If I'm not mistaken they were let go long after the industrial revolution, which changed the calculus around colonies. Pre-industrial economies expanded by terr

If I'm not mistaken they were let go long after the industrial revolution, which changed the calculus around colonies. Pre-industrial economies expanded by territory, to over simplify. Additionally, when the crown let the colonies go did it lose its business interests or did it still retain control of them? How much capture still exists?