ABSTRACT
By national territory is understood the country with which a nation by long tradition is so intimately connected that it regards it as the homeland and as an integral part of its whole existence. Modern national consciousness differs from older forms in the claim to exclusive power over its territory. Home feeling is only one of the factors creating national loyalty. Modern national States, as a rule, strive to concentrate all sentiments of loyalty, pride and affection upon the national territory at the expense both of wider and of smaller territories. A community of language and civilization and interests may certainly foster a common outlook in politics and thus influence the development of a national territory. The British Empire has primarily sprung from private commercial enterprise and colonization of territories, inhabited by primitive tribes, though national rivalry with France and other reasons led to further expansion by conquest.
