The British Empire was once home to third of the [1] ______ world’s population. But, with the return of Hong Kong and its six million inhabitants to China, only 180,000 people in 12 populated territories now themselves as British colonial subjects. [2] ______ Britain’s imperial expansion, which continued for 400 years, was motivated by the desire to acquire the wealth, and to [3] ______ maintain the British navy’s control of the seas. Today, that flow of wealth has reversed and most of the "dependent territories", [4] ______ as these colonies are known ,require some financial support from Britain. It was with the granting of independence to India in 1947 Britain [5] ______ started to dismantle its empire. It was relative easy to give independence [6] ______ to the larger colonies - indeed, most campaigned vigorously for self - rule-- but the small dependencies ,which were less economically viable ,preferred [7] ______ to remain beyond British rule. [8] ______ Most are still unwilling to cut these old ties, chiefly for financial reasons. Since 1990, Britain has provided its dependencies with ￡ 153 million in aid, and for many this money is a lifeline. Even Britain’s rich [9] ______ territory, Bermuda, wants to maintain its links with the UK. In a referendum in 1995 voters overwhelmingly rejected dependence. [10] ______ Bermuda is Britain’s oldest colony and it earns much of its income through banking and other financial services.