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1、EnglishLiteraturein18thcenturyBritishEmpireDuringtheAgeofDiscoveryinthe15thand16thcenturies,PortugalandSpainpioneeredEuropeanexplorationoftheglobe,andintheprocessestablishedlargeoverseasempires.Enviousofthegreatwealththeseempiresgenerated,England,France,andtheNe
2、therlands,begantoestablishcoloniesandtradenetworksoftheirownintheAmericasandAsia.Aseriesofwarsinthe17thand18thcenturieswiththeNetherlandsandFranceleftEnglandthedominantcolonialpowerinNorthAmericaandIndia.BritishEmpireAtitsheight,itwasthelargestempireinhistoryand
3、,foroveracentury,wastheforemostglobalpower.By1922theBritishEmpireheldswayoverabout458millionpeople,one-fifthoftheworld‘spopulationatthetime.Theempirecoveredmorethan33,700,000km2,almostaquarteroftheEarth'stotallandarea.Atthepeakofitspower,thephrase"theempireonwhi
4、chthesunneversets"wasoftenusedtodescribetheBritishEmpire.BritishEmpireMongolEmpireEurasiaontheeveoftheMongolinvasions,c.1200.HistoricalBackgroundWiththeGloriousRevolution,Englandbecameaconstitutionalmonarchyand,thestatepowerpassedfromthekinggraduallytotheParliam
5、entandthecabinetministers.Withit,thecapitalistsystemwasoncesandforallestablishedinEngland.Abroad,avastexpansionofBritishcoloniesinAsia,AfricaandNorthAmerica,andacontinuousincreaseofcolonialwealthandtradeprovidedEnglandwithamarketforwhichthesmall-scale,manualprod
6、uctionmethodsofthehomeindustrywerehardlyadequate.HistoricalBackgroundBesides,therewerelarge-scale,andlong-drawn-outwarsbyprofessionalarmiesandthestationoflargeregimentsinthecolonies.Allthesecreatednotonlyagreatdemandforlargequantitiesofmanufacturedgoodsbutalsost
7、andardizedgoodsmadeinBritain.ThiswasthebasiccauseoftheIndustrialRevolution,oftheinventionoftextilemachinesandotherkindsofmachinery.HistoricalBackgroundAthomeinthecountry,ActsofEnclosurewereputtingmorelandsintothehandsoffewerprivilegedrichlandownersandforcingthou
8、sandsofsmallfarmersandtenantsofftheirlandtobecomewageearnersinindustrialtowns.Asaresult,thereappearedamarketoffreelaboranalfreecapital,thusprovidingtheessentialcondit
