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Cigarette

Cigarette

A cigarette is a small paper-wrapped cylinder (generally less than 120mm in length and 10mm in diameter) of cured and shredded or cut tobacco leaves. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder for the purpose of inhalation of its smoke from the filtered end, inserted in the mouth. The term, as commonly used, typically refers to a tobacco cigarette, but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping; cigars are typically composed entirely of whole leaf tobacco. Cigarettes were largely unknown in the English-speaking world before the Crimean War, when British soldiers began emulating their Ottoman Turkish comrades, who resorted to rolling their tobacco with newsprint.

Manufacture and ingredients

In practice, commercial cigarettes and cigarette tobaccos rarely contain pure tobacco. Manufacturers often use a tremendous variety of additives for a number of purposes, including maintaining blend consistency, improving perceived blend quality, as preservatives and even completely changing the organoleptic qualities of the tobacco smoke. While this is true for many brands of cigarettes, in Canada, the major cigarette brands all contain 100% natural virginia leaf - No Additives. Some cigarettes (known as kreteks, clove cigarettes, or simply cloves) have cloves blended with the tobacco. This is done to enhance the smoker's pleasure by numbing the mouth and lungs and providing a mild euphoric effect. Lower-quality clove cigarettes simply have a clove essence added to the tobacco. In addition to additives, cigarette tobaccos, especially lower-quality blends, are often highly physically processed. During the original processing of leaf for cigarettes, the leaves are deveined, and the lamina is shredded or cut. Since the leaf is relatively dry at this point, these processes result in a significant amount of tobacco dust. Manufacturing operations have developed procedures for collecting this dust and remaking it into usable material (known as reconstituted sheet tobacco). The removed leaf midveins, which are unsuitable for use in cigarettes in their natural state, were historically discarded or spread on fields, because of their high nitrogen content. Procedures have been developed, however, to "expand" the stems, and process them for inclusion in the cigarette blends. All these procedures allow cigarette manufacturers to produce as many cigarettes as possible using the least amount of raw materials as possible. The most common usage of the cigarette is tobacco smoke delivery. The second most common usage of the cigarette is for marijuana smoke delivery. The hand rolled cigarette is the most common form of marijuana cigarette. Marijuana users will usually twist the ends of the cigarette to prevent fine cut marijuana buds from falling out. Tobacco users who roll their own cigarettes, however, will usually not twist the cigarette at the ends; hand rolling tobacco is made in strands so it doesn't have a tendency to fall out. Some cigarette smokers roll their own cigarettes by wrapping loose cured tobacco in paper; most, however, purchase machine-made commercially available brands, generally sold in small cardboard packages of 10 or 20 cigarettes in the United States and UK or 25 in Canada. Commercial cigarettes usually contain a cellulose acetate or cotton filter through which the smoker inhales the cigarette's smoke; the filter serves to cool and somewhat clean the smoke. Recently, cigarette rolling machines are also becoming popular. One can purchase tobacco in pouches or cans, usually at half the price of what one would pay for the same amount pre-rolled. One can get a rolling machine that makes filterless, or "straight" cigarettes, or one can purchase a machine that packs the tobacco into a pre-rolled form with a filter. These filtered papers usually come in boxes of 200, while unfiltered papers will come in packs ranging from 12 to 64, and some contain even more.

Sale

rolling papers Before the Second World War many manufacturers gave away collectible cards, one in each packet of cigarettes. This practice was discontinued to save paper during the war, and was never generally reintroduced. On April 1, 1970 President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, banning cigarette advertisements on television in the United States starting on January 2, 1971. However, some tobacco companies attempted to circumvent the ban by marketing new brands of cigarettes as "little cigars;" examples included Tijuana Smalls, which came out almost immediately after the ban took effect, and Backwoods Smokes, which hit the market in the winter of 1973-1974 and whose ads used the slogan, "How can anything that looks so wild taste so mild?" The sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors under 18 is now prohibited by law in all fifty states of the United States. In Alabama, Alaska and Utah the statutory age is 19, and legislation was pending as of 2004 in some other states, including California and New Jersey, to raise the age to 19, or even 21 in some cases. In Massachusetts, parents and guardians are allowed to give cigarettes to minors, but sales to minors are prohibited. Legislation was successfully passed on Long Island (New York) to raise the legal age in Suffolk county to 19, effective January 1st, 2005. Similar laws exist in many other countries as well. In Canada, most of the provinces require smokers to be 19 years of age to purchase cigarettes (except for Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, where the age is 18). However, the minimum age only concerns the purchase of tobacco, not use. Alberta, however, does have a law which prohibits the possession or use of tobacco products by all persons under 18, punishable by a $100 fine. Australia has a nation-wide ban on the selling of all tobacco products to people under 18. In the UK, cigarettes can legally be sold only to people aged 16 and over. However it is not illegal for people under this age to buy (or attempt to buy) cigarettes, so only the retailer is breaking the law by selling to under 16s. However, while bans stand in most countries for sales to minors, it is still common for merchants to disregard such laws as they are tough to enforce. Often the profits from selling cigarettes to minors illegally are much greater than the fines paid out in very infrequent times when they are caught. Some police departments in the United States occasionally send a clearly underage child into a store where cigarettes are sold, and have the child attempt to purchase cigarettes. If the vendor sells them to the minor, the store is issued a fine. This is by far the most common way in which cigarette vendors are caught when they sell cigarettes to minors.

Online cigarette stores

Online stores have recently appeared that offer foreign cigarettes to internet buyers. As many jurisdictions place high taxes on tobacco sales, these could be seen as an effort to avoid paying duty or taxes. Some online cigarette stores exist to sell tax-free cigarettes inside one's own country of residence as well. The legality of these stores is being questioned currently in the United States. Federal lawmakers contend that these stores are clear tax evasions. Recently in Michigan, several online stores have been subpoenaed by the state for the names and addresses of customers. The state has reportedly been sending out fines for each package purchased, contending tax evasion over Michigan's $2-a-pack law. This same action has [http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jul05/342254.asp also taken place] in Wisconsin after the Wisconsin Department of Revenue received a list of several thousand buyers in that state from an online cigarette merchant. However, the effort to collect on the taxes from the listed residents was [http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jul05/342847.asp stopped by order] of Governor Jim Doyle a few days later. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express have all refused to allow online cigarette stores to accept payment by credit-card.

Health effects

Smoking has been linked to lung cancer by many medical research institutions throughout the world (through the use of observational studies). Recent findings by the World Health Organization suggest that U.S. white male smokers have an 8% chance of acquiring lung cancer at some point in their lives, as opposed to the 2% chance of acquiring lung cancer among U.S. white male non-smokers. However, moderate cigarette smoking (<2 cigarettes daily) as well as second-hand smoke inhalation show no increase in lung cancer rates among U.S. white males in all credited observational studies. Certain other lung disorders, like emphysema, are also linked to cigarette smoking. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage and underweight infants. Smoking also increases the chance of heart attacks and a variety of cancers. Long-term smokers tend to look older than nonsmokers of the same age, because smoking can increase wrinkling in the skin. Nicotine, the stimulant and active ingredient in cigarettes, is highly addictive. Children and pets may be poisoned from eating cigarettes or cigarette butts. Inhalation of toxic to carcinogenic components of tobacco smoke, like radon and radium-226, is understood to cause lung cancer. Much of the farmland used to grow tobacco in the United States is contaminated with radioactive material as a result of using phosphate-rich fertilizers. Studies by Winters et al., in the New England Journal of Medicine (1982), found that skeletons of cigarette smokers contained deposits of lead-210 and polonium-210, two isotopes formed by radioactive decay of radium found in the soil where tobacco plants are grown. For many years the tobacco industry presented research of its own in an attempt to counter emerging medical research about the addictive nature and adverse health effects of cigarettes. According to [http://stic.neu.edu/MN/6MMMEMO.HTM a 1994 prosecution memo] written by Congressman Martin Meehan to former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, many of these studies were found to be flawed due to their strong bias and poor methodology. A 2001 peer-reviewed [http://www.smokefreeforhealth.org/studies/YachBialous.htm article in the American Journal of Public Health] correctly accuses tobacco companies of using front groups and biased studies to downplay the health risks of smoking and secondhand smoke. Many countries and jurisdictions have instituted public smoking bans. In [http://newyork.sierraclub.org/nyc/spring_03_6.htm New York City], smoking is forbidden in almost all workplaces, although not enforced in some small neighborhood bars. In the USA, smoking is being banned in restaurants and bars. States from California to Delaware have adopted such a ban, causing much controversy between smokers, non-smokers, workers, and owners. Such bans are least popular in Southern states of the USA, such as Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, where tobacco continues to be a large part of the economy. In other states, these bans are extremely popular and seen as long overdue. Often smoking is allowed on the street (though in Delaware you must be 250 feet away from any public building), but in many locations of Japan it is against the law. In 2004, smoking was outlawed in all public buildings in the state of Maine. The 2004 ban on smoking in bars and resturaunts in New Zealand met with initial resentment from some bar owners, but was widely welcomed by the public at large. In many parts of the world tobacco advertising and even sponsorship of sporting events is not allowed. The ban on tobacco sponsorship in the EU in 2005 has prompted the Formula One Management to look for races in areas that allow the heavily tobacco sponsored teams to display their livery, and has also lead to some of the more popular races on the calendar being cancelled in favour of more tobacco friendly markets.

Contents of a cigarette

The leaves of the tobacco plant are first dried to make cigarettes, and then treated with a variety of chemicals, and many additional ingredients are added. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic. The amounts of these ingredients can vary widely from one brand or type of cigarette to the next. This is especially true of the tar and nicotine content, the range of which is so extreme that an entire carton of some brands of cigarettes (e.g., Carlton) might contain less tar and/or nicotine than a single cigarette of a "full flavor" brand.

Consumption

Approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced globally each year by the tobacco industry, smoked by over 1.1 billion people.

Smoking Prevalence by Gender
	PERCENT SMOKING
REGION	MEN	WOMEN
Africa	29	4
Americas	35	22
Eastern Mediterranean	35	4
Europe	46	26
South-East Asia	44	4
Western Pacific	60	8
(2000, World Health Organization estimates)

Turkey has a higher percentage of adults who smoke than any other country; 60% of the population are smokers. Turkey

History

The use of tobacco in cigarette form is a relatively recent invention, becoming increasingly popular after the Crimean War. This was helped by the development of certain types of tobaccos that are suitable for cigarette use. During World War I and World War II, cigarettes were rationed to soldiers. During the second half of the 20th century, the adverse health effects of cigarettes started to become widely known and severe health warnings became commonplace on cigarette packets. The advent of the Internet revealed the prevalence of capnolagnia, a sexual fetish in which one gains gratification from watching others smoke, usually women smoking cigarettes.

Slang terms for cigarettes

Cigarettes have accumulated a variety of nicknames such as "smokes", "butts", "square" (from the shape of the box), "cigs", "ciggies", "stogs", "stogies", "snouts", "tabs" (especially in NE England), "loosey" (a single cigarette), "bogeys", "boges", "darts", "straights" (for factory rolled ones), "dugans" (especially in NYC), "hairy rags", "hausersticks", "jacks", "grits" and "fags" (the term "fag" is used more commonly in the United Kingdom; in the United States, it is primarily a derogatory term for a male homosexual). Cigarettes have also attracted somewhat fatalistic nicknames related to their effect on the smoker's health, such as "coffin nails", "cancer sticks" or "gaspers". In Australia, cigarettes are sometimes called "Doogans" or "Durries". A relatively new term emerged with the release of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones after a main character was offered a "death stick" in a nightclub. Cigarettes are also known in New Zealand as "rollies" for the self-rolled cigarettes and "tailies" for the factory rolled.
Brands
(links often show other meanings of the name, in many cases including that which the brand is named after) New Zealand
Most popular brands, worldwide
#Marlboro (see also Don Tennant) #Hongtashan #Mild Seven
Other brands
Main article: Cigarette brands
- Belomorkanal
- Benson & Hedges
- Basic
- Camel
- Carlton
- Chesterfield
- Consulate
- Davidoff
- Doral
- Ducados
- Death
- Derby
- Dunhill
- Djarum
- Eclipse
- Embassy
- Fortuna
- Gauloises
- Gauloises Blondes
- Golden Beach
- Gold Flake
- KOOL
- L&M
- Lambert & Butler
- Lark
- Lucky Strike
- Mayfair
- Medallion
- Mocne
- Moors
- Nat Sherman
- Natural American Spirit
- Next
- Newport
- Old Gold
- Pall Mall
- Parliament
- Prince
- Português
- R6
- Richmond
- Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc.
- Roxy
- Salem
- SG
- Silk Cut
- Superkings
- Viceroy
- Virginia Slims
- Winfield
- Winston

External links

- [http://airspace.bc.ca/ - Action on Smoking and Health]
- [http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/search/index.htm US Center for Disease Control - Smoking and Health Database]
- [http://www.globalink.org GLOBALink]
- [http://www.ingcat.org INGCAT - International Non Governmental Coalition Against Tobacco]
- [http://www.ncth.ca National Clearinghouse on Tobacco and Health - Canada]
- [http://www.srnt.org Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco]
- [http://www.tobacco.org Tobacco.org - Tobacco News & Information]
- [http://www.tobaccopedia.org TOBACCOpedia] Category:Tobacco th:บุหรี่

1 E-2 m³

To help compare different orders of magnitudes this page lists volumes between 0.01 and 0.1 m³ (10^-2 to 10^-1 m³). See also volumes or capacities of other orders of magnitude.
- Volumes smaller than 10 litres
- 0.01 m³ is equal to:
- 10 litres
- 0.353 cubic feet
- 610 cubic inch
- the volume of a cube of edge 215 mm
- the volume of a sphere of radius 134 mm
- an amount of water of mass 10 kg
- 0.028 m³ -- 1 cubic foot
- 0.071 m³ -- average volume of an adult human
- Volumes larger than 100 litres See also conversion of units.

External link

- [http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/dictunit/ccvol.htm Conversion Calculator for Units of VOLUME] Category:Orders of magnitude (volume)

Herb

A herb (pronounced "hurb" in Commonwealth English and "urb" in American English) is a plant grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. The green, leafy part of the plant is typically used. General usage differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. A medicinal herb may be a shrub or other woody plant, whereas a culinary herb is a non-woody plant. By contrast, spices are the seeds, berries, bark, root, or other parts of the plant, even leaves in some cases; although any of these, as well as any edible fruits or vegetables, may be considered "herbs" in medicinal or spiritual use. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that they are used in small amounts and provide flavor rather than substance to food. In botany, a herb is a plant that does not produce a woody stem, and dies, either completely (annual herb) or back to the roots (perennial herb), at the end of the growing season. The term herbaceous means either having the characteristic of a herb or being leaf-like in color and texture. A related term, used only in the United States, is forb, which means a non-woody plant that is not a grass and is not grass-like. This means that the term forb excludes sedges (Cyperaceae) and rushes (Juncaceae) along with grasses (Poaceae).

External links

- [http://herbsociety.org/ The Herb Society of America] Category:Plants Category:Herbs ja:ハーブ

Cigar

:This page is about the tobacco product; for other meanings, see Cigar (disambiguation). Cigar (disambiguation), Macanudo, Romeo y Julieta)]] Romeo y Julieta A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco, one end of which is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the smoker's mouth or lungs. The word cigar is from the Spanish word cigarro, which the Oxford English Dictionary suggests is a variation on cigarra, Spanish for "cicada", due to its shape, especially that of what is now called the perfecto. Other sources have indicated that it may be derived from the Maya language word sikar, "tobacco". Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in such nations as Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United States of America. Cigars manufactured in Cuba are widely considered to be without peer, thanks both to the unique characteristics of the Vuelta Abajo region in the Pinar del Río Province at the west of the island, where a microclimate allows for unequalled tobacco to be grown, and to the skill of the nation's cigar-makers.

History

microclimate

Origins

The indigenous inhabitants of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica have smoked cigars since at least the 900s AD, as evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site in Uaxactún, Guatemala, decorated with the painted figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar. Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of smoking to Europe, an action which is often termed the "discovery" of smoking, despite his having borrowed the practice from the indigenous Americans. Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers. In the 19th century, cigar smoking was common while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. The cigar business was an important industry, and factories employed many people before mechanized manufacturing of cigars became practical. However, all modern cigars of high quality are still rolled by hand; some boxes bear the phrase Hecho a Mano, "Made by Hand", as proof.

U.S. embargo on Cuba

The cigar became inextricably intertwined with political history on February 7, 1962, when United States President John F. Kennedy, intending to sanction Fidel Castro's communist regime, imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. Americans were thus prohibited from purchasing what were at the time considered the finest cigars on the market, and Cuba was deprived of a large portion of its customers. According to Pierre Salinger, then Kennedy's press secretary, the president ordered him on the evening of February 6 to obtain a thousand Petit H. Upmanns Cuban cigars; upon Salinger's arrival with the cigars the following morning, Kennedy signed the executive order which put the embargo into effect. [http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,862,00.html] Cigars obtained prior to the embargo are not considered contraband, and became known as "pre-embargo Cubans". As of 2005, it remains illegal for Americans to purchase or import Cuban cigars. As is usual with embargoes, there exists a lively smuggling trade, coupled with elevated prices and rampant counterfeiting.

Revival of interest

During the mid- to late 1990's in the United States, numerous cultural phenomena caused the popularity of cigar smoking to skyrocket. Lavish dinner events, or "smokers", were held in virtually every metropolitan area of consequence across the United States. Celebrities, radio and television talk-show hosts, politicians, blue-collar workers, and even a large number of women – a fact surprising to some observers – were drawn to the allure of the cigar. The sudden resurgence in cigar smoking created demand that was difficult to supply. Additionally, the significance of America's Cuban trade embargo – imposed some 30 years earlier, before many of the new aficionados were born – suddenly became very evident. Cigar retailers, a good number of them new establishments looking to capitalize on the craze, could name their price on virtually every type and brand of cigar. Some even refused to sell any one customer an entire box at a time, regardless of the fact that only a very few could afford to, as a courtesy to their other customers. In the rush to meet demand, the quality of many premium cigars suffered for brief periods of time. Eventually, consumer demand so far outpaced supply that many of those who took it up had to cease the practice altogether. For many, this was mainly due to either lack of supply or overinflated prices. For others, the newness of the fad had simply worn off. By 2005, cigar prices have descended to reasonable levels, and supply of the best brands is abundant for those who continue to enjoy cigar smoking – even in the face of public scrutiny and disapproval.

Manufacture

brand of cigar Tobacco leaves are harvested, and aged using a process that combines use of heat and shade to reduce sugar and water content without causing the large leaves to rot. This first part of the process, called [http://www.tobaccopedia.info/Cigars_and_cigarillos/Production_practices/Cultural_practices/Curing/Natural_curing.html curing], takes between 25 and 45 days and varies substantially based upon climactic conditions, as well as the construction of sheds or barns used to store harvested tobacco. The curing process is manipulated based upon the type of tobacco, and the desired color of the leaf. The second part of the process, called [http://www.tobaccopedia.info/Cigars_and_cigarillos/Production_practices/Cultural_practices/Fermentation.html fermentation], is carried out under conditions designed to help the leaf die slowly and gracefully. Temperature and humidity must be controlled to ensure that the leaf continues to ferment, without rotting or disintegrating. This is where the flavor, burning, and aroma characteristics are primarily brought out in the leaf. Once the leaves have aged properly, they are [http://www.tobaccopedia.info/Cigars_and_cigarillos/Production_practices/Cultural_practices/Sorting.html sorted] for use as filler or wrapper based upon their appearance and overall quality. During this process, the leaves are continually moistened and handled carefully to ensure each leaf is best used according to its individual qualities. The leaf will continue to be baled, inspected, unbaled, reinspected, and baled again repeatedly as it continues its aging cycle. When the leaf has matured according to the manufacturers specifications, it will be used in the production of a cigar. The creation of a quality cigar is still performed by hand. An experienced cigar roller can produce hundreds of exceptional, nearly identical cigars per day. The rollers keep the tobacco moist - especially the wrapper, and use specially designed crescent shaped knives to form the filler and wrapper leaves quickly and accurately. Once rolled, the cigars are stored in wooden forms as they dry, in which their un-capped ends are cut to a uniform size. From this stage, the cigar is a complete product that can, to the best of anyone's knowledge, be kept indefinitely - under the proper conditions. (Indeed, Sotheby's recently auctioned off cigars kept in the damp basement of an Irish castle for centuries. Reportedly, they still smoked well.) Cigars are known to have lasted for decades if kept as close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and 70% relative humidity, as the environment will allow. Once purchased, this is usually accomplished by keeping the cigars in a specialized wooden box, or humidor, where conditions can be carefully controlled for long periods of time. Even if a cigar becomes dry, it can be successfully re-humidified so long as it has not been handled carelessly. Some cigars, especially premium brands, use different varieties of tobacco for the filler and the wrapper. "Long filler cigars" are a far higher quality of cigar, using long leaves throughout. These cigars also use a third variety of tobacco leaf, a "binder", between the filler and the outer wrapper. This permits them to use more delicate and attractive leaves as a wrapper. These high-quality cigars almost always blend varieties of tobacco. Even Cuban long-filler cigars will combine tobaccos from different parts of the island to incorporate several different flavors. In low-grade cigars, chopped up tobacco leaves are used for the filler, and long leaves or even a type of "paper" made from tobacco pulp is used for the wrapper which binds the cigar together. Historically, a lector or reader was always employed to entertain the cigar factory workers. This practice became obsolete once audio books for portable players became available, but is still practiced in some Cuban factories. Legend has it that it was because of one of these lectores' choice of reading material that one of the best known brands earned its name. At the H. Upmann factory in Havana, the lector had the custom of reading the works of Alexandre Dumas. So loved were Dumas' works by the workers, that they asked the factory owner to let them produce a cigar as homage. The new cigars were branded Montecristo, in reference to The Count of Monte Cristo, and the boxes that carried them bore the image of three swords, in reference to The Three Musketeers. The Montecristo brand continues to be one of the most popular in the world to this day. (See Cigar Brands). In fact, the Montecristo brand was created when Alonso Menendez purchased the Particulares factory in July 1935, as Min Ron Nee documents in "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars." In that book, he reproduces an August 1935 issue of Habano magazine which announces the purchase of the factory and the launch of new cigar brand, Montecristo.(The first Montecristo cigars were made in the Particulares factory, not H. Upmann. The magazine does not mention the romantic story of the workers demanding a homage to Dumas. The logo (three swords surrounding a fleur de Lis) was designed by a British cigar importer John Hunter Morris and first appeared in print in August 1936. The cigar was made, for a time, in the H. Upmann factory, after Menendez bought it in 1937.

Composition

Cigars are composed of three types of tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavor characteristics:

Wrappers

A cigar's outermost leaves are its wrappers, which come from the widest part of the plant. It determines much of the cigar's character and flavor, and as such its color is often used to describe the cigar as a whole. Colors are designated as follows, from lightest to darkest:
- Double Claro – very light, slightly greenish (also called Candela, American Market Selection or jade); achieved by picking leaves before maturity and drying quickly; often grown in Connecticut
- Claro – light tan or yellowish. Indicative of shade-grown tobacco.
- Natural – light brown to brown; generally sun-grown.
- Colorado Claro – mid-brown; particularly associated with tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic
- Colorado – reddish-brown (also called Rosado)
- Colorado Maduro – dark brown; particularly associated with Honduras-grown tobacco
- Maduro – dark brown to very dark brown
- Oscuro – black, often oily in appearance; tend to be grown in Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, or Connecticut Some manufacturers use an alternate designation:
- American Market Selection (AMS) – synonymous with Double Claro
- English Market Selection (EMS) – can refer to any color stronger than Double Claro but milder than Maduro
- Spanish Market Selection (SMS) – either of the two darkest colors, Maduro and Oscuro Lighter colors indicate earlier picking and milder flavor; darker colors indicate later picking, stronger and sweeter flavors due to the presence of sugars and oils, and longer fermenting.

Fillers

The majority of a cigar is made up of fillers, wrapped up bunches of leaves in its cigar's interior. Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce unique cigar flavors. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the light-flavored (dry) Seco, through the medium Volado, and on to the strong Ligero. Large-gauge cigars have a greater capacity to contain filler, and thus have greater potential to provide a full body and/or complex flavor. Fillers can be either long or short; long filler uses whole leaves and is of a better quality, while short filler, also called "mixed", uses chopped up leaves as well as stems and other bits.

Binders

Binders are elastic leaves used to hold together the bunches of fillers.

Size and shape

Cigars are commonly categorized by the size and shape of the cigar, which together are known as a vitola. The size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch) and its length (in inches). For example, most non-Cuban robustos have a ring gauge of approximately 50 and a length of approximately 5 inches. Robustos which are of Cuban origin always have a ring gauge of 50 and a length of 4 7/8 inches.

Parejo

The most common shape is the parejo, which has a cylindrical body, straight sides, one end open, and a round cap on the other end which is cut off before smoking. Parejas are designated by the following terms:
- Coronas
- Petit Corona (5" x 42)
- Corona (5 1/2" x 42)
- Corona Extra (5 1/2" x 46)
- Robusto (5" x 50), also called Rothschilds after the Rothschild family
- Long Corona (6" x 42)
- Toro (6" x 50)
- Lonsdale (6 1/2" x 42), named for Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
- Grand Corona (6 1/2" x 46)
- Julieta a.k.a. Churchill (7" x 47), named for Winston Churchill
- Giant Corona (7 1/2" x 44)
- Double Corona (7 3/4" x 49)
- Panatelas – longer and generally thinner than Coronas
- Small Panatela (5" x 33)
- Short Panatela (5" x 38)
- Slim Panatela (6" x 34)
- Panatela (6" x 38)
- Long Panatela (7 1/2" x 38)

Figurado

Irregularly-shaped cigars are known as figurados and are sometimes considered of higher quality because they are more difficult to make. Figurados include the following:
- Torpedo - Like a parejo except that the cap is pointed.
- Pyramid - Has a broad foot and evenly narrows to a pointed cap.
- Perfecto - Narrow at both ends and bulged in the middle.
- Presidente/Diadema - shaped like a parejo but considered a figurado because of its enormous size and occasional closed foot akin to a perfecto.
- Culebras - Three long, pointed cigars braided together. Arturo Fuente, a large cigar manufacturer based in the Dominican Republic, has also manufactured figurados in exotic shapes ranging from chili peppers to baseball bats and American footballs. They are highly collectable and extremely expensive, when publically available. In practice, the terms Torpedo and Pyramid are often used interchangeably, even among very knowledgable cigar smokers. Min Ron Nee, the Hong Kong-based cigar expert whose work "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars" is considered to be the definitive work on cigars and cigar terms, defines Torpedo as "cigar slang." He adds, "In the old days, [torpoedo] could mean a perfecto or a pyramid shape cigar. After the [Cuban] Revolution the meaning leans toward the pyramid rather than the perfecto. Some cigar authorities insist that the correct meaning of a torpedo should be referring to a perfecto and not a pyramid. The majority of people [who use torpedo to mean pyramid] have got it wrong. I find it rather funny that a slang word can be incorrectly misunderstood by the majority." In other words, Nee thinks the majority is right (because slang is defined by majority usage) and torpedoes are pyramids by another name.

Flavor

Virtually all cigar aficionados enjoy the practice because of the rich and varied flavors one observes when smoking, although some eschew the connoisseurial qualities in favor of other factors. For those drawn by taste, each brand and type of cigar carries different qualities of taste. Generally, cigars with lighter colored wrappers are milder in flavor and have less of a smoky aftertaste. Darker wrappers are typically richer in flavor, although the specific flavors are not unique to any particular style or type of tobacco. Unlike cigarettes, cigars taste very little of smoke, and usually very much of tobacco with overtones of other tastes. A fine cigar - especially ones of Cuban origin prior to 1990, can have virtually no taste of smoke whatsoever. Some of the more common flavors one observes while smoking a cigar include:
- Leather
- Spice
- Cocoa / chocolate
- Peat / moss / earth
- Coffee
- Nut
- Apple
- Vanilla
- Honey The most ardent enjoyers of cigar smoking will sometimes keep personal journals of cigars they've enjoyed, complete with personal ratings, description of flavors observed, sizes, brands, etc. The qualities and characteristics of cigar tasting are very similar to those of wine, Scotch, beer, cognacs and tequilla. Within a given specification, there are endless varieties. This dynamic is part of the appeal to which cigar smokers are continually drawn.

Popular culture

tequilla tequilla Cigars are often presented as stereotypical rich man's accessory. Cigars are often smoked to celebrate good fortune, especially the birth of a child. Some buy and keep a cigar 'for luck' with regard to a bet, with the intention of smoking it after winning the bet. King Edward VII enjoyed smoking cigarettes and cigars, but his mother, Queen Victoria, did not like smoking. After her death, legend has it, King Edward said to his male guests at the end of a dinner party, "Gentlemen, you may smoke". In his name, a line of cheap American cigars has long been named King Edward. It is perhaps important for the cigar smoker to ritualize their habit and to smoke fine and expensive cigars, for the addictive element of cigarettes is also present in the cigar: nicotine. The smoker can minimize their risk of addiction, and resulting cancers, by treating the cigar as a special occasion, and as noted above logging their smokes. This comes closest to the Native American use of the tobacco plant. The risk of addiction is lowered by today's anti-smoking forces which would not have credited the smells and the litter of a midcentury American railway "lounge" car, nor that of a home where the paterfamilias had his favorite Sunday afternoon cigar, and cigar smoking today returns to its ritual origins because of anti-smoking pressure. Two men who died during the zenith of the cigar's popularity owing ultimately to nicotine addiction and the consequent oral cancer were President Ulysses S. Grant of the USA and Dr. Sigmund Freud. Although Grant was able for the duration of the Civil War to stop drinking, he was most often seen with a cigar and after his Presidency, Grant contracted cancer. Not wishing to leave his wife Julia penniless, Grant decided to write and publish his memoirs while in great pain. Freud likewise succumbed in the 1930s to a habit which he seems to have been reluctant to psychoanalyze. Being challenged on the "phallic" shape of the cigar, Freud is supposed to have replied "sometimes, a cigar is only a cigar". Interestingly, two famous men with the name Marx were cigar smokers. Karl Marx and Groucho Marx were both heavy cigar smokers. Famous quotes about the cigar include not only Freud's but also "a woman is only a woman: but a good cigar is a smoke" and "what this country needs is a good five cent cigar". The cigar was also a staple for vaudeville jokes and slapstick, from the overexcited new father who says "have a baby, my wife just had a cigar" to the exploding cigar which may have been a coded proletarian gesture of resistance to the cigar, which with the top hat and tails was the semiotic for "capitalism" in the early 20th century. Several storylines in Seinfeld revolve around or pay regard to a box of Cuban cigars in season 4. Since apart from certain forms of heavily cured and strong snuff, the cigar is the most potent form of self-dosing with tobacco, it has long had associations of being a male rite of passage, as it may have had during the pre-Columbian era in America. Its fumes and rituals have in American and European cultures established a "men's hut"; in the 19th century, men would retire to the "smoking room" after dinner, to discuss "serious" issues. Also, the third installment of Hideo Kojima's famous Metal Gear Solid series, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, features a brief portion in which the main character describes why he thoroughly enjoys cigars, somewhat akwardly describing the experience as "almost sensual". A large variety of fictional characters have smoked cigars:
- Numerous characters from Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, including the title character, Albert de Morcerf, and Baron Franz d'Epinay
- Bender from Futurama
- Archie Bunker from All In The Family
- Cosmo Spacely from The Jetsons
- James Bond smokes cigars in both Live and Let Die and Die Another Day
- Franz Sanchez, villain from the James Bond film Licence to Kill
- Xenia Onatopp, female henchwoman from the James Bond film GoldenEye
- Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard TV series and movie.
- Pops Racer and Inspector Detector from Speed Racer
- Boss from Hamtaro (although the cigar is brushed out in American edits of the anime)
- Jayne Cobb of Firefly (smokes a cigar as he plays snooker during the opening of Shindig)
- Jet from Cowboy Bebop
- John Hannibal Smith and Faceman from The A-Team
- Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3
- Tony Soprano from "The Sopranos"
- the Man with No Name from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"
- Toby Ziegler from The West Wing
- Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld
- Columbo played by Peter Falk
- J. Jonah Jameson, of Spider-Man fame
- Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) of Boston Legal
Health issues
Cigar smokers typically do not inhale the smoke, instead puffing it into their mouths, not reaching their lungs, unlike cigarette smokers. Cigar smokers consequently have lower incidence of lung cancer and emphysema than cigarette smokers, but still higher than that of non-smokers. Some people have mistakenly assumed that cigars therefore pose no health risk, but cigar smokers are statistically more likely to develop cancer of the mouth, tongue, or larynx than non smokers. The extent of the additional risk is disputed. The health consequences of occasional cigar smoking (less than daily) are not known, and there are few peer-reviewed and published scientific studies that address the issue of increased risk posed by cigar smoking either to its users or to bystanders. However, a number of scientific studies suggest the link between cigarette smoke and various maladies, including lung cancer.
See also

- Smoking jacket
- Humidor
- Cigarman
- Gaboon
- Cigarillo
- Famous cigar smokers
External links

- [http://www.cigarpass.com/forums Internet Cigar Community] - Friendly cigar forum, cigar reviews, cigar trading, hot cigar deals and more
- [http://www.fujipub.com/cigar Fuji Publishing Cigar Page] - Collection of the best online cigar pages - One of the first cigar portals
- [http://www.cigarcyclopedia.com/ Cigar Cyclopedia] - Online news and commentary site on cigars by the publishers of Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedia of Cigars
- [http://www.cigarzilla.net cigarzilla] - chat online, in realtime with other cigar smokers
- [http://www.cigarenvy.com Cigar Envy] - Cigar ratings and reviews, feature articles, news, and information for novice and veteran cigar smokers
- [http://www.stogiefresh.com Stogie Fresh] - The Art and Science of Storing and Aging Cigars
- [http://www.mycigarblog.com/ My Cigar Blog] - A Malaysian's journey in search of the perfect cigar!
- [http://www.unprofitable.biz/blog/ Cigar&Co.] - Another interesting blog about cigars
- [http://www.cigargroup.com/ Cigar Group] - organization of cybersmokers
- [http://www.eherf.com eHERF] - Your Friendly Cigar Forum
- [http://www.stogiesmoke.com Stogie Smoke] - Another blogger's journey into cigar smoking and accessories
- [http://www.cigarweekly.com Cigar Weekly] - Online magazine
- [http://cigars.about.com/library/weekly/aa040801a.htm Speaking Cigar at About.com] - Cigar-related terminology and definitions
- [http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,486,00.html Cigar Aficionado: Cigar 101] - a guide to shapes and sizes Category:Tobacco ja:葉巻きタバコ

British Empire

The British Empire was the world's first global power and the largest empire in history. It was a product of the European Age of Discovery that began with the global maritime empires of Portugal and Spain in the late 15th century. By 1921 the British Empire held sway over a population of about 470–570 million people—roughly a quarter of the world's population—and covered about 14.3 million square miles (more than 37 million km²), almost a third of the world's total land area. Though it has since almost completely disappeared, there remains a strong influence across the world, such as in economic practice, legal and government systems, the spread of many traditionally British sports (such as cricket) and also the spread of the English language.

Background: The English and Scottish Empires

The Anglo-Norman Kingdom

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England and made asserted his right to be king, giving England its first overseas territory (Normandy). The new rulers had dual roles. First, as kings of England they were sovereign lords. Second, as dukes of Normandy, they were vassals of the kings of France. This led to centuries of conflicts which ended with their loss of French holdings in 1558. In the meantime, the annexation of Ireland began in 1172 and Wales was conquered in 1282.

Growth of the overseas empire

1282, site of England's first overseas colony.]] The overseas British Empire — in the sense of British oceanic exploration and settlement outside of Europe and the British Isles — was rooted in the pioneering maritime policies of King Henry VII, who reigned 1485–1509. Building on commercial links in the wool trade promoted during the reign of his predecessor King Richard III, Henry established the modern English merchant marine system, which greatly expanded English shipbuilding and seafaring. The merchant marine also supplied the basis for the mercantile institutions that would play such a crucial role in later British imperial ventures, such as the Massachusetts Bay Company and the British East India Company. Henry's financial reforms made the English Exchequer solvent, which helped to underwrite the development of the Merchant Marine. Henry also ordered construction of the first English dry dock, at Portsmouth, and made improvements to England's small navy. Additionally, Henry sponsored the voyages of the Italian mariner John Cabot in 1496 and 1497 that established England's first overseas colony - a fishing settlement - in Newfoundland, which Cabot claimed on behalf of Henry.

Henry VIII and the rise of the Royal Navy

The foundations of sea power, having been laid during Henry VII's reign, were gradually expanded to protect English trade and open up new routes. King Henry VIII founded the modern English navy (though the plans to do so were put into motion during his father's reign), more than tripling the number of warships and constructing the first large vessels with heavy, long-range guns. He initiated the Navy's formal, centralised administrative apparatus, built new docks, and constructed the network of beacons and lighthouses that greatly facilitated coastal navigation for English and foreign merchant sailors. Henry thus established the munitions-based Royal Navy that was able to repulse the Spanish Armada in 1588, and his innovations provided the seed for the imperial navy of later centuries.

The Elizabethan era

Elizabethan era.]] During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in the years 1577 to 1580, only the second to accomplish this feat after Ferdinand Magellan's expedition. In 1579, Drake landed somewhere in northern California and claimed for the Crown what he named Nova Albion ("New Albion", Albion being an ancient name for Britain), though the claim was not followed by settlement. Subsequent maps spell out Nova Albion to the north of all New Spain. Thereafter, England's interests outside Europe grew steadily, promoted by John Dee, who coined the phrase "British Empire". An expert in navigation, many of the early English explorers visited him before and after their expeditions. His conception was derived from Dante's book Monarchia. A Welshman himself, his use of the term British fitted with the Welsh origins of Elizabeth's Tudor family. Humphrey Gilbert followed on Cabot's original claim when he sailed to Newfoundland in 1583 and declared it an English colony on August 5 at St John's. Sir Walter Raleigh organised the first colony in Virginia in 1587 at Roanoke Island. Both Gilbert's Newfoundland settlement and the Roanoke colony were short-lived, however, and had to be abandoned due to food shortages, severe weather, shipwrecks, and hostile encounters with indigenous tribes on the American continent. The Elizabethan era built on the past century's imperial foundations by expanding Henry VIII's navy, promoting Atlantic exploration by English sailors, and further encouraging maritime trade especially with the Netherlands and the Hanseatic League. However, the Elizabethan navy suffered severe defeats against the Spanish fleets in the Anglo-Spanish War following the Spanish Armada campaign, which weakened the Royal Navy and allowed Spain to retain effective control of Atlantic sea lanes until the 1630s, when decisive victories by the Dutch made the Netherlands the dominant seafaring nation in the Atlantic.

The Stuart era

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604) helped to strengthen England's advance toward becoming a major naval power, but this naval advantage was lost in the attack upon Spain by the disastrous Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589, and subsequent naval and land defeats at the hands of Spain in the 1590s thwarted attempts to settle North America, and helped damage the English Exchequer. However it did give English sailors and shipbuilders vital experience. Finally in 1604, King James I of England negotiated the Treaty of London which ceased hostilities with Spain, and the first permanent English settlement followed in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. During the next three centuries, England extended its influence overseas and consolidated its political development at home. In 1707, the parliaments of England and Scotland were united in London as the parliament of Great Britain.

Scottish Empire

There were several pre-union attempts at creating a Scottish Overseas Empire, with various Scottish settlements in North and South America. The most famous of these was the disastrous Darién scheme which attempted to establish a settlement colony and trading post in Panama to foster trade between Scotland and the Far East. After union many Scots, especially in Canada and Australia, took up posts as doctors, lawyers and teachers. Progressions in Scotland itself during the Scottish enlightenment led to advancements throughout the empire. Scots settled across the Empire as it developed and built up their own communities such as Dunedin in New Zealand.

Colonisation

In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the island of Newfoundland as England's for Elizabeth I, reinforcing John Cabot's prior claim to the island in 1497, for Henry VII, as England's first overseas colony. Gilbert's shipwreck prevented ensuing settlement in Newfoundland, other than the seasonal cod fishermen who had frequented the island since 1497. However, the Jamestown colonists, led by Captain John Smith, overcame the severe privations of the winter in 1607 to found England's first permanent overseas settlement. The empire thus took shape during the early 17th century, with the English settlement of the eastern colonies of North America, which would later become the original United States as well as Canada's Atlantic provinces, and the colonisation of the smaller islands of the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Barbados. The sugar-producing colonies of the Caribbean, where slavery became the basis of the economy, were at first England's most important and lucrative colonies. The American colonies providing tobacco, cotton, and rice in the south and naval materiel and furs in the north were less financially successful, but had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far larger numbers of English emigrants. materiel.]] England's American empire was slowly expanded by war and colonisation, England gaining control of New Amsterdam (later New York) via negotiations following the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The growing American colonies pressed ever westward in search of new agricultural lands. During the Seven Years War the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham and captured all of New France in 1760, giving Britain control over the greater part of North America. Later, settlement of Australia (starting with penal colonies from 1788) and New Zealand (under the crown from 1840) created a major zone of British migration. The entire Australian continent was claimed for Britain when Matthew Flinders proved New Holland and New South Wales to be a single land mass by completing a circumnavigation of it in 1803. The colonies later became self-governing colonies and became profitable exporters of wool and gold. See also British colonisation of the Americas, Colonial history of America

Free trade and "informal empire"

Main article: Pax Britannica. Pax Britannica The old British colonial system began to decline in the 18th century. During the long period of unbroken Whig dominance of domestic political life (1714–62), the Empire became less important and less well-regarded, until an ill-fated attempt (largely involving taxes, monopolies, and zoning) to reverse the resulting "salutary neglect" (or "benign neglect") provoked the American War of Independence (1775–83), depriving Britain of her most populous colonies. The period is sometimes referred to as the end of the "first British Empire", indicating the shift of British expansion from the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries to the "second British Empire" in Asia and later also Africa from the 18th century. The loss of the Thirteen Colonies showed that colonies were not necessarily particularly beneficial in economic terms, since Britain could still dominate trade with the ex-colonies without having to pay for their defence and administration. Mercantilism, the economic doctrine of competition between nations for a finite amount of wealth which had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, now gave way in Britain and elsewhere to the laissez-faire economic liberalism of Adam Smith and successors like Richard Cobden. The lesson of Britain's North American loss — that trade might continue to bring prosperity even in the absence of colonial rule — contributed to the extension in the 1840s and 1850s of self-governing colony status to white settler colonies in Canada and Australasia whose British or European inhabitants were seen as outposts of the "mother country". Ireland was treated differently because of its geographic proximity, and incorporated into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801; due largely to the impact of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 against English rule. During this period, Britain also outlawed the slave trade (1807) and soon began enforcing this principle on other nations. By the mid-19th century Britain had largely eradicated the world slave trade. Slavery itself was abolished in the British colonies in 1834, though the phenomenon of indentured labour retained much of its oppressive character until 1920. The end of the old colonial and slave systems was accompanied by the adoption of free trade, culminating in the repeal of the Corn Laws and Navigation Acts in the 1840s. Free trade opened the British market to unfettered competition, stimulating reciprocal action by other countries during the middle quarters of the 19th century. 1840s and the beginning of the Pax Britannica.]] Some argue that the rise of free trade merely reflected Britain's economic position and was unconnected with any true philosophical conviction. Despite the earlier loss of 13 of Britain's North American colonies, the final defeat in Europe of Napoleonic France in 1815 left Britain the most successful international power. While the Industrial Revolution at home gave her an unrivalled economic leadership, the Royal Navy dominated the seas. The distraction of rival powers by European matters enabled Britain to pursue a phase of expansion of her economic and political influence through "informal empire" underpinned by free trade and strategic pre-eminence. Between the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Britain was the world's sole industrialised power, with over 30% of the global industrial output in 1870. As the "workshop of the world", Britain could produce finished manufactures so efficiently and cheaply that they could undersell comparable locally produced goods in foreign markets. Given stable political conditions in particular overseas markets, Britain could prosper through free trade alone without having to resort to formal rule. The Americas in particular (especially in Argentina and the United States) were seen as being well under the informal British trade empire due to Britain's enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine keeping other European nations from establishing formal rule in the area.

British East India Company

Main article: British East India Company The British East India Company was probably the most successful chapter in the British Empire's history as it was responsible for the colonisation of the Indian subcontinent, which would become the British Empire's largest source of revenue, along with the conquest of Hong Kong, Singapore, Ceylon, Malaya (which was also one of the largest sources of revenue) and other surrounding Asian countries, and were thus responsible for establishing Britian's Asian empire, the most important component of the British Empire. The British East India Company originally began as a joint-stock company of traders and investors based in Leadenhall Street, East London, which was granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I in 1600, with the intent to favour trade privileges in India. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created Honourable East India Company a monopoly on all trade with the East Indies. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, along with a very large private army consisting of local Indian sepoys, who were loyal to their British commanders and were probably the most important factor in Britain's Asian conquest. The British East India Company eventually became the world's first multinational corporation and Britain's largest source of income until its collapse in 1857. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_4718_133/ai_n8694155] The Company also had interests along the routes to India from Great Britain. As early as 1620, the company attempted to lay claim to the Table Mountain region in South Africa, later it occupied and ruled St Helena. The Company also established Hong Kong and Singapore; employed Captain Kidd to combat piracy; and cultivated the production of tea in India. Other notable events in the Company's history were that it held Napoleon captive on Saint Helena, and made the fortune of Elihu Yale. Its products were the basis of the Boston Tea Party in Colonial America. In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe was instructed by James I to visit the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (who ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent at the time, along with parts of Afghanistan). The purpose of this mission was to arrange for a commercial treaty which would give the Company exclusive rights to reside and build factories in Surat and other areas. In return, the Company offered to provide to the emperor goods and rarities from the European market. This mission was highly successful and Jahangir sent a letter to the King through Sir Thomas. The British East India Company found itself completely dominant over the French, Dutch and Portuguese trading companies in the Indian subcontinent as a result. In 1634, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan extended his hospitality to the English traders to the region of Bengal, which had the world's largest textile industry at the time. In 1717, the Mughal Emperor at the time completely waived customs duties for the trade, giving the Company a decided commercial advantage in the Indian trade. With the Company's large revenues, it raised its own armed forces from the 1680s, mainly drawn from the indigenous local population, who were Indian sepoys under the command of British officers.

Expansion

sepoys established the Company as a military as well as a commercial power.]] The decline of the Mughal Empire, which had separated into many smaller states controlled by local rulers who were often in conflict with one another, allowed the Company to expand its territories, which began in 1757, when the Company came into conflict with the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj Ud Daulah. Under the leadership of Robert Clive, the Company troops and their local allies defeated the Nawab on 23 June 1757 at the Battle of Plassey, mostly due to the treachery of the Nawab's former army chief Mir Jafar. This victory, which resulted in the conquest of Bengal, established the British East India Company as a military as well as a commercial power, and marked the beginning of British rule in India. The wealth gained from the Bengal treasury allowed the Company to significantly strengthen its military might and as a result, extend its territories, conquering most parts of India with the massive Indian army it has acquired. They fought many wars with local Indian rulers during their conquest of India, the most difficult probably being the four Anglo-Mysore Wars (between 1766 and 1799) against the South Indian Kingdom of Mysore ruled by Hyder Ali, and later his son Tipu Sultan. Mysore was only defeated in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War by the combined forces of Britain and of Mysore's neighbours, for which Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali are remembered in India as legendary rulers. There was a number of other states which the Company couldn't conquer through military might, mostly in the North, where the Company's presence was ever increasing amidst the internal conflict and dubious offers of protection against one another. Coercive action, threats and diplomacy aided the Company in preventing the local rulers from putting up a united struggle against it. By the 1850s, the Company ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent and as a result, the Company began to function more as a nation and less as a trading concern. They were also responsible for the illegal Opium trade with China against the Qing Emperor's will, which later led to the two Opium Wars (between 1834 and 1860). As a result of the Company's victory in the First Opium War, it established Hong Kong. The Company also had a number of wars with other surrounding Asian countries, the most difficult probably being the three Anglo-Afghan Wars (between 1839 and 1919) against Afghanistan, which were mostly unsuccessful.

Collapse

The Company's rule effectively came to an end 100 years after its conquest since 1757, when the 1857 Indian Mutiny took place, known to many Indians as the First War of Independence, which saw many of the Company's Indian sepoys begin an armed uprising against their British commanders, after a period of political unrest triggered by a number of political events. One of the major factors was the Company's introduction of the Lee-Enfield rifle, where its cartridges, which were covered by greased cow fat and pig fat, were supposed to be cut by the teeth before the cartridges were loaded into the rifles. Cow fat was forbidden for the Hindu soldiers, while pig fat was forbidden for the Muslim soldiers, so they had to either "bite the bullet" or resist their commanders. Another factor was the execution of the Indian sepoy Mangal Pandey who was hanged for attacking and injuring his British superiors, possibly out of insult for the introduction of the Lee Enfield rifle or a number of other reasons. These factors combined with a number of other reasons resulted in the Mutiny, which eventually brought about the end of the British East India Company's regime in India, and instead led to 90 years of direct rule of the Indian subcontinent by Britain, after the British East India Company was dissolved. The period of direct British rule in India is known as the British Raj, when the regions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would collectively be known as British India. The former British East India Company headquarters in Leadenhall Street, East London was taken over by Lloyds Bank in 1873. Leadenhall Street is now resided by a large Bengali community, around where the former headquarters were.

Breakdown of Pax Britannica

As the first country to industrialise, Britain had been able to draw on most of the accessible world for raw materials and markets. But this situation gradually deteriorated during the 19th century as other powers began to industrialise and sought to use the state to guarantee their markets and sources of supply. By the 1870s, British manufactures in the staple industries of the Industrial Revolution were beginning to experience real competition abroad. Industrialisation progressed rapidly in Germany and the United States, allowing them to take over the "old" British and French capitalisms as world leader in some areas. The German textile and metal industries, for example, had by 1870, surpassed those of Britain in organisation and technical efficiency and usurped British manufactures in the domestic market. By the turn of the century, the German metals and engineering industries would even be producing for the free trade market of the former "workshop of the world". While invisible exports (banking, insurance and shipping services) kept Britain "out of the red," her share of world trade fell from a quarter in 1880 to a sixth in 1913. Britain was losing out not only in the markets of newly industrialising countries, but also against third-party competition in less-developed countries. Britain was even losing her former overwhelming dominance in trade with India, China, Latin America, or the coasts of Africa. Britain's commercial difficulties deepened with the onset of the "Long Depression" of 1873–96, a prolonged period of price deflation punctuated by severe business downturns which added to pressure on governments to promote home industry, leading to the widespread abandonment of free trade among Europe's powers (in Germany from 1879 and in France from 1881). The resulting limitation of both domestic markets and export opportunities led government and business leaders in Europe and later the US to see the solution in sheltered overseas markets united to the home country behind imperial tariff barriers: new overseas subjects would provide export markets free of foreign competition, while supplying cheap raw materials. Although she continued to adhere to free trade until 1932, Britain joined the renewed scramble for formal empire rather than allow areas under her influence to be seized by rivals.

Britain and the New Imperialism

Main article: New Imperialism. New Imperialism.]] The policy and ideology of European colonial expansion between the 1870s and the outbreak of World War I in 1914 are often characterised as the "New Imperialism". The period is distinguished by an unprecedented pursuit of what has been termed "empire for empire's sake", aggressive competition for overseas territorial acquisitions and the emergence in colonising countries of doctrines of racial superiority which denied the fitness of subjugated peoples for self-government. During this period, Europe's powers added nearly 8,880,000 sq mi (23,000,000 km²) to their overseas colonial possessions. As it was mostly unoccupied by the Western powers as late as the 1880s, Africa became the primary target of the "new" imperialist expansion, although conquest took place also in other areas — notably south-east Asia and the East Asian seaboard, where the United States and Japan joined the European powers' scramble for territory. Britain's entry into the new imperial age is often dated to 1875, when the Conservative government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler Ismail's shareholding in the Suez Canal to secure control of this strategic waterway, a channel for shipping between Britain and India since its opening six years earlier under Emperor Napoleon III. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882. Fear of Russia's centuries-old southward expansion was a further factor in British policy: in 1878 Britain took control of Cyprus as a base for action against a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire, after having taken part in the Crimean War 1854–56 and invading Afghanistan to forestall an increase in Russian influence there. Britain waged three bloody and unsuccessful wars in Afghanistan, as ferocious popular rebellions, invocations of jihad and inscrutable terrain frustrated British objectives. The First Anglo-Afghan War led to one of the most disastrous defeats of the Victorian military when an entire British army was wiped out by Russian-supplied Afghan Pashtun tribesmen during the 1842 retreat from Kabul. The Second Anglo-Afghan War led to the British debacle at Maiwand in 1880, the siege of Kabul and British withdrawal into India. The Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 stoked a tribal uprising against the exhausted British military on the heels of World War I and expelled the British permanently from the new Afghan state. The "Great Game" in Inner Asia ended with a bloody and wholly unnecessary British expedition against Tibet in 1903–04. At the same time, some powerful industrial lobbies and government leaders in Britain, later exemplified by Joseph Chamberlain, came to view formal empire as necessary to arrest Britain's relative decline in world markets. During the 1890s Britain adopted the new policy wholeheartedly, quickly emerging as the front-runner in the scramble for tropical African territories. Britain's adoption of the New Imperialism may be seen as a quest for captive markets or fields for investment of surplus capital, or as a primarily strategic or pre-emptive attempt to protect existing trade links and to prevent the absorption of overseas markets into the increasingly closed imperial trading blocs of rival powers. The failure in the 1900s of Chamberlain's Tariff Reform campaign for Imperial protection illustrates the strength of free trade feeling even in the face of loss of international market share. Historians have argued that Britain's adoption of the "New imperialism" was an effect of her relative decline in the world, rather than of strength. The evolution of colonialism in India should dissuade people from sweeping generalisations and over-simplifications regarding the roles of inter-capitalist competition and accumulated surplus in precipitating the era of the New Imperialism. Formal empire in India, beginning with the Government of India Act of 1858, was a means of consolidation, reacting to the abortive Indian Mutiny, which was in itself a conservative reaction among Indian traditionalists to British policy in the subcontinent.

Britain and the Scramble for Africa

Main article: Scramble for Africa. Scramble for Africa In 1875 the two most important European holdings in Africa were Algeria and the Cape Colony. By 1914 only Ethiopia and the republic of Liberia remained outside formal European control. The transition from an "informal empire" of control through economic dominance to direct control took the form of a "scramble" for territory by the nations of Europe. Britain tried not to play a part in this early scramble, being more of a trading empire rather then a colonial empire; however, it soon became clear it had to gain its own African empire to maintain the balance of power. As French, Belgian and Portuguese activity in the lower Congo River region threatened to undermine orderly penetration of tropical Africa, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 sought to regulate the competition between the powers by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims, a formulation which necessitated routine recourse to armed force against indigenous states and peoples. Britain's 1882 military occupation of Egypt (itself triggered by concern over the Suez Canal) contributed to a preoccupation over securing control of the Nile valley, leading to the conquest of the neighbouring Sudan in 1896–98 and confrontation with a French military expedition at Fashoda (September 1898). In 1899 Britain completed her takeover of what is today South Africa. This had begun with the annexation of the Cape in 1795 and continued with the conquest of the Boer Republics in the late 19th century, following the Boer Wars. Cecil Rhodes was the pioneer of British expansion north into Africa with his privately owned British South Africa Company. Rhodes expanded into the land north of South Africa and established Rhodesia. Rhodes' dream of a railway connecting Cape Town to Alexandria passing through a British Africa covering the continent is what led to his company's pressure on the government for further expansion into Africa. British gains in southern and East Africa prompted Rhodes and Alfred Milner, Britain's High Commissioner in South Africa, to urge a "Cape-to-Cairo" empire linking by rail the strategically important Canal to the mineral-rich South, though German occupation of Tanganyika prevented its realisation until the end of World War I. In 1903, the All Red Line telegraph system communicated with the major parts of the Empire. Paradoxically Britain, the staunch advocate of free trade, emerged in 1914 with not only the largest overseas empire thanks to her long-standing presence in India, but also the greatest gains in the "scramble for Africa", reflecting her advantageous position at its inception. Between 1885 and 1914 Britain took nearly 30% of Africa's population under her control, compared to 15 per cent for France, 9 per cent for Germany, 7 per cent for Belgium and 1 per cent for Italy: Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects, more than in the whole of French West Africa or the entire German colonial empire.

Home Rule in white-settler colonies

Britain's empire had already begun its transformation into the modern Commonwealth with the extension of Dominion status to the already self-governing colonies of Canada (1867), Australia (1901), New Zealand (1907), Newfoundland (1907), and the newly-created Union of South Africa (1910). Leaders of the new states joined with British statesmen in periodic Colonial (from 1907, Imperial) Conferences, the first of which was held in London in 1887. The foreign relations of the Dominions were still conducted through the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom: Canada created a Department of External Affairs in 1909, but diplomatic relations with other governments continued to be channelled through the Governors-General, Dominion High Commissioners in London (first appointed by Canada in 1880 and by Australia in 1910) and British legations abroad. Britain's declaration of war in World War I applied to all the Dominions. But the Dominions did enjoy a substantial freedom in their adoption of foreign policy where this did not explicitly conflict with British interests: Canada's Liberal government negotiated a bilateral free-trade Reciprocity Agreement with the United States in 1911, but went down to defeat by the Conservative opposition. In defence, the Dominions' original treatment as part of a single Empire military and naval structure proved unsustainable as Britain faced new commitments in Europe and the challenge of an emerging German High Seas Fleet after 1900. In 1909 it was decided that the Dominions should have their own navies, reversing an 1887 agreement that the then Australasian colonies should contribute to the Royal Navy in return for the permanent stationing of a squadron in the region.

The impact of the First World War

Royal Navy The aftermath of World War I saw the last major extension of British rule, with Britain gaining control through League of Nations Mandates in Palestine and Iraq (British League of Nations Trust Territory of Iraq) after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, as well as in the former German colonies of Tanganyika, South-West Africa (now Namibia) and New Guinea (the last two actually under South African and Australian rule respectively). The British zones of occupation in the German Rhineland after World War I and West Germany after World War II were not considered part of the Empire. But although Britain emerged among the war's victors, and her rule expanded into new areas, the heavy costs of the war undermined her capacity to maintain the vast empire. The British had suffered millions of casualties and liquidated assets at an alarming rate, which led to debt accumulation, upending of capital markets and manpower deficiencies in the staffing of far-flung imperial posts in Asia and the African colonies. Nationalist sentiment grew in both old and new Imperial territories, fuelled by pride at Empire troops' participation in the war and the grievance felt by many non-white ex-servicemen at the racial discrimination they had encountered during their service to the Empire. The 1920s saw a rapid trans