Victorian Empire
The Victorian world was shrinking while the British Empire was growing. The great trade routes pioneered by merchants of London, a restless capital swelling like baker's dough in a pan, taking shape. Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus were soon added as well as Aden. A Frenchman dug the Suez Canal, but British capital would take possession of it. India was about to become the jewel in the empress's crown, and Burma to become part of British India.
The adventurer Raffles had planted the flag in Singapore and the small island of Hong Kong, and into the Pacific to New Guinea, Fiji, with Australia and New Zealand. Most of Africa was under British rule along with Canada. Most elderly gentlemen of the time saw the United States as a revolted colony that should have been flying the Union Jack. The world has always been London’s oyster: now the oyster was like Pandora's box, about to be opened. Unforeseen horrors, as well as unimagined wealth, would flow from it.
Back home in London, new roads were being made, Queen Victoria Street, Victoria Embankment, Victoria Street, with all the new railway stations and the underground railway including Victoria Station. Also, the new docks in the East End named the Victoria Docks. And in the East End, an open field became Victoria Park. No British Monarch has ever had so many places named after them as Victoria has. All around the Empire to this day the name Victoria is still to be seen, and even American talks of the 'Victorian times' meaning the 1800's.
London Time
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