8. The continental wars of Europe led to an increase in the British Empire.
During the wars which wracked the European continent through the 18th century, the British Empire expanded its territory, gaining Gibraltar following the War of the Spanish Succession as well as Menorca, and in the New World, France was forced to cede Acadia and Newfoundland. Warfare on the Indian subcontinent led to the expansion of British held territory there, under the control of the British East India Company, at the expense of its French counterpart. By the mid-18th century, a series of wars had been fought by the British and its North American colonies against the French and their Indian allies over French possessions in America. In 1763, France was effectively eliminated as a colonial power in the New World.