What was the most important factor in the Growth of the British Empire?

Trade was the most important factor in the growth of the British Empire. Do you agree?
One of the main factors of the growth of the British Empire is trade. The other main factors are: rivalries with other European countries, the spread of Christianity and the desire to colonise. All of these factors are important, but I think that the main one is trade.
Trade earned a lot of money, and the East India Company had a lot to do with this. Some of the money which was made from trade was used to improve the army, which helped to conquer new land and defeat their rivals. The East India Company started trading with Asia in 1500 and were big money makers. In 1833 they collected £1,800,000,000 tax in today’s money. They were very good in trading, especially trading spices and silk. This made a lot of money. They also made a lot of money from the trade of medicines. Pepper was used to cure plague and they also traded plants and herbs; common medicines at that time. This earned them more money. The British also made money from the Chinese. They traded opium with them and soon they became addicted to it and wanted lots more. The British new this and they demanded more for their opium. This led to the opium war which was won by the British. This made China trade huge quantities of silver for opium, and they also opened ports, allowing British merchants to trade with them easily. The British were especially motivated to trade well as the British population wanted a lot of the products being traded. Trade with other countries helped gain a strong relationship with them, making it easier to start to control them.
The slave trade also helped the empire grow. Lots of money was made from trading slaves. Slaves were very useful in Britain, for working on plantations to produce goods to trade. They were also useful to Britain being in other countries. Working on plantations abroad meant that more goods were being made that could not be made in Britain, allowing Britain to acquire more of the products they like to trade and use. This made them more money. However, all of this did not last long as in 1807 the slave trade was abolished and in 1833, slavery itself was abolished.
One of the other factors in the growth of the British Empire was the desire to spread Christianity. Many missionaries were sent to Africa to spread Christianity. The missionaries were teaching them about Christianity and were also educating them. This meant that the relationship between Africa and Britain grew allowing the Empire to grow in Africa. In 1620 the ship Mayflower sailed for New England. On board were dedicated Puritans. They started settling there so they could live their lives following their strict Puritan beliefs. They became very wealthy and successful and by 1640 New England had a population of 20,000. They began to colonise there and spread Christianity. This meant that Britain was taking over part of North America.
Another factor of the growth of the British Empire was the desire to colonise. Walter Raleigh wanted to do this. Raleigh was a rich and powerful man, and in 1585 he sent 300 men to North America to settle. They found the perfect place to settle, Roanoke. They then explored other places like Pomeioc, Aquascogoc, and Secotan, and people began to settle there. Because of this, the British had discovered new land and British people started to come and settle in North America, and take over it. At least, that was what they thought would happen. Food stock was low and the colonists were starving and the relationship between the England settlers and the Native American was in ruins. On 10th June the colony was abandoned and the settlers went back to England. This is one of the reasons why the desire to colonise wasn’t the main reason for the growth of the British Empire.
However, there were some times when colonising did succeed. Britain had captured Bengal, India, and now had their own army in India. They started to explore India and found Diego Costa, and settled there. This led to more British people moving to India. Many British people also settled in Australia, but not in the way as they did with Diego Costa. In 1770 Captain James Cook and his crew sailed to Australia and were disappointed with the barren landscape. Then in 1787, The British government made a decision to send criminals to Australia. Australia was turning into a huge jail! Between 1787 and 1868 more than 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia and the numbers were growing. The British criminals were catching up to the number of Aborigines. Almost all of the British criminals stayed in Australia when they were freed as they could not afford to go back to Britain. Australia was filling with British people and Britain was gaining more land in Australia. This shows that colonising plays a big part in the growth of the British Empire.
Britain also made it easier to expand the British Empire by fighting off any rivals from Europe. France was the biggest rival of Britain as they were one of the greatest nations on Earth. They were rivals in America, India, the Caribbean and the sea all over the globe. This led to the “Seven Years War.” On 23rd June 1757, Robert Clive defeated Siraj Ud –Daula in the Battle of Plassey. This meant that Bengal now belonged to the East India Company. Clive won the battle in only several hours, showing how powerful his army was. During the war, Prime Minister William Pitt decided to capture Canada from the French. He left James Wolfe in charge of this. The key to capturing Canada was capturing the city Quebec. James Wolfe did this with only 4000 men against Quebec’s 9000. This shows that Britain’s army was well trained and that they had a good chance winning any war. In 1763 Britain, having already taken Quebec from the French, Britain won the “Seven Years War.” This meant that it was easier for Britain to expand their empire as France weren’t in their way anymore.
However, there were other countries that were competing with Britain. For example, the Portuguese were searching for spices and pepper in India. This was especially bad for Britain as there was a demand for pepper to protect them against the plague. Vasco da Gama was Portuguese and was the first person to travel to India by sea. This paved the way for the Portuguese to establish a long lasting empire in Asia. The Dutch were also trading rivals with Britain and were the most successful spice traders. This meant that there were less spices for Britain to trade and that it was harder to trade with India as they had most of the spices.
I think that trade was the most important factor of the growth of the British Empire as it made the most money. Money was important as it increased power by spending money on the army and navy etc. Power was important as it helped increase land and fight off rivals, making the empire bigger. Although I think that trade was the most important factor, the others were very important as well. Britain fighting off other European rivals was very important as there was not much competition so it was easier to expand the empire, but they did not fight off all of their rivals. Colonising was also important as it earned land which could be used to make more money or to help takeover more land. This was made easier by trade as trade improved the army, making it easier to conquer new land. I think that the spread of Christianity was the least important factor of the growth of the British Empire as it led mainly to colonization, for example, when the Puritans began to settle in New England. However, it did make it easier to takeover Africa by building the relationship between Africa and Britain by missionaries educating African people. All of these factors were important for the growth of the British Empire but I think that trade was the main one.