British America

British America was part of the global British Empire, comprising colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and its predecessor state, the Kingdom of England. English overseas possessions in the Americas were separate colonies primarily in North America and various Caribbean islands. Following the American War of Independence (1775-1783), thirteen of its mainland North American colonies became the United States of America, with Britain retaining its northern mainland colonies in Canada, The Floridas, and islands in the Caribbean.

England made its first attempts at colonization in the Americas in 16th century. From 1607, numerous permanent English settlements were made, ultimately reaching from Hudson Bay, to the Mississippi River and the Caribbean Sea. Much of these territories were occupied by indigenous peoples, whose populations declined due to epidemics, wars, and massacres. In the Atlantic slave trade, England and other European empires shipped Africans to the Americas for labor in their colonies. Slavery became essential to colonial production, as on Barbados, Jamaica, and other sugar islands.