British American Tobacco PLC formerly British-American Tobacco Company Ltd. (1902-76) and B.A.T Industries PLC (1976-98) British conglomerate that is one of the world’s largest manu¬ facturers of tobacco products. The company’s international headquarters are in London, while its chief American subsidiary, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, is headquartered in Louisville, Ky. Its acquisitions have included the American Tobacco Company (1994), which represents such cigarette brands as Pall Mall and Lucky Strike; Rothmans Interna¬ tional (1999), known for its Dunhill and Rothmans brands; and Canada’s largest cigarette company, Imperial Tobacco (2000).
British Broadcasting Corp. See BBC
British Columbia Province (pop., 2003 est.: 4,146,600), western Canada. It is bounded by Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, Alberta, the Pacific Ocean, and the U.S. (including Alaska). The province has an area of 364,764 sq mi (944,735 sq km), and its capital is Victoria. The area was inhabited by indigenous peoples, including Coast Salish, Nootka, Kwakiutl, and Haida. It was visited in 1578 by Sir Francis Drake and in 1778 by Capt. James Cook, who was searching for the Northwest Passage. Capt. George Vancouver surveyed the coast (1792-94), and over¬ land expeditions were made by several explorers, including Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser. The British and Americans contended over Vancouver Island for years, until it was recognized as British and made a crown colony in 1849. The mainland became the colony of British Colum¬ bia in 1858; with the colony of Vancouver Island, it joined Canada in 1871 as the province of British Columbia. The province now has a prosperous economy based on diverse sources, including logging, mining, agricul¬ ture, and shipping.
British Columbia, University of Canadian public university in Van¬ couver. It is one of the largest universities in Canada and the oldest in the
province (founded 1908). It comprises faculties of agricultural sciences, applied science, arts, commerce and business administration, dentistry, education, forestry, graduate studies, law, medicine, pharmacy, theology, and science. Plant research is conducted at the UBC Botanical Garden, which is open to the public. The university has extensive study-abroad and continuing-education programs.
British Commonwealth See Commonwealth
British East Africa Territory under former British control, Africa. Brit¬ ish penetration of the area began at Zanzibar in the late 19th century. In 1888 the British East Africa Co. established claims to territory in what is now Kenya. British protectorates were subsequently established over the sultanate of Zanzibar and the kingdom of BUganda (see Uganda). In 1919 Britain was awarded the former German territory of Tanganyika as a League of Nations mandate. All these territories achieved political inde¬ pendence in the 1960s.
British Empire Worldwide system of dependencies—colonies, protec¬ torates, and other territories—that over a span of three centuries came under the British government. Territorial acquisition began in the early 17th century with a group of settlements in North America and West Indian, South Asian, and African trading posts founded by private individuals and trading companies. In the 18th century the British took Gibraltar, estab¬ lished colonies along the Atlantic seacoast of North America and in the Car¬ ibbean Sea, and began to add territory in India. With its victory in the French and Indian War (1763), the empire secured Canada and the eastern Mississippi Valley and gained supremacy in India. From the late 18th cen¬ tury it began to build power in Malaya and acquired the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon (see Sri Lanka), and Malta. The British settled Australia in 1788 and subsequently New Zealand. Aden was secured in 1839, and Hong Kong in 1841. Britain went on to control the Suez Canal (1875-1956). In the 19th-century European partition of Africa, Britain acquired Nigeria, Egypt, the territories that would become British East Africa, and part of what would become the Union (later Republic) of South Africa. After World War I, Britain secured mandates to German East Africa, part of the Cameroons, part of Togo, German South-West Africa, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and part of the German Pacific islands. Britain gradually evolved a system of self- government for some colonies after the U.S. gained independence, as set forth in Lord Durham’s report of 1839. Dominion status was given to Canada (1867), Australia (1901), New Zealand (1907), the Union of South Africa (1910), and the Irish Free State (1921). Britain declared war on Ger¬ many in 1914 on behalf of the entire empire; after World War I the domin¬ ions signed the peace treaties themselves and joined the League of Nations as independent states. In 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognized them as independent countries “within the British Empire,” referring to the “British Commonwealth of Nations,” and from 1949, the Commonwealth of Nations. The British Empire, therefore, developed into the Common¬ wealth in the mid-20th century, as former British dependencies obtained sovereignty but retained ties to the United Kingdom.
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) Home-based regular British army forces sent to northern France at the start of World Wars I and II to support the French armies. Britain wished to help France in case of a Ger¬ man attack, and the BEF was created in 1908 to ensure that British forces would be trained and ready to respond quickly. It consisted of six infan¬ try divisions and one cavalry division. Five divisions sent to France at the outbreak of World War I sustained heavy losses and were succeeded by vast British armies. Divisions sent to France early in World War II (1939) returned to England when France fell the next year.
British Guiana See Guyana British Honduras See Belize
British Invasion Musical movement. In the mid 1960s the popularity of a number of British rock-and-roll (“beat”) groups spread rapidly to the U.S., beginning with the triumphant arrival of Liverpool’s Beatles in New York in 1964 and continuing with the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and others. Building on 1950s U.S. models, these groups incorporated such local musical traditions as skiffle (acoustic drummerless ensembles), dancehall, and Celtic folk.
British Library National library of Great Britain, formed by the Brit¬ ish Library Act (1972) and organized July 1, 1973. It consists of the former British Museum library, the National Central Library, the National Lending Library for Science and Technology, and the British National Bibliogra¬ phy. The British Museum library, founded in 1753 based on earlier col-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
British Museum ► Broca I 277
lections and later increased by the addition of royal libraries, had the right to a free copy of all books published in the United Kingdom. Its collec¬ tion included a rich series of charters (including those of the Anglo-Saxon kings), codices, psalters, and other papers ranging from the 3rd century bc to modern times. The present-day British Library receives a copy of every publication produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
British Museum Britain’s national museum of archaeology and antiq¬ uities, established in London in 1753 when the government purchased three large private collections consisting of books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, paintings, medals, coins, seals, cameos, and natural curiosities. In 1881 the natural-history collections were transferred to another build¬ ing to form the Natural History Museum, and in 1973 the library collec¬ tions were consolidated to form the British Library. Among the museum’s most famous holdings are the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, the Port¬ land Vase, and Chinese ceramics. In 1808 the department of prints and drawings opened with over 2,000 drawings. It is now one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections.