by @Chris
From one colony on the James River to a quarter of the world's land, and back to a handful of islands: four centuries of British rule overseas, coloured by the kind of rule. Trading companies came first (the East India Company in Bengal, the Hudson's Bay Company in the Canadian north); the Crown took over; settler colonies became self-governing dominions; and after 1947 almost every territory became independent, most of them inside the Commonwealth. The peak is 1921, between the League of Nations mandates and the Irish Free State. Simplifications: territories follow modern borders, and small islands and ports are drawn as disks so they stay visible at world scale. Early colonies show roughly the settled or garrisoned area, not charter claims. Dominions count as independent from the Statute of Westminster (1931), although Australia and New Zealand adopted it later. Indian princely states are approximated by modern states. Informal influence (Oman, Afghanistan, Persia, treaty ports in China) is left out. Sources: Wikipedia articles on the individual territories, the Statute of Westminster and the member states of the Commonwealth; Natural Earth borders.
England → Great Britain (1707) → United Kingdom (1801) · Colonies and Crown possessions · Chartered company rule (East India Co., Hudson's Bay Co. …) · Self-governing dominions · Protectorates, princely and protected states · League of Nations mandates and UN trust territories · Occupied or jointly administered · Independent Commonwealth members and their territories