Britain's overseas trade and the East India Company

Study note

The 18th century was also a time of growing overseas colonisation and trade. Captain James Cook mapped the coast of Australia, Britain gained control of Canada, and the East India Company, first set up to trade, came to control large parts of India. Britain imported goods such as sugar, tobacco, tea and spices, which sometimes brought it into conflict with France.

Memory tip: Cook maps Australia; Britain gains Canada; the East India Company controls much of India.