Great Britain was one of the world’s most dominant nations during much of the modern era, having colonies in every part of the globe. During the hundreds of years that Britain had colonies, its global power uniquely shaped British political and economic development. The British ruled these colonies in a way where the wellbeing of their colonial subjects was neglected, and the Empire’s development was prioritised. Since Britain’s colonies were used specifically to bolster Britain at the expense of the colonies, it is not a surprise that Great Britain today is much wealthier than they would be without their colonies. 

Given that the United Kingdom is a relatively small nation, people would not expect it to have so much wealth, especially when compared to resource-rich countries such as China or India. These two countries, which had a combined population of nearly 500 million by the 19th century, had many commodities which they sold on the global market and which made them wealthy throughout history, including but not limited to tea, silk, rice, and spices. Britain, in contrast, had only a population of 10.9 million in 1800, and had very limited resources to offer to trade globally. Furthermore, Britain, unlike India, was not well connected to the rest of the world, limiting the possibility of accumulating wealth through trade. Thus, Britain would be an unlikely candidate for one of the world’s most affluent nations given its geography and demographic factors.

Through years of colonialism, Great Britain was able to gather immense wealth and political power. Following the Berlin Conference, Britain conquered some of the richest parts of Africa, using them for resource extraction. Britain took total control over the local industry and made an imposition of “an export duty of £2 a ton on palm kernel oil,” orienting the colonial economies to be focused solely on benefitting the British Empire. Similar policies were in place for every other commodity in their colonies, which served to develop Britain's own industry using foreign resources. In Kenya, Britain prioritised the wellbeing of the empire by only “developing… cash crops important to Britain,” rather than crops which would allow for sustainable economic development. By doing so, Great Britain was able to have access to resources that were not available in the home country and to gain that access by taking advantage of the colonies, which boosted Britain’s industrial production. More importantly, these actions made Britain more likely to become an industrial country compared to their colonies, despite the fact that the latter had more resources and higher populations.

UK’s profit and long-term success was augmented through their involvement in one of the most inhumane practices in human history, which is the sale of humans for forced labour. Slavery was an important aspect of the British economy, since their colonies in the Americas depended heavily on slaves to operate their plantations. The colonies would use the slaves to produce high demand products such as rum, cotton, and tobacco for Europe, in return for more slaves. While the Empire still controlled the Thirteen Colonies, Britain earned profits from not only the exchange of humans, but also from taxing the finished goods being sold to Europe from the colonies. According to BBC, “Between 1630 and 1807, Britain's slave merchants made a profit of about £12 million on the purchase and sale of African people. Enslaved people produced about 75 per cent of exports of raw goods from the new colonies.” Thus, the economic activities that were facilitated thanks to colonialism and slavery, massively increased the wealth of the United Kingdom. 

Similarly to the usage of colonised people as a source of labour, indigenous populations were also conscripted to help Britain in various wars. For instance, during the First World War, “1,200,000 men (800,000 of whom were combatants), [were mobilised] … not only to defend India, but also to fight alongside the Allied forces across different fronts overseas.” The mobilisation of colonised people continued during World War Two as well, with 2.5 million Indians serving in the British army. The use of forced labour also benefited the British during their military operations. During their campaigns in South Africa in the 19th century, the British forced over 130,000 labourers to work in order to support the war effort. Similarly, 300,000 Egyptians were used for the same purpose during WWI, also through coercion. With mass numbers of free labourers, the British Empire gained an advantage over their opposition, helping them achieve victory after victory and extending their influence on a global scale.

The Industrial Revolution, which drastically altered the course of British history and massively advanced British technology, was also in large part facilitated by the colonial possessions of the British Empire. The boom in British manufacturing was possible because of the vast availability of resources which the colonies were able to provide. The value of the import of cotton in 1800 reached £2 million, a substantial amount that would not have been possible for Britain without overseas colonial possessions. The stimulated British economy was “sustained by ever-increasing supplies of imported food and industrial raw materials,” with over “half of non-tropical foodstuffs” and “90 percent of raw materials” coming from colonies. The cotton from regions like Bengal, for instance, would be shipped back to cities in the UK for manufacture, where they would be turned into British products and sold on the global market, earning British companies a reputation for producing high  quality clothes.

The sale of tea was another profitable enterprise for the British which was facilitated by their colonial possessions. Tea’s popularity skyrocketed in the 19th century, becoming a popular beverage for both upper and lower class people in Europe and the Americas. Since Britain controlled all of India and most of the Chinese ports, they had a near-monopoly over this commodity. The extraction of tea, as well as many other goods to be sold on the market, and the creation of a monopolistic environment through military conquest and colonialism had given Britain a favourable trade imbalance, with the real GDP per capita in 19th century Britain reaching $3,263 per capita, a third greater than the US and 70% more than both Germany and France.

The terms under which Britain “traded” with their colonies essentially equated to robbery. For instance, in India, the British taxed the working people and then used the revenue generated by the tax to purchase the needed goods from the Indians, which is equivalent to free labour. While taxation in a different context is not necessarily exploitative, the taxes collected by the British were primarily used to build up the infrastructure of Britain rather than the colonies where the taxes were collected. The British would also only allow colonies to produce raw materials, leaving manufacturing jobs for themselves, later selling the goods made using colonial raw materials at a much higher price, both to the Europeans and to the colonial subjects themselves.

On top of that the British implemented a system of council bills, which were bills issued by the British Crown that were used as the only medium of exchange for other countries which were trying to trade with India. The council bills could only be purchased in London with gold, and when the Indians used these council bills to exchange for real currency at their local government, they would be paid back with rupees. The local rupee was significantly less stable than the British pound, and the rupee also had substantially less purchasing power, which ultimately meant that the Indian people received extremely low wages relative to what the British companies were earning. With all of these policies, over their 89 years of rule in India, the British had exploited an estimated 45 trillion USD from India, which is 17 times more than UK’s GDP in 2018.

So much of British advancement in science and technology was enabled by the outsourcing of work to their colonies. While the Empire’s basic labour needs had been carried on by overseas subjects, the British people were now able to invest their time into education and research, which would produce more scientists and scientific discoveries for the nation. Simply put, because people like James Watt and Alan Turing did not have to work in the fields, since that work was primarily done in the colonies, they were able to invest more of their time into research, coming up with inventions such as steam engines and computers. Furthermore, the revenue generated from all of the exploitative policies mentioned previously helped the Empire to fund various projects, such as developing prototypes of tanks and Spitfires. These further contributed to the development of the Empire in the future, as steam powered trains, early computers, and weaponry further improved Britain’s economy and ability to expand and dominate the world.

Some have argued that Britain is wealthy not only due to their colonies, but due to Britain’s high quality institutions which enabled their success. While it may be true that Britain’s own institutional innovations significantly contributed to their success, even with the most industrious population, Britain still would not have been able to dominate the globe the way that it did without conquest and exploitation which came with colonialism. With the colonies providing rare resources, vast amounts of land for production, and labour, Britain experienced growth far beyond what could be accounted for just by industriousness alone. Therefore, the merits and accomplishments of Britain cannot be used to cover over the role of colonialism in their present successes.

Even without an analysis of the complex and interconnected ways in which colonialism contributed to Britain’s long term political and economic dominance on the global stage, a simple look at Britain’s museums is enough evidence to show that Britain today is wealthier than it otherwise would have been without colonialism. Millions of people visit the British Museum every year. The museum stores within it immeasurable cultural wealth, accumulated from all corners of the planet. Without addressing the economics of tourism and the revenue generated by people going to London to visit the museum, the very presence of those artefacts in England and the access that people in the UK have to it is proof of Britain being wealthier due to colonialism. Having some of the world’s most captivating works of art in London undoubtedly makes London and all of its inhabitants “wealthier,” whether that be because of the actual monetary value of the museum pieces or some otherwise intangible benefits. 

The British Empire might have ended, but their legacy has remained, and will continue to play a major role in the development of the United Kingdom. With the many exploitative practices of the colonial superpower enabling its success, whether it be the extraction of natural resources from the colonies, the use of slave labour to produce profitable commodities, or the theft of historical monuments from all around the world, it is undeniable that the United Kingdom today is able to be the second largest national economy in Europe and the sixth in the world primarily because of its colonial history. If it were not for the economic and political benefits that Britain reaped due to its imperial past, it would not be as influential as it is today, regardless of how impressive its institutions may otherwise be. How much of its wealth the UK owes to colonialism is a question that lies at the centre of the debate regarding the role that the UK must play on the global stage today, and the answer has great implications for how it should conduct its affairs going forward.