Short answers, pulled from the story.
By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, representing nearly a quarter of the world's population at the time. This figure marked the peak of its demographic reach before the gradual decline began after the Second World War.
The economic engine of the early British Empire was sugar, and the human cost of its production was measured in millions of lives. The Caribbean islands of St. Kitts, Barbados, and Nevis became the most successful colonies in the Americas, transforming the region into a dense web of sugarcane plantations.
The British government dissolved the East India Company in 1858 following the Indian Rebellion of 1857. This action established the British Raj, where an appointed governor-general administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the Empress of India.
The process of decolonization began after the Second World War, with the number of people under British rule outside the UK itself falling from 700 million to 5 million between 1945 and 1965. India gained independence on the 15th of August 1947, and the British Mandate for Palestine officially terminated at midnight on the 15th of May 1948.
The handover of Hong Kong to China occurred on the 1st of July 1997, symbolizing the end of the British Empire. Fourteen overseas territories that are remnants of the empire remain under British sovereignty today.