21 - Global resource management

• The British Empire once covered about one-third of the world's land surface
• The British Empire was described as 'the Empire on which the Sun never sets' because it was always daytime somewhere in the Empire
• During the twentieth century, most countries in the Empire gained independence from the UK and became members of the Commonwealth
• Commonwealth countries share common values, including the promotion of democracy, human rights and trade
• One consequence of Britain's historical role in Commonwealth countries is that the English language is often used
• Commonwealth countries


  • Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia
  • Asia: Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka
  • The Caribbean and America: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago
  • Europe: Cyprus, Malta, United Kingdom
  • Pacific: Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
• The UK's links with the Commonwealth

  Trade, culture and migration
• Many people of British descent now live in Commonwealth countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand
• There are many people of Asian, African and Caribbean descent now living in the UK, with migration from these countries growing in the second half of the twentieth century and still continuing, often filling gaps in the UK workforce as the population gets older
• There are strong cultural and sporting links between Commonwealth countries, including the Commonwealth Games every four years
• The UK joined the European Union (EU) in 1973 and left in 2020
• The EU is one of the world's major trading blocs, with considerable political and economic influence worldwide
• The EU has its own currency - the Euro - shared by 19 countries
• In 2016, people in the UK voted in a referendum to leave the EU - a decision that came to be known as 'Brexit'
• EU membership effects on the UK

  • Goods, services, capital (money) and labour could move freely between countries
  • European funds helped to provide support for some of the poorest regions in the UK
  • Hundreds of thousands of people from Eastern Europe came to the UK to work in agriculture and service industries on relatively low wages, which was a key factor in the Brexit vote
  • Many EU laws and regulations affected working practices, product standards and environmental guidelines in the UK
  • The UK contributed billions of pounds each year to the EU budget
• Most of the UK's trade has been with other countries in Europe, and this will probably continue even though the UK has left the EU, as European countries are geographically close to the UK and are among the world's wealthiest economies
• The USA and China are also major trading partners for the UK
• Heathrow is the largest UK airport, with the most international flights, and the flight routes from Heathrow reflect the parts of the world with which people in the UK have the most links, as a result of business, visiting family and friends, and holidays
• The flight routes from Heathrow also reflect the parts of the world in which the UK has the most cultural and trade links, such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
• The biggest change to the UK's global links in the twenty-first century has come through the internet, with 3.7 billion global mobile internet users in 2018, almost half of the world's population
• On average, 269 billion emails are sent and received each day, and Facebook alone has over a billion users
• Ninety per cent of people in the UK use the internet now, compared to just 27 per cent in 2000