Area and Population of the British Empire
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It is desirable on many grounds that the population of the Queen's dominions should be enumerated simultaneously. And accordingly the Census of all the Australian Colonies was taken on the same day (April 8th) as the Census of England, and on the same plan, with this exception, that the numbers in the several religious denominations were distinguished in the southern hemisphere, without any of those deplorable consequences which were anticipated from the same kind of inquiry in England, The population of nearly all the colonies and dependencies was enumerated in 1861, except India. Exclusive of India, the enumerated population of the United Kingdom, with its colonies and possessions, amounted to 38,817,957 souls, having at their disposal 3,486,878 square miles, or 9)030,645 square kilometers of territory. The Colonial Census is so important that we have thought it right to give a summary of the results in the Appendix, pp. 170-212. The Government of India has always been too weak to procure an accurate enumeration of the population, notwithstanding the remarkable and partial success in taking the Census of certain provinces under able administrators. The population we give of India must therefore be considered as only a rough approximation, available for some purposes, until the results of an accurate enumeration are obtained by the present Government of India. The area of British India is 933,722 square miles, and the population 135,571,351 by estimate, which makes the area of the British Empire 4,420,600 square miles, and the population 174,389,308. TABLE XXVI.—POPULATION of the BRITISH EMPIRE, 1861.XII.—AREA AND POPULATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
AREA
POPULATION
Square Miles
Square Kilometers
ENGLAND, her COLONIES, and POSSESSIONS
4,420,600
11,448,886
174389308
United Kingdom (including Army, Navy and Merchant Seamen at Home and Abroad
121,115
313,675
29,321,288
British Colonies and Possessions (exclusive of military)
3,365,763
8,716,970
9,496,669
British India (Exclusive of the British Army 62,893, stationed in India)
933,722
2,418,241
135,571,351
European Possessions
1,163
3,012
397,743
North American Colonies
512,193
1,326,526
3,333,507
West Indian Possessions
106,449
275,692
1,114,508
African Possessions
130,756
388,644
1,004,595
Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean
7,647
19,805
7,426
Possessions in the Indian Ocean, and Hong Kong
25,485
66,003
2,363,767
Australia and New Zealand
2,582,070
6,687,288
1,322,937
Total
—
—
9,544,483
Deduct Military stationed in the colonies
—
—
47,814
Populations of British Colonies and Possessions (Exclusive of the military)
—
—
9,496,669