British Empire

On 10 February 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War. France traded a continent for a sugar island, Britain collected an empire, and the bills came due within a generation.

On 2 February 1626, Charles I was crowned at Westminster Abbey. His reign ended on a scaffold — and began the slow, violent invention of parliamentary democracy.

On 3rd January 1833, Captain James Onslow sailed HMS Clio into Port Louis and told the Argentine commander to take down his flag and leave. It was not the first time someone had done this, and it would not be the last.