The British Empire started in the late 1400's with King Henry VII's creation of a strong navy. From there, England went on to create colonies in the Americas, New Zealand, and Australia. They also joined Parliaments with Scotland, the two forming to become Britain. Losing the Revolutionary War to the USA was England's first loss and some regard this as the end of the first British Empire.

Feeling this loss, they turned East for more colonies. Through their trading company, the British East India Company which used their influence to gain territory in India, Britain gained its most beneficial colony in 1858. The British exploited goods, and treated the natives poorly, and with religious tensions and a lack of money, Britain lost their hold over India in 1947.

Around the same time the British Empire gained India, it also got colonies in Africa from the Berlin Conference. They set up different forms of governance in Africa: private companies and settlers being the biggest forms of indirect government for Britain. Similarly to India, natives were treated horribly and massacred as their resources were taken. Britain lost control of their colonies in Africa throughout the whole 20th century.

The British Commonwealth of Nations

After the British Empire fell, the British Commonwealth of Nations was created from the previous British colonies. The Imperial Conference in 1926 was attended by leaders from Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Canada, Ireland, India, and South Africa and they agreed to be equal nations under the British crown, but not ruled by the British government. India joined as a member, but did not swear allegiance to the crown. As colonies became independent, they followed suit of the first nations and joined the Commonwealth, some taking the British Monarch as a head of state, others choosing the path India took and being independent Republics in the organization, and finally some with their own monarchies. 

Many criticize the Commonwealth for being a symbol of Britain's bloody Empire past and accuse them of holding onto the countries they once ruled over. 

But in recent years, Brunei, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malaysia, and Tonga, which have no ties to the British Empire have joined the Commonwealth to improve their trade and power in the world.