British maritime reach accumulated around support stations

The British Empire accumulated places that served different political and commercial purposes. India, Canada, islands around the world, whaling support stations, and African trading towns became connected through maritime movement. The North Atlantic slave trade was an older and more complicated system that European powers inherited and expanded, rather than one invented or wholly controlled by Britain. Repeated commercial and strategic use turned scattered places into a global support network. That network later gave British shipping reach even though it had not been designed as a single system from the beginning.