Shipping sure, but also simply the fact that a good part of the worlds population were part of the British empire. Wikipedia has 23% of the world population at

Shipping sure, but also simply the fact that a good part of the worlds population were part of the British empire. Wikipedia has 23% of the world population at 1913. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire