My main thesis is that you can't dive in with C21 ideals about something that happened 300 years ago! Its not just hopelessly complex, it's a different world.

Britain is not now the same Britain it was then. Back then Britain included Ireland in total, along with a shed load of extra bits, way bigger than these islands. It was a full on Empire where the map of the world had a lot of pink on it. A lot of pink.