Turning history into hope

  The Commonwealth of Nations was born out of the slow disintegration of the British Empire, which covered a fifth of the world's surface at its peak in the late 19th century. Its holdings spanned from Hong Kong to the Caribbean to a wide swath of southern and East Africa. Queen Victoria, whose reign was critical to consolidating the empire, became Empress of India in 1877.
  But even as the empire expanded, some of its colonies grew frustrated with imperial oversight. In 1864 representatives from the three British colonies in modern-day Canada began to negotiate merging into one self-governing confederation. […]
  Britain agreed to its colonists' terms in July 1867. But it didn't give up control of the territory. Instead, a united Canada became a British dominion. The distinction meant Canada could rule itself but its laws would still be subject to British oversight – meaning they could be vetoed at the monarch's discretion. In subsequent decades, other predominantly white British colonies became dominions too, including Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland).
  In 1926 Britain and the dominions agreed that they would all be equal in status, “united by a common allegiance to the Crown.” The declaration – formalized in 1931 with the Statute of Westminster – ushered in the official founding of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It would take about two more decades for the Commonwealth to evolve into its modern-day form.