Jewish Bubba: How The British Empire Developed Into The World's Largest and Jews That Played a Part

Nadene Goldfoot

From Great Britain's little Islands to the Greatest Empire

At its height the British empire was the largest in world history. It covered around 25% of the world's land surface. The British Empire spanned the globe. This led to the saying that the Sun never set on it, since it was always daytime somewhere in the Empire. ... The exact day when the Sun stopped setting on the Empire was probably sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s, when the first Australian territories were added.

The British Empire began to take shape during the early 17th century, with the English settlement of North America and the smaller islands of the Caribbean, and the establishment of joint-stock companies, most notably the British East India Company, to administer colonies and overseas trade.

Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies", the company rose to account for half of the world's trade particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, and opium. The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. In his speech to the House of Commons in July 1833, Lord Macaulay explained that since the beginning, the East India Company had always been involved in both trade and politics, just as its French and Dutch counterparts had been.

From the 15th to 17th centuries, it was known that Jews were skilled in knowledge, linguistics and mathematical skills necessary for serious trading. So, by 1655, the British opened their doors to Jews that they had expulsed for 365 years.

Joseph Salvador (1716–1786) born as Joseph Jessurun Rodrigues, was a British businessman in London. Descended from Portuguese Sephardic Jews, he is often mistakenly referred to as having been the first and only Jew to serve as a director of the British East India Company. While Salvador invested considerable sums in East India Company stock and was active in Company politics in the 1760s, there is no evidence of his serving as a director. Salvador was also a great patron; together with the DaCosta family, he sponsored transportation for 42 poor Jews to Georgia in 1733. These colonists lay the groundwork for what was to become the Jewish communities of the city of Savannah and Charleston, South Carolina. Many migrated from Savannah to Charleston after the Spanish attacked Georgia, as they feared getting caught in another Inquisition. From the 1730s, Charleston became the preferred destination for Sephardic Jews in the South.

The oldest Jewish house of worship in London was established by the Sephardic Jews in 1698, when Rabbi David Nieto took spiritual charge of the congregation. At that time the worshipers met in a small synagogue in Cree Church lane; but the considerable influx of Jews made it necessary to obtain other and commodious quarters.

They were in competition with Holland's Dutch West India Company that was started in 1621 of which several Jewish traders belonged. Although Iberian writers said that crypto-Jews or Marranos played an important role in the formation of both the VOC and the GWC, research has shown that initially they played a minor role, but expanded during the period of the Dutch in Brazil. When the Dutch East India Company-VOC Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; was founded in 1602, some traders in Amsterdam did not agree with its monopolistic policies. With help from Petrus Plancius, a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman, they sought for a northeastern or northwestern access to Asia to circumvent the VOC (Dutch) monopoly. The intended purpose of their charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants. The company became instrumental in the largely ephemeral Dutch colonization of the Americas (including New Netherland) in the seventeenth century. From 1624 to 1654, in the context of the Dutch-Portuguese War, the GWC held Portuguese territory in northeast Brazil, but they were ousted from Dutch Brazil following fierce resistance.

After several reversals, GWC ( Dutch West India Company (Dutch: Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie) reorganized and a new charter was granted in 1675, largely on the strength in the Atlantic slave trade. This "New" version lasted for more than a century, until after the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, during which it lost most of its assets.

In 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson, in employment of the VOC, landed on the coast of New England and sailed up what is now known as the Hudson River in his quest for the Northwest Passage to Asia. However, he failed to find a passage. Consequently, in 1615 Isaac Le Maire and Samuel Blommaert, assisted by others, focused on finding a south-westerly route around South America's Tierra del Fuego archipelago in order to circumvent the monopoly of the VOC.

Great Britain was surrounded by water. They used it and depended on it for their livelihood. Their people were explorers and traders. They had ship owners and sailors. They visited harbors all over the world.

Britain was the world's leading trading nation. Bankers invested money in trading projects. Financial skills allowed the City of London to lend money to traders and others. Medical skills reduced the dangers of tropical diseases. Technological skills in the production of trains, steamships and underwater and overland telegraph shortened distances that had once seemed unmanageable.

The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer von Rothschild (1777–1836) who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London. Nathan was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Nathan Mayer von Rothschild, the third son, first established a textile jobbing business in Manchester and from there went on to establish N M Rothschild & Sons bank in London.

The money Britain made from their ships then could be invested by the City of London in all sorts of commercial operations. England was the 1st country to develop a modern financial and banking system. The industrial revolution gave Britain low-cost, factory-made goods for which it wanted world markets. If and when thing got difficult, there were their military resources to protect the British traders. They had a navy that was the world's strongest, and soldiers that could be stationed overseas.

People emigrated. From 1800 to 1900 Britain's own population increased fourfold. Earlier, it was feared that emigration might deprive Britain of the people it needed. However, they experienced a huge population increase at home. Between 1815 and 1880, about 12 million Britons emigrated, most of them either to British colonies or to the USA.

Britain ruled the waves. Trade and naval power went hand in hand. They could send a warship to any British "interests" that were in trouble, or 2 or a garrison of soldiers who could build a fort. They controlled sea traffic almost anywhere in the world, fighting off competitors like Holland and France, and at times using a form of piracy, such as when warships were sent up Chinese rivers to force China to import opium.

India is a good example. Until the 1850s, trade was organised and protected by a series of arrangements with local elites by which the East India trading company "ran" parts of India. Britain chose to take over the government of India after 1858 when the Indian Mutiny collapsed. India became the most important colony--the jewel in the imperial crown. Britain had to establish control over a series of ports and islands on the sea route to do so. This was typical of their operations. Many outposts of the empire were established to protect trading routes and to provide coaling-stations for naval ships, like we have gas stations today for cars.

Once direct imperialism was the chosen policy for any part of the world, it was not half-hearted. British officials took over the government. British engineers took over major construction projects such as sewage systems for towns and railway systems. British administrators organized local government, etc. Britain's impact on its colonies was enormous and lasting. We would have become Britain's colony had it not been for good old George Washington.

1781: Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The loss of the American colonies marked the end of the "first British Empire". Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull, depicts the British surrendering to Benjamin Lincoln, flanked by French (left) and American troops. Oil on canvas, 1820. Cornwallis' British men were declared prisoners of war, promised good treatment in American camps, and officers were permitted to return home after taking their parole.

England had wars to fight early on in order to rule the seas. One war was with Spain. The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared.

England was involved with wars when they allowed Jews to re-enter in 1655.

541660Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660) Commonwealth of England
France (1657–59) Spain
Royalists of the British IslesVictory