In writing this account of the expansion of British power beyond the seas the author has tried to trace the origin of development of some of the many Imperial problems which citizens are called upon to face to-day. For this purpose the author has dealt, as far as his space allows, with social and economic movements, as well as with strictly political history, for it is only by appreciating the different sides of the story that one can hope to understand present problems. Any attempt to link history to the events of the present is liable to many dangers; but any value that such a book as this may have lies chiefly in its attempt to tell the story as a whole. The division into books has been adopted in order to mark the main periods in the development of the Empire, and particularly to emphasis the nineteenth century division into self-governing Dominions and Dependent Empire.