Road in the Sandhills area of Liverpool. PSS moved into this office in 2018 from its previous home on Seel Street in the city centre. In 1918 the personal services committee of the Liverpool Council of Voluntary Aid was established with Dorothy Keeling as its first secretary. Founded in 1919 by philanthropist and prolific social campaigner Eleanor Rathbone and social worker and campaigner Dorothy Keeling in Liverpool . The title 'Liverpool Personal Services Society
3912-467: Is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia
4075-588: Is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere , and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan. Climate change is particularly important in Asia, as the continent accounts for the majority of the human population. Warming since the 20th century is increasing
4238-721: Is partly in Asia, but is considered a European nation , both culturally and politically. The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north. There are various approaches to
4401-493: Is projected to move to third place, behind China and India. While nearly half of the world's new renewable energy capacity is built in Asia, this is not yet sufficient in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement . They imply that the renewables would account for 35% of total energy consumption in Asia by 2030. Asia has the largest continental economy in the world by both GDP nominal and PPP values, and
4564-429: Is the fastest growing economic region. As of 2023 , China is by far the largest economy on the continent, making up nearly half of the continent's economy by GDP nominal. It is followed by Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are all ranked among the top 20 largest economies both by nominal and PPP values. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of
4727-719: The Allied and Associated Powers including the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and the U.S. against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire . The deadliest conflict in human history up to that point, the war ended in an Allied victory in November 1918 but inflicted a massive cost to British manpower, materiel and treasure. Growing desire for Irish self-governance led to
4890-576: The Arctic Ocean . The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct , as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish straits , the Ural Mountains and Ural River , and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe. Since
5053-809: The Black Sea coast, through the Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. During the Hellenistic period , this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the Tanais (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as Posidonius , Strabo and Ptolemy . The border between Asia and Europe
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5216-603: The British Empire . Industrial Revolution accelerated, with textile mills joined by iron and steel, coal mining, railroads and shipbuilding. The second British Empire, founded after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolutionary War of the 1770s, was dramatically expanded in India , other parts of Asia, and Africa. There was little friction with other colonial powers until
5379-477: The British Isles , but it was smaller in terms of industry, finance, mercantile marine and naval strength. Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from Continental Europe would end its economic hegemony. On the contrary Britain possessed the greatest industrial capacity in the world, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade to its possessions and
5542-677: The Continental System . This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. The British Army remained a minimal threat to France; it maintained a standing strength of just 220,000 men at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas the French Imperial Army exceeded a million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into
5705-639: The Crimean War against the Russian Empire in the 1850s. That war was strictly limited in terms of scope and impact. The major result was the realisation that military medical services needed urgent reform, as advocated by the nursing leader Florence Nightingale . British diplomats, led by Lord Palmerston , promoted British nationalism, opposed reactionary regimes on the continent, helped the Spanish colonies to free themselves and worked to shut down
5868-598: The European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC ). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy. It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2027. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP by currency exchange rates was almost as large as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of
6031-518: The French Revolution in 1793. Historians find that the violent radical element was small and weak; there were a handful of small conspiracies involving men with few followers and careless security; they were quickly suppressed. Nevertheless, techniques of repression included the suspension of Habeas Corpus in 1817 (allowing the government to arrest and hold suspects without cause or trial). Sidmouth 's Gagging Acts of 1817 heavily muzzled
6194-731: The Hebrew Bible in the narrative of Noah —and later to Christians in the Old Testament , and to Muslims in the Quran —is earliest found in Mesopotamian mythology , in the Enûma Eliš and Epic of Gilgamesh . Hindu mythology similarly tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. Ancient Chinese mythology also tells of a Great Flood spanning generations, one that required
6357-621: The Hindu Kush region will become more unstable as its enormous glaciers , known as the "Asian water towers", gradually melt. These changes to water cycle also affect vector-borne disease distribution, with malaria and dengue fever expected to become more prominent in the tropical and subtropical regions. Food security will become more uneven, and South Asian countries could experience significant impacts from global food price volatility. Historical emissions from Asia are lower than those from Europe and North America. However, China has been
6520-532: The Industrial Revolution progressed, society changed, becoming more urban. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. British leadership was intensely conservative, ever watchful of signs of revolutionary activity of the sort that had so deeply affected France. Historians have found very few signs, noting that social movements such as Methodism strongly encouraged conservative support for
6683-680: The Irish War of Independence almost immediately after the conclusion of World War I, which resulted in British recognition of the Irish Free State in 1922. Although the Free State was explicitly governed under dominion status and thus was not a fully independent polity, as a dominion it was no longer considered to be part of the United Kingdom and ceased to be represented in the Westminster Parliament . Six northeastern counties in Ireland, which since 1920 were being governed under
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6846-534: The Opium Wars with the Qing dynasty , to extend its overseas territorial holdings and influence. Britain's empire was expanded into most parts of Africa and much of South Asia. The Colonial Office and India Office ruled through a small number of administrators who managed the units of the empire locally, while local institutions began to develop. British India , by far the most important overseas possession, saw
7009-402: The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819. The Tory ranks were cracking, however, especially when Robert Peel (1788–1830) broke away on several critical issues. Nevertheless, the Whig party gets most of the credit. The middle classes, often led by nonconformist Protestants, turned against the Tories and scored the greatest gains. For example, symbolic restrictions on nonconformists called
7172-594: The Principality of Elba , peace appeared to have returned. Napoleon suddenly reappeared in 1815. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Napoleon once and for all at the Battle of Waterloo . To defeat France, Britain put heavy pressure on the United States , seizing merchant ships suspected of trading with France, and impressing sailors (conscription) born in Britain, regardless of their claimed American citizenship . British government agents armed Indigenous American tribes in Canada that were raiding American settlements on
7335-417: The Sinai peninsula in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa. The threefold division of the Old World into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus . Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni river) in Georgia of Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on
7498-404: The Test Acts were abolished in 1828 . Much more controversial was the repeal of severe discrimination against Roman Catholics after the Irish Catholics organised, and threatened rebellion, forcing major concessions in 1829 . Financial reform, led by William Huskisson and Peel, rationalised the tariff system, and culminated in the great repeal of the tariffs on imported grain in 1846, much to
7661-487: The Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains , although it is sometimes placed further north. The border between Asia and Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Indonesia Archipelago , specifically in Eastern Indonesia . The Wallace Line separates
7824-418: The century of humiliation , with the British-supported opium trade and later Opium Wars resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported. Foreign domination of China was furthered by the Japanese colonial empire , which controlled some of East Asia and briefly much of Southeast Asia (which had earlier been taken over by the British, Dutch and French in
7987-399: The frontier . The Americans felt humiliated and demanded war to restore their honour, despite their complete unpreparedness. The War of 1812 was a minor sideshow to the British, but the American army performed very poorly, and was unable to successfully attack Canada. In 1813, the Americans took control of Lake Erie and thereby of western Ontario , knocking most of the Indian tribes out of
8150-454: The independence of Belgium from the Kingdom of the Netherlands . He much preferred liberal and reform-oriented nations to reactionary powers. He placed a high priority on building up British strength in India, He spoke often of pride in British nationalism, which found favour in public opinion and gave him a strong basis of support outside Parliament. Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was an intellectual who focused on reforming English law . He
8313-638: The monsoons will experience more flooding. The waters around Asia are subjected to the same impacts as elsewhere, such as the increased warming and ocean acidification . There are many coral reefs in the region, and they are highly vulnerable to climate change, to the point practically all of them will be lost if the warming exceeds 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). Asia's distinctive mangrove ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to sea level rise . Asia also has more countries with large coastal populations than any other continent, which would cause large economic impacts from sea level rise. Water supplies in
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#17327986105238476-432: The steppes . The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans , who spread their languages into West Asia, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia , was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra . These areas remained very sparsely populated. The center and
8639-486: The "betrayal" of the working classes and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued the People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal-sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of Members of Parliament (so that poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. The ruling class saw the movement as dangerous. Multiple large peaceful meetings across England demanded change but
8802-450: The 1790–1815 period there was an improvement in morals caused by the religious efforts by evangelicals inside the Church of England, and Dissenters or Nonconformist Protestants as people: became wiser, better, more frugal, more honest, more respectable, more virtuous, than they ever were before." Wickedness still flourished, but the good were getting better, as frivolous habits were discarded for more serious concerns. The leading moralist of
8965-406: The 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty . The Islamic Mughal Empire (preceded by the Delhi Sultanate of the 13th to early 16th century) and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively. Western imperialism in Asia from the 18th to 20th centuries coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the West and
9128-410: The 1890s. British foreign policy avoided entangling alliances. Britain from the 1820s to the 1860s experienced a turbulent and exciting "age of reform". The century started with 15 years of war against France, ending in Wellington's triumph against Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo. There followed 15 difficult years, in which the Tory Party, representing a small, rich landed aristocracy that was fearful of
9291-450: The 1960s and 1970s who argued against deep meanings of Whiggish progress because each of the reforms was relatively minor in itself. Historian Richard Davis concludes that the scholarship of the 1970s represented "a vindication of the main outlines of the old " Whig interpretation ." That is, the Reform Act of 1832 was a response to mounting popular pressure. It was "the culmination of a long historical process, and an important turning point in
9454-416: The 1990s, with extreme poverty now below 20%; India and China's rise has coincided with growing tension between the two, with the Indo-Pacific now an actively contested area between China and counterbalancing forces. Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at 62,800 kilometres (39,022 mi). Asia
9617-468: The 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism , Zoroastrianism , Judaism , Jainism , Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , Christianity , Islam , Sikhism , and many other religions. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems. It also has
9780-466: The 7th century; Islam also spread over centuries to the southern regions of India and Southeast Asia through trade along the Maritime Silk Road . The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people. The Black Death , one of
9943-427: The Asian and Wallacea biogeographical realms, a transition zone of deep water straits between the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Weber's Line split the region in two with regard to the balance of fauna between Asian origin or Australo-Papuan origin. Wallacea's eastern boundary with Sahul is represented by the Lydekker's Line . The Maluku Islands (except the Aru Islands) are often considered to lie on
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#173279861052310106-441: The Asian goods traffic is carried out across the Pacific towards Los Angeles and Long Beach . The melting of the Arctic is also paving the way for new shipping routes from Northeast Asia to Europe and North America. In contrast to the sea routes, the Silk Road via the land route to Europe is on the one hand still under construction and on the other hand is much smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade,
10269-502: The Bering Strait, with Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in the United States . The Aleutian Islands are an island chain extending westward from the Alaskan Peninsula toward Russia's Komandorski Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula . Most of them are always associated with North America, except for the westernmost Near Islands group, which is on Asia's continental shelf beyond the North Aleutians Basin and on rare occasions could be associated with Asia, which could then allow
10432-521: The British Empire, in practice, these governments were permitted greater management of their own internal affairs, with Britain remaining primarily responsible for their foreign and trade policies. Rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the state's formation continued up until the mid-19th century. The Great Irish Famine , exacerbated by government inaction in the mid-19th century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland and increased calls for Irish land reform . The 19th century
10595-465: The British Empire. In response, London began to cooperate with Japan , France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States . Although not formally allied with any of these powers, by 1914 British policy had all but committed to declaring war on Germany if the latter attacked France. This was realized in August 1914 when Germany invaded France via Belgium , whose neutrality had been guaranteed by London. The ensuing First World War eventually pitted
10758-409: The Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. In July 1839, however, the House of Commons rejected, by 235 votes to 46, a motion to debate the Chartists' national petition, bearing 1.3 million signatures. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society. Prime ministers of
10921-528: The Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . The government purchased all the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, most of whom were in the Caribbean sugar islands. The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform by making the Reform Act of 1832 their signature measure. It sharply reduced the numbers of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed seats on
11084-413: The French armies when they were needed. Although the Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of
11247-401: The Government is rising by its side, nay, daily counteracting its views." The Duke of Wellington, Britain's most famous war hero, told Peel, "If we cannot get rid of the Catholic Association, we must look to Civil War in Ireland sooner or later." Peel and Wellington agreed that to stop the momentum of the Catholic Association it was necessary to pass Catholic emancipation , which gave Catholics
11410-417: The Hittite king Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE. Roughly contemporary Linear B documents contain the term aswia ( Mycenaean Greek : 𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊 , romanized: a-si-wi-ja ), seemingly in reference to captives from the same area. Herodotus used the term in reference to Anatolia and the territory of the Achaemenid Empire , in contrast to Greece and Egypt. He reports that Greeks assumed that Asia
11573-424: The Indian Ocean respectively in the late 15th century. The Russian Empire also began to expand into northwestern Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. Among non-European empires, the Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onward, while in
11736-591: The Irish Free State's secession, as opposed to being an entirely new successor state . A brief period of limited independence for the Kingdom of Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , which occurred during the British war with revolutionary France . The Kingdom of Great Britain 's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with Revolutionary France resulted in
11899-600: The Middle East has been affected since 1948 by the Arab–Israeli conflict and American-led interventions . East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth " tiger economies "; China, having undergone capitalistic reforms under Deng Xiaoping , regained its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century. India has also grown significantly because of economic liberalisation that started in
12062-464: The Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century led to the Middle East also being contested and partitioned by the British and French. With the end of World War II in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly free themselves of colonial rule. The independence of India came along with the carving out of a separate nation for
12225-482: The PSS by other bodies but in the remaining cases the families had sought out the PSS themselves. They were supplying reliable and unbiased advice to families and by 1939 they had 560 volunteer workers. The charity's first headquarters was on Stanley Street in Liverpool. A long queue of people that could be found lining up on its winding staircase to speak to someone at Liverpool Personal Services Society. 'The Crowded Stairs'
12388-493: The Parliamentary level, there was a reorganisation of the governmental system in the rapidly growing cities, putting a premium on modernisation and expertise, and large electorates as opposed to small ruling cliques. A rapidly growing middle class, as well as active intellectuals, broaden the scope of reform to include humanitarian activities such as a new poor law and factory laws to protect women and children workers. In
12551-616: The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become
12714-504: The Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces. Many of the world's major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion ), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Jews in
12877-882: The Protestant faith, and his lack of support for the initiative led the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , to resign. During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch overseas possessions , the Netherlands having become a satellite state of France in 1796, but tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended
13040-551: The Red Sea over the Suez Canal into Mediterranean (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ), there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to Barcelona and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via South Africa to Europe . A particularly significant part of
13203-580: The U.S. state of Alaska as well as the United States itself to be considered a transcontinental state. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate. This is extremely rare however, due to their non-tropical biogeography, as well as their inhabitants , who have historically been related to Indigenous Americans . St. Lawrence Island in
13366-673: The US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen /US$ . Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim , known as the Asian tigers , which are now all considered developed economies, having among
13529-686: The United States. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington gradually pushed the French out of Spain, and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Royal Prussian Army , the Imperial Austrian Army , and the Imperial Russian Army , Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to
13692-492: The United States. The trend of emigration would continue in Ireland for decades and Ireland's population has never recovered to its pre-famine levels. The Irish language was almost wiped out. The failure of the British government to respond to the crisis in the eyes of the Irish people would lead to a growth in resentment of Britain and a rise in Irish nationalism . The famine is remembered in Ireland to this day as oppression by
13855-622: The Whig coalition in 1830. The Tories despised him thereafter as a turncoat, and many of the more radical Whigs were distrustful of his basically conservative views that saw him fainthearted about or opposed to reform measures. He typically warned on the one hand against delays and on the other hand against excessive enthusiasm for reforms, preferring compromise. He was keenly sensitive to public opinion, and indeed often shapes it through his dealings with newspaper editors. When he sensed that public demand had reached an unstoppable momentum, he would work for
14018-464: The Whigs to demand for civil and religious equality. Grievances included a 1753 law that to be legally recognised marriage had to take place in the Anglican parish church . The Anglican parish register was the only legally accepted birth documentation. The Anglican parish controlled the only religious burial grounds. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had to reject non-Anglican applicants. At
14181-567: The area of multinational corporations , but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure. According to Citigroup in 2011, 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia,
14344-520: The aristocracy in terms of its control of the House of Commons. However, it ran the government: of the ten prime ministers under Victoria, six were peers. The seventh was the son of a duke. Two (Peel and Gladstone) emerged from the business community and only one (Disraeli) was a self-made man . Of the 227 cabinet members between 1832 and 1905, 139 were sons of peers. Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , who defeated Napoleon, served as
14507-611: The basis of population. It also broadened the franchise, adding 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales . The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry , and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class , which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, at this point the great majority of manual workers, clerks and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. Many of them received
14670-634: The border of southeast Asia, with the Aru Islands and Western New Guinea , to the east of the Lydekker's Line, being wholly part of Oceania, as both lie on the Australian continental plate. Culturally, the Wallacea region denoted the transition between Austronesian and Melanesian people , with varying degrees of intermixing between the two. In general, the further west and coastal a region is,
14833-489: The concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Therefore, Asia is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and the boundary between Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity . The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on
14996-534: The conquest of Europe the way Napoleon had. Vienna ushered in a century of peace, with no great wars and few important localised ones until the Crimean War (1853–1856). Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies , tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur. Britain first took a Reactionary position at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, but relented and broke ranks with the absolute monarchies by 1820. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend
15159-549: The continent of Asia". Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass— Afro-Eurasia —and share a common continental shelf . Almost all of Europe and a major part of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate , adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with
15322-443: The cultural borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus, a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them. For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe , the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of
15485-572: The decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801. The Irish had been led to believe by the British that their loss of legislative independence would be compensated with Catholic emancipation , that is, by the removal of civil disabilities placed upon Roman Catholics in both Great Britain and Ireland . Despite personal sympathy for Roman Catholics, King George III believed that agreeing to Catholic Emancipation would violate his Coronation Oath to uphold
15648-596: The dethroning of India and China as the world's foremost economies. The British Empire first became dominant in South Asia, with most of the region being conquered by British traders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before falling under direct British rule after a failed 1857 revolt ; the 1869 completion of the Suez Canal , which increased British access to India, went on to further European influence over Africa and Asia. Around this time, Western powers started to dominate China in what later became known as
15811-468: The dismay of grain farmers. The 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws established free trade as the basic principle by which British merchants came to dominate the globe, and brought cheap food to British workers. A depoliticised civil service based on merit replaced patronage policies rewarding jobs for partisan efforts. Efficiency was a high priority in government, with the goal of low taxation. Overall, taxation
15974-684: The easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Chersky Range ) on the North American Plate . The term "Asia" is believed to originate in the Bronze Age toponym Assuwa ( Hittite : 𒀸𒋗𒉿 , romanized: aš-šu-wa ) which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia . The term appears in Hittite records recounting how a confederation of Assuwan states including Troy unsuccessfully rebelled against
16137-439: The emergence of a more liberal and broadly based political system… it deserves its old designation of 'Great.'" David Thompson has stressed the revolutionary nature of the entire package of reforms: Chartism was a large-scale popular protest movement that emerged in response to the failure of the 1832 Reform Bill to give the vote to the working class. It lacked middle-class support, and it failed repeatedly. Activists denounced
16300-492: The end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $ 100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people. With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for
16463-529: The era, William Wilberforce , saw everywhere "new proofs presenting themselves of the diffusion of religion". Nonconformists, including Presbyterians , Congregationalists , the Baptists and the rapidly-growing Methodist denomination , as well as Quakers , Unitarians and smaller groups. They were all outside the established Church of England (except in Scotland, where the established Church of Scotland
16626-441: The event as an opening battle against revolutionaries. In reaction Lord Liverpool 's government passed the " Six Acts " in 1819. They prohibited drills and military exercises; facilitated warrants for the search for weapons; outlawed public meetings of more than 50 people, including meetings to organise petitions; put heavy penalties on blasphemous and seditious publications; imposing a fourpenny stamp act on many pamphlets to cut down
16789-490: The existing constitution by removing obvious abuses, thinking that this would strengthen aristocratic leadership. He persuaded the king to promise to create enough new peers to force the bill through the House of Lords. The king made the promise while also advising the peers to stop blocking the bill. The Reform Act was Grey's principal achievement; it reflects his pragmatic, moderate and conservative character, as well as his parliamentary skills of timing and persuasion. His cabinet
16952-555: The face of determined House of Commons action. After defeating the first two versions of the Reform Act of 1832, the Whigs got the King to agree to appoint as many new peers as was necessary to change the outcome. He promised to do so, but convinced the Lords it would be much wiser for them to approve the law. A weak ruler as regent (1811–1820) and king (1820–1830), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs. He
17115-414: The first time a city of a country from Asia ( Bangkok ) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 million international visitors. East Asia had by far the strongest overall Human Development Index (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in
17278-461: The flow on news and criticism. Offenders could be harshly punished including exile in Australia . In practice the laws were designed to deter troublemakers and reassure conservatives; they were not often used. One historian would write: "Peterloo was a blunder; it was hardly a massacre." It was a serious mistake by local authorities who did not understand what was happening. Nevertheless, it had
17441-497: The highest GDP per capita in Asia. Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum , forests , fish , water , rice , copper and silver . Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan , South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in
17604-466: The international slave trade. It was a time of prosperity, population growth and better health, except in Ireland where over one million deaths were caused by the Great Famine when the potato crop failed in the 1840s. The Government did little to help the starving poor in Ireland. Along with the one million deaths, another one million would emigrate in a few short years, mostly to Britain and to
17767-401: The key legal, political, economic and social reforms of the 1830s and 1840s. He especially influenced the reform of education, prisons, poor laws, legal procedures and Parliamentary representation. John Bright (1811–1889) built on his middle-class Quaker heritage and his collaboration with Richard Cobden to promote all varieties of humanitarian and parliamentary reform. They started with
17930-509: The king. The fiasco helped ruin the prestige of the monarchy and it recovered a fraction of the power wielded by King George III in his saner days. Historian Eugene Black says: The Ultra-Tories were the leaders of reaction and seemed to dominate the Tory Party , which controlled the government. Every untoward event seemed to point to a conspiracy on the left which necessitated more repression to head off another terror such as happened in
18093-689: The late 19th century), New Guinea and the Pacific islands ; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the Meiji era of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia. One significant influence on Japan had been the United States, which had begun projecting influence across the Pacific after its early-to-mid-19th century westward expansion . The breakup of
18256-530: The leader of the Conservative party in the House of Lords, 1828–1846. Some writers have belittled him as a befuddled reactionary, but a consensus reached in the late 20th century depicts him as a shrewd operator who hid his cleverness behind the facade of a poorly-informed old soldier. Wellington worked to transform the Lords from unstinting support of the Crown to an active player in political manoeuvring, with
18419-598: The local level, everyone who lived in the boundaries of an Anglican church was required to pay taxes to support the parish. The Test and Corporation laws required all national and local government officials had to attend Anglican church services. In February 1828, Whig leader Lord John Russell , presented petitions assembled by the main Nonconformist pressure group, the United Committee, which represented Congregationalist, Baptists and Unitarians. Their demand
18582-516: The lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large equestrian force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies. The Islamic Caliphate 's defeats of the Byzantine and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of Central Asia and western parts of South Asia under its control during its conquests of
18745-728: The majority of South Asian Muslims , which in 1971 further split into the countries Pakistan and Bangladesh ; Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union strained relations between India and Pakistan and affected Asia more generally. The end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union by 1991 saw the independence of the five modern Central Asian countries. Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential, though stability in
18908-462: The majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population. Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe , and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa . In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean , and on the north by
19071-425: The majority. The great Reform Act 1832 came at a time of intense public and elite anxiety and broke the logjam. The parliamentary system, based on a very small electorate and large numbers of seats that were tightly controlled by a small elite, was radically reformed. For the first time the growing industrial cities had representation in Parliament. This opened the way for another decade of reform that culminated in
19234-548: The mobilisation of all possible support in each constituency; about 80% of the men voted. The Tories discovered that their conservatism had an appeal to skilled workers, and also to women, hundreds of thousands of whom were organised by the Primrose League . Women's suffrage was not on the agenda. The abolition of the House of Lords , while often discussed, was never necessary because the upper house repeatedly retreated in
19397-516: The most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road . European involvement in Asia became more significant from the Age of Discovery onward, with Iberian-sponsored sailors such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama paving the way for new routes from Atlantic Europe to Pacific Asia and
19560-528: The next century. For nearly a century from the final defeat of Napoleon following the Battle of Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I , Britain was almost continuously at peace with Great Powers . The most notable exception was the Crimean War with the Russian Empire , in which actual hostilities were relatively limited. However, the United Kingdom did engage in extensive wars in Africa and Asia , such as
19723-716: The northern Bering Sea belongs to Alaska and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the Rat Islands in the Aleutian chain. At their nearest points, Alaska and Russia are separated by only 4 kilometres (2.5 miles). Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the Ancient Greeks , being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to
19886-636: The opposition newspapers; the reformers switched to pamphlets and sold 50,000 a week. In industrial districts in 1819, factory workers demanded better wages, and demonstrated. The most important event was the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester , on 16 August 1819, when a local militia unit composed of landowners charged into an orderly crowd of 60,000 which had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. The crowd panicked and eleven died and hundreds were injured. The government saw
20049-496: The period included: William Pitt the Younger , Lord Grenville , Duke of Portland , Spencer Perceval , Lord Liverpool , George Canning , Lord Goderich , Duke of Wellington , Lord Grey , Lord Melbourne , Lord Palmerston and Robert Peel . The aristocracy remained dominant: there were 200 hereditary peers in the House of Lords in 1860; by 1837 they numbered 428; in 1901, there were 592. The number rose to 622 by 1910. Reform legislation in 1832, 1867, 1884 and 1918 weakened
20212-470: The peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However,
20375-454: The political and social status quo. The major constitutional changes included a reform of Parliament, and a sharp decline in the power and prestige of the monarchy. The Prince regent, on becoming King George IV in 1820 asked Parliament to divorce his wife Queen Caroline of Brunswick so that he could marry his favourite lover. Public and elite opinion strongly favoured the Queen and ridiculed
20538-708: The regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories. Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from Arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It
20701-518: The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846—ending the tariff on imported grain that kept prices high for the landed aristocracy. Repeal was heavily promoted by the Anti-Corn Law League , grass roots activists led by Richard Cobden and based in the industrial cities; they demanded cheap food. There were a series of reforms of the electoral laws, expanding the number of male voters and reducing the level of corruption. The reactionary Tory element
20864-504: The seats but were still significantly underrepresented in Parliament. The 1831–1832 battle over parliamentary reform was, "a year probably unmatched in English history for the sweep and intensity of its excitement." Every few years an incremental enlargement of the electorate was made by Parliament, reaching practically all male voters by the 1880s, and all the women by 1928. Both parties introduced paid professional organisers who supervised
21027-494: The secretary of the PSS until the start of the second world war. It was not just advice as the volunteers ran boot and clothing clubs, a loan scheme, a holiday scheme and in 1932 the well funded Central Relief Society used the PSS to find the best place for its funds. The advice offered included bureaux for new tenants, legal and marital advice, visiting and care for the old and disabled. In 1935 there were 9,000 families who had asked for help. A quarter of these were cases referred to
21190-497: The single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the 21st century, while India is the third-largest. As a whole, Asia currently accounts for 36% of world's primary energy consumption, which is expected to increase to 48% by 2050. By 2040, it is also expected to account for 80% of the world's coal and 26% of the world's natural gas consumption. While the United States remains the world's largest oil consumer, by 2050 it
21353-605: The stronger the Austronesian influences, and the further east and inland a region is, the stronger the Melanesian influences. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Indonesian Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of
21516-608: The threat of heatwaves across the entire continent. Heatwaves lead to increased mortality, and the demand for air conditioning is rapidly accelerating as the result. By 2080, around 1 billion people in the cities of South and Southeast Asia are expected to experience around a month of extreme heat every year. The impacts on water cycle are more complicated: already arid regions, primarily located in West Asia and Central Asia , will see more droughts , while areas of East , Southeast and South Asia which are already wet due to
21679-541: The top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul . Around 68 percent of international firms have an office in Hong Kong. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economy of China had an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. According to economic historian Angus Maddison , India had the world's largest economy during 1000 BCE and 1 CE. India was the largest economy in the world for most of
21842-533: The two millennia from the 1st until 19th century, contributing 25% of the world's industrial output. China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India. For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as
22005-463: The upper house. Wellington's success was based on the 44 peers elected from Scotland and Ireland, whose election he controlled. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey had promoted reform of Parliament since the 1790s, always to be defeated by the Ultra-Tories. The breakthrough came in his success in passage of the Reform Act of 1832. He sought this as the final step of reform, rather than a first step in
22168-412: The various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process." The Bering Strait and Bering Sea separate the landmasses of Asia and North America , as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. This national and continental boundary separates the Diomede Islands in
22331-471: The vote and the right to sit in Parliament. That happened in 1829 using Whig support. Passage demonstrated that the veto power long held by the ultra-Tories no longer was operational, and significant reforms were now possible across the board. The stage was set for the Age of Reform. The era of reform came in a time of peace, guaranteed in considerable part by the overwhelming power of the Royal Navy. Britain engaged in only one serious war between 1815 and 1914,
22494-433: The vote in 1867. The aristocracy continued to dominate the Church of England, the most prestigious military and naval posts, and high society, but not business, industry or finance. In terms of national governmental policy, the democratic wishes of the entire people had become decisive. Most historians emphasise the central importance of the legislation of the 1830s–60s, although there was a dissenting minority of scholars in
22657-410: The war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized. The peace settlement was in effect only a ceasefire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the country and by occupying the city of Hanover , capital of the Electorate , a German-speaking duchy of the Holy Roman Empire which was in a personal union with the United Kingdom. In May 1803, war
22820-411: The war. When Napoleon surrendered for the first time in 1814, three separate forces were sent to attack the Americans in upstate New York , along the Maryland coast (burning Washington but getting repulsed at Baltimore ), and up the Mississippi River to a massive defeat at the Battle of New Orleans . Each operation proved a failure with the British commanding generals killed or in disgrace. The war
22983-408: The world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy. Nepal ,
23146-534: The world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed. Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates . Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue , more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 400 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in
23309-472: Was Presbyterian ), They proclaimed a devotion to hard work, temperance, frugality and upward mobility, with which historians today largely agree. A major Unitarian magazine, the Christian Monthly Repository asserted in 1827: The Nonconformists suffered under a series of disabilities, some of which were symbolic and others were painful, and they were all deliberately imposed to weaken the dissenting challenge to Anglican orthodoxy. The Nonconformists allied with
23472-465: Was Robert Peel , who suddenly reversed himself on the Catholic issue and was roundly denounced and permanently distrusted by the Ultra Tory faction of die-hards. Earl Grey , prime minister from 1830 to 1834, and his rejuvenated Whig Party enacted a series of major reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system. In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in
23635-413: Was a coalition of diverse interests, so in 1834 when it divided over the Irish church question he resigned. Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston played the dominant role in shaping British foreign-policy as Foreign Secretary (1830–1834, 1835–1841 and 1846–1851) and as prime minister (1855–1858, 1859–1865). He served as Secretary at War in Tory governments for two decades, but switched over to
23798-492: Was a deeply unpopular playboy. When he tried to get Parliament to pass a law allowing him to divorce his wife Queen Caroline , public opinion strongly supported her. After four decades of rule by Pittites and Tories the first breakthrough in reform came in the removal by a Tory government of restrictions on the careers of Protestant Nonconformists in the repeal in 1828 of the laws that required Anglican church membership for many academic and government positions. Much more intense
23961-471: Was a leading promoter of utilitarianism as a working philosophy of action. The "greatest happiness principle", or the principle of utility , forms the cornerstone of Bentham's thought. By "happiness", he understood a predominance of "pleasure" over "pain". He is best known for his inspiration of the radical forces, helping them define those reforms that were most urgently needed and how they could be implemented. His intellectual leadership helped achieve many of
24124-707: Was a necessity for the rapidly growing industrial cities still labouring under a hodgepodge of centuries-old laws and traditions. When Peel took over the Home Office , he abolished the espionage and cruel punishments, ended the death penalty for most crimes, and inaugurated the first system of professional police —who in London to this day are still called "Bobbies" in his honour. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 modernised urban government, which previously had been controlled by closed bodies dominated by Tories. Over 200 old corporations were abolished and replaced with 179 elected borough councils . Elections were to be based on registered voters, city finances had to be audited in
24287-452: Was a stalemate without purpose. A negotiated peace was reached at the end of 1814 that restored the prewar boundaries. British Canada celebrated its deliverance from American rule, Americans celebrated victory in a "second war of independence," and Britain celebrated its defeat of Napoleon. The treaty opened up two centuries of peace and open borders. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As
24450-405: Was about 10%, the lowest in any modern nation. Foreign policy became moralistic and hostile to the reactionary powers on the continent, teaming up with the United States to block European colonialism in the New World through the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. The Royal Navy stepped up efforts to stop international trade in slaves. Municipal reform
24613-424: Was always mistaken. He opposed wars and imperialism. His unremitting hostility to the Crimean war led to his defeat for reelection in 1857. He was soon reelected from Birmingham, leading a national campaign for parliamentary reform to enlarge the suffrage to reach the working man. He was intensely moralistic and distrusted the integrity of his opponents. He loathed the aristocracy that continued to rule Britain. He held
24776-445: Was an era of rapid economic modernisation and growth of industry, trade and finance, in which Britain largely dominated the world economy. Outward migration was heavy to the principal British overseas possessions and to the United States. With respect to other powers, the British remained non-aligned until the early 20th century when the growing naval power of the German Empire increasingly came to be seen as an existential threat to
24939-406: Was closely linked to the Church of England , and expressed its strong hostility toward Catholics and nonconformist Protestants by restricting their political and civil rights. The Catholic started to organise in Ireland, threatening instability or even civil war, and the moderates in Parliament emancipated them. The Nonconformists were similarly freed from their restrictions. In addition to reforms at
25102-405: Was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Great Britain failed, chiefly due to the inferiority of his navy, and in 1805 a Royal Navy fleet led by Nelson decisively defeated the French Imperial Navy and Royal Spanish Navy at Trafalgar , which was the last significant naval action of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees , which brought into effect
25265-400: Was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until
25428-587: Was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley and the Yellow River shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel . Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from
25591-419: Was named after the wife of Prometheus , but that Lydians say it was named after Asies , son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis . In Greek mythology , "Asia" ( Ἀσία or Ἀσίη ) was the name of a " Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia". The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer ) mentions two Phrygians in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian"); and also
25754-405: Was not adopted until 1922 but those involved with its creation were philanthropist and prolific social campaigner Eleanor Rathbone ', Dorothy Keeling, Elizabeth Macadam (1871–1948), and academic Frederic D'Aeth . They saw the need for friendly visiting. The PSS faced opposition by other societies who saw it as offering no material help and as was just another competitor. Keeling would remain as
25917-415: Was reassembled under the banner of the Conservative Party. Numerous Tories, such as Lord Palmerston , switched over to the Whig opposition, and it became the Liberal Party . Constitutionally, the 1830s marks a watershed: the end of Crown control over the cabinet. King William IV in 1834 was obliged to accept a Prime Minister who had a majority in Parliament, and the Crown ever since has gone along with
26080-532: Was the immediate repeal of the hated laws. Wellington and Peel originally were opposed, but then tried to compromise. They finally gave, splitting the Tory party, and signaling that the once unstoppable power of the Anglican establishment was now unexpectedly fragile and vulnerable to challenge. Three men shaped British foreign policy from 1810 to 1860, with only a few interruptions, Viscount Castlereagh (especially 1812–1822). George Canning (especially 1807–1829) and Viscount Palmerston (especially 1830–1865). For
26243-414: Was the long battle over the civil rights of Roman Catholics. Catholic emancipation came in 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland. The Duke of Wellington, as Tory prime minister, decided that the surging crisis in largely Catholic Ireland necessitated some relief for the Catholics, although he had long opposed the idea. The other main Tory leader
26406-435: Was the title of Dorothy Keeling's book about social work in Liverpool, including the Liverpool Personal Services Society, 'The Crowded Stairs'. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state , established by the Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form for over
26569-400: Was the unexpected repeal of the many restrictions on Catholics, after widespread organised protest by the Catholic Association in Ireland under Daniel O'Connell , with support from Catholics in England . Robert Peel was alarmed at the strength of the Catholic Association, warning in 1824, "We cannot tamely sit by while the danger is hourly increasing, while a power co-ordinate with that of
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