British North America

British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, Virginia, and more substantially with the founding of the Thirteen Colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America.

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British North America
1783–1907
Flag of the United Kingdom (1801 onward)
Status	Colonies of Great Britain (1783–1800) Colonies of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1907)
Capital	Administered from London, England
Common languages	English, French, Scottish Gaelic
Religion	Anglicanism, Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Seventh-day Adventism, Salvationist, Methodism, Pentecostalism, Lutheranism, Judaism[1][2]
Monarch
• 1783–1820	George III
• 1820–1830	George IV
• 1830–1837	William IV
• 1837–1901	Victoria
• 1901–1907	Edward VII
History
• Treaty of Paris	1783
• Jay Treaty	1794
• Treaty of 1818	1818
• British North America Act, 1867	1867
• Rupert's Land Act	1868
• British North America Act, 1871	1871
• British Columbia Terms of Union[3]	1871
• Prince Edward Island Terms of Union[3]	1873
• Adjacent Territories Order	1880
• 1907 Imperial Conference	1907
Currency	Pound sterling Made Beaver Canadian pound Newfoundland dollar Nova Scotian dollar New Brunswick dollar Prince Edward Island dollar British Columbia dollar Canadian dollar
Preceded by Succeeded by British America Canada Dominion of Newfoundland Bermudaa
Today part of	Bermuda Canada United States
Colony thenceforth grouped for convenience with British West Indies

The British Empire's colonial territories in North America were greatly expanded in connection with the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally concluded the Seven Years' War, referred to by the English colonies in North America as the French and Indian War, and by the French colonies as la Guerre de la Conquête. With the ultimate acquisition of most of New France (Nouvelle-France), British territory in North America was more than doubled in size, and the exclusion of France also dramatically altered the political landscape of the continent.

The term British America was used to refer to the British Empire's colonial territories in North America prior to the United States Declaration of Independence, most famously in the 1774 address of Thomas Jefferson to the First Continental Congress entitled: A Summary View of the Rights of British America.[4]

The term British North America was initially used following the subsequent 1783 Treaty of Paris, which concluded the American Revolutionary War and confirmed the independence of Great Britain's Thirteen Colonies that formed the United States of America. The terms British America and British North America continued to be used for Britain's remaining territories in North America, but the term British North America came to be used more consistently in connection with the provinces that would eventually form the Dominion of Canada, following the Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), called the Durham Report.[5]

The Dominion of Canada was formed under the British North America (BNA) Act, 1867, also referred to as the Constitution Act, 1867. Following royal assent of the BNA Act, three of the provinces of British North America (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada (which would become the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec)) joined to form "One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom," on July 1, 1867, the date of Canadian Confederation.[6]

The Atlantic island of Bermuda (originally administered by the Virginia Company and, with The Bahamas, considered with North America prior to 1783), was grouped with the Maritime provinces from 1783 until formation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, and thereafter generally with the colonies in the British West Indies (although the Church of England continued to place Bermuda under the Bishop of Newfoundland until 1919).

Over its duration, British North America comprised the British Empire's colonial territories in North America from 1783 to 1907, not including the Caribbean. These territories include those forming modern-day Canada and Bermuda, having also ceded what became all or large parts of six Midwestern U.S. states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the northeastern part of Minnesota), which were formed out of the Northwest Territory, large parts of Maine, which had originally been within the French territory of Acadia, and very briefly, East Florida, West Florida, and the Bahamas.