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In 1830 the colonies of Great Britain consisted of some thirty [1] possessions, differing widely in soil and climate, and containing communities varying in race and language, in origin and in character.

There were remnants of the old colonial empire, which was dismembered at the humiliating peace of 1783, such as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There were later acquisitions by conquest like the Cape of Good Hope, or by settlement like the Swan River colony. Some were mere spots on the globe, held as military outposts, such as Gibraltar, or as trading stations, like Cape Coast Castle. Some like Grenada were small islands, and others like New South Wales were coastal settlements on huge, almost uninhabited continents.

The name "colony" was given alike to Ceylon, where a few traders were scattered amongst a large alien population, and to Jamaica, where a small body of planters maintained themselves amidst a large army of slaves. Even India was at times included amongst the colonies, [2] although not officially recognized as a colony by the Colonial Office. [3]

Geographically, the colonies fell into six main groups—North America, West Indies (including some settlements in South America), Africa, Australasia, East Indies, and Europe.