The British Empire was the collective term for the territories under the leadership or control of the British crown. Britain's overseas empire dated from 1583 when Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland as England's first colony. The Empire reached its height in 1897, the year of Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The signing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 ended the use of the term "British Empire" in favour of the name "British Commonwealth of Nations".
