Did Britain benefit from her empire in the eighteenth century?

To what extent did Britain benefit from her empire in the eighteenth century? Britain's impact upon the world and the importance of her overseas involvements in the eighteenth century was at least as significant as in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the ages normally taken as the epitome of British imperialism. The eighteenth century saw Britain at near constant war with France, and the role of the empire in providing the revenues that could …

…British advantage for centuries to follow, and indeed still does. The empire in the eighteenth century was most significant in that it not only delivered immediate benefits in the form of markets for British goods and sources of new raw materials, but also that it formed the basis for even greater advances in the next century, when the empire would expand to a size never before or since witnessed in the course of modern history.