A colonial empire is a collective of territories (often called colonies), either contiguous with the imperial center or located overseas, settled by the population of a certain state and governed by that state.
Before the expansion of early modern European powers, other empires had conquered and colonized territories, such as the Romans in Iberia, or the Chinese in what is now southern China.
Modern colonial empires first emerged with a race of exploration between the then most advanced European maritime powers, Portugal and Spain, during the 15th century.Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "kolonie [geschiedenis]. §1.2 De moderne koloniale expansie".
Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.
The initial impulse behind these dispersed maritime empires and those that followed was trade, driven by the new ideas and the capitalism that grew out of the European Renaissance.
Agreements were also made to divide the world up between them in 1479, 1493, and 1494.
European imperialism was born out of competition between European Christians and Ottoman Muslims, the latter of which rose up quickly in the 14th century and forced the Spanish and Portuguese to seek new trade routes to India, and to a lesser extent, China.
Although colonies existed in classical antiquity, especially amongst the Phoenicians and the Ancient Greeks who settled many islands and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, these colonies were politically independent from the city-states they originated from, and thus did not constitute a colonial empire.Encarta, s.v. "kolonie [geschiedenis].
§1.1 Oudheid.
This paradigm shifted by the time of the Ptolemaic Empire, the Seleucid Empire, and the Roman Empire.
History
European colonial empires
Portugal began establishing the first global trade network and one of the first colonial empiresPowell, Philip Wayne ([1991?]).
Árbol de odio: la leyenda negra y sus consecuencias en las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y el mundo hispánico.
Ediciones Iris de Paz. .
OCLC 55157841 under the leadership of Henry the Navigator.
The empire spread throughout a vast number of territories distributed across the globe (especially at one time in the 16th century) that are now parts of 60 different sovereign states.
Portugal would eventually control Brazil, territories such as what is now Uruguay and some fishing ports in north, in the Americas; Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea, and São Tomé and Príncipe (among other territories and bases) in the North and the Subsaharan Africa; cities, forts or territories in all the Asian Subcontinents, as Muscat, Ormus and Bahrain (amongst other bases) in the Persian Gulf; Goa, Bombay and Daman and Diu (amongst other coastal cities) in India; Portuguese Ceylon; Malacca, bases in Southeast Asia and Oceania, as Makassar, Solor, Banda, Ambon and others in the Moluccas, Portuguese Timor; and the granted entrepôt-base of Macau and the entrepôt-enclave of Dejima (Nagasaki) in East Asia, amongst other smaller or short-lived possessions.
thumb|center|upright=3.4|
During its Siglo de Oro, the Spanish Empire had possession of Mexico, South America, the Philippines, all of southern Italy, a stretch of territories from the Duchy of Milan to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium, parts of Burgundy, and many colonial settlements in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
Possessions in Europe, Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Americas, the Pacific Ocean, and East Asia qualified the Spanish Empire as attaining a global presence.
From 1580 to 1640 the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire were conjoined in a personal union of its Habsburg monarchs during the period of the Iberian Union, but beneath the highest level of government, their separate administrations were maintained.
Subsequent colonial empires included the French, English, Dutch and Japanese empires.
By the mid-17th century, the Tsardom of Russia, continued later as the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, became the largest contiguous state in the world, and the modern Russian Federation continues to be so to this day.
Russia today has nine time zones, stretching across about half of the world's longitude.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, by virtue of its technological and maritime supremacy, the British Empire steadily expanded to become by far the largest empire in history; at its height ruling over a quarter of the Earth’s land area and 24% of the population.
Britain’s role as a global hegemon during this time ushered in a century of “British Peace”, lasting from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the start of WW1.
During the New Imperialism, Italy and Germany also built their colonial empires in Africa.
It is worth noting that, from the 16th to 19th century, there were also large non-European empires, most notably the Qing Empire of China, which conquered a huge area of East and Inner Asia, and the states of the Age of the Islamic Gunpowders, Mughal India, the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor and Southwest Europe, and Safavid Iran.
The British replaced the Mughals in India, and after the Boxer Rebellion in 1901, Imperial China made concessions to the Eight-Nation Alliance (all the Great Powers of the time).
By the end of the 20th century most of the previous colonial empires had been decolonized, though the modern nation-states of Russia and China inherited much of the territory of the Romanov and Qing empires, respectively.
Timeline
The chart below shows the span of some European colonial empires.
Black lines mark the year of the empires largest territorial extent of land area.
Red represents that the empire is at that time a monarchy.
Blue represents that the empire is at that time a republic.
ImageSize  = width:750 height:450 PlotArea   = width:650  height:350 left:50 bottom:50
DateFormat = yyyy Period     = from:1400 till:2000 TimeAxis   = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:1400
# there is no automatic collision detection, # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap
Colors=   id:red  value:red
Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar Define $dy = -5 # adjust height
PlotData=   bar:Belgian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1885  till:1962 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1928 mark: (line,black)
bar:British color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1707  till:1997 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1920 mark: (line,black)
bar:Danish color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1536  till:1953 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1810 mark: (line,black)
bar:Dutch color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1602  till:1806 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   from:1806  till:1975 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1806 mark: (line,red)   at:1930 mark: (line,black)
bar:English color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1585  till:1649 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1649  till:1660 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   from:1660  till:1707 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red     at:1649 mark: (line,blue)   at:1660 mark: (line,red)   at:1707 mark: (line,black)
bar:French color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1534  till:1792 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1792  till:1814 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   from:1814  till:1870 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1870  till:1980 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   at:1792 mark: (line,blue)   at:1814 mark: (line,red)   at:1870 mark: (line,blue)   at:1920 mark: (line,black)
bar:German color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1884  till:1918 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1912 mark: (line,black)
bar:Italian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1885  till:1946 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1946  till:1960 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   at:1946 mark: (line,blue)   at:1939 mark: (line,black)
bar:Portuguese color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1415  till:1999 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1910  till:1999 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   at:1910 mark: (line,blue)   at:1815 mark: (line,black)
bar:Russian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1721  till:1917 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1895 mark: (line,black)
bar:Spanish color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1492  till:1931 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1931  till:1947 shift:($dx,-2)    color:blue   from:1947  till:1975 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1873 mark: (line,blue)   at:1874 mark: (line,blue)   at:1931 mark: (line,blue)   at:1810 mark: (line,black)   at:1947 mark: (line,blue)
bar:Swedish color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7   from:1638  till:1663 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   from:1784  till:1878 shift:($dx,-2)    color:red   at:1658 mark: (line,black)
List of colonial empires
:
Belgian Empire (1843–1962)
Ostend Company: Covelong and Ichapore, Bengal (1722-1731).
Santo Tomás de Castilla, Guatemala (1843-1854).
Nunez River, Guinea (1848-1858).
21x21px Congo Free State (1885–1908) and 21x21px Belgian Congo (1908–1960)
21x21px Ruanda-Urundi (1922–1962)
Belgian Concession of Tientsin (1902–1931)
British Empire (1707–1997/present)
Evolution of the British Empire
Possessions in Europe
British Cyprus
British Malta
British Ireland
Possessions in Africa
20px British Somaliland (1884–1960)
British Egypt (1914–1936)
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956)
20px East Africa Protectorate (1895–1920)
20px Kenya Colony (1920–1963)
20px Uganda Protectorate (1894–1962)
20px Tanganyika (territory) (1922–1961)
20px Protectorate of Nyasaland (1893–1964)
20px Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia (1924–1964)
20px Colony of Southern Rhodesia (1923–1965), (1979–1980)
Bechuanaland Protectorate (1885-1966)
20px British Nigeria (1914–1954)
20px British Gold Coast (1867–1957)
20px British Sierra Leone (1808–1961)
20px British Gambia (1821–1965)
Possessions in the Americas
Thirteen Colonies
British West Indies
Bahamas
Barbados
Bermuda
20px British Leeward Islands (1671–1816),(1833–1958)
20px British Windward Islands (1833–1960)
Cayman Islands
20px Colony of Jamaica (1655–1962)
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
20px British Honduras (1862–1981)
20px British Guiana (1814–1966)
20px Mosquito Coast (1638-1860)
Possessions in the Indian subcontinent
20px East India Company (1757-1858) and 20px British Raj (1858-1947)
20px Kingdom of Bhutan, protectorate (1865-1947)
20px Emirate of Afghanistan, protectorate (1879-1919)
Possessions in China
20px British Hong Kong (1841–1997)
20px British Weihaiwei (1898–1930)British Concession in Tienstin (1860–1943)
Possessions in the Middle East
20px Trucial States (1820–1971)
British Bahrain
British Qatar (1916–1971)
British Iraq (1920–1932)
Emirate of Transjordan (1921–1946)
Mandatory Palestine (1920–1948)
Sheikhdom of Kuwait (1899–1961)
Aden Protectorate (1872–1963)
20px Muscat and Oman (1892-1970)
Possessions in Southeast Asia
British Bencoolen
British Malaya
British Borneo
Dominions of the United Kingdom
Canada
Dominion of Newfoundland
States and territories of Australia (1901–present)
The Australia, itself a colony that gradually increased its independence in 1901, 1942 and 1986, was tasked with the government of multiple other British colonies and territories and the mandates of New Guinea and Nauru
Realm of New Zealand (1907–present)
The New Zealand, itself a colony that gradually increased its independence in 1907, 1947 and 1986, was tasked with the government of multiple other British colonies and territories and the mandate of Samoa.
It was also nominal co-trustee of the mandate of Nauru.
The remaining non-self-governing New Zealand territory is Tokelau.
Mandates under South African administration (1915–1990)
The South-West Africa mandate was governed by the Union Of South Africa, that itself a colony that gradually increased its independence in 1910, 1931 and 1961.
Danish Empire (1620–1979/present)
Danish India (1620–1869)
Danish Gold Coast (1658–1850)
Danish colonization of the Americas:
Danish West Indies (1754–1917)
Greenland (1814–1979)
Dutch Empire (1602–1975/Present)
Dutch colonization of the Americas.
24x24px Dutch West India Company
border|27x27pxNew Netherland
29x29pxDutch Guyana/Surinam
27x27px Dutch Brazil
28x28px Dutch Caribbean
27x27px Dutch East India Company
Dutch India
Dutch East Indies
25x25px Netherlands New Guinea
27x27pxDutch Cape Colony (1652–1806)
27x27pxDutch Formosa (1624–1662)
English colonial empire (1585–1707)
French colonial Empire (1534–1980/present)
French colonization of the Americas:
New France (1534–1763)
French West Indies (1635–today)
Asia:
French India (1664–1962)
French Indochina (1887–1954)
French Concessions in Shanghai and Tientsin
French Guangzhouwan
Africa:
French North Africa (1830–1934)
French Somaliland (1883–1967)
French West Africa (1895–1958)
French Madagascar (1897–1958)
French Comoros (1908–1968)
French Equatorial Africa (1910–1958)
Oceania:
New Hebrides (1906–1980)
German Empire (1884–1920)
23px Kamerun (1884–1918)
23px Togoland (1884–1916)
23px German South West Africa (1884–1919)
23px German New Guinea (1884–1919)
23px German East Africa (1885–1919)
23px German Samoa (1900–1920)
German Concession in Tientsin
German Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory
German tsingtao
Italian Empire (1882–1960)
21x21px Eritrea (1882–1947)
21x21px Somaliland (1889–1947, 1950-1960 as Italian Trust Territory of Somaliland)
21x21px Ethiopia (1936-1941)
21x21px Italian East Africa (formed by merging Eritrea, Somaliland and Ethiopia: 1936–1947)
21x21px Cyrenaica (1912–1947)
21x21px Tripolitania (1912–1947)
21x21px Libya (formed by merging Cyrenaica and Tripolitania in 1934.
It dissolved in 1947.
It also included the Southern Military Territory of Fezzan)
21x21px Italian Islands of the Aegean (1912–1947)
Italian Albania (1939-1943)
Italian France (1940-1943)
Italian Montenegro (1941-1943)
Italian concession of Tientsin (1901-1947)
Ottoman Empire (1354-1908)
Protectorate of Aceh (1496–1903)
Regency of Algiers (1516-1830)
Kashgaria  (1865-1877)
Ottoman Syria (1517-1918)
Ottoman Iraq (1538-1918)
Ottoman Arabia (1517-1919)
Ottoman Greece (1453-1830)
Ottoman Egypt (1517-1914)
Ottoman Tripolitania (1551-1912)
Ottoman Tunisia (1574-1881)
Sheikhdom of Kuwait (1560-1670,1752-1899)
21x21px Emirate of Nejd (1818-1824)
Portuguese Empire (1415–1999)
Evolution of the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese colonization of the Americas
Colonial Brazil (1500–1815)
Portuguese India (1505–1961)
Portuguese Ceylon (1598-1658)
Portuguese Timor (1702–1975)
Portuguese Malacca (1511–1641)
Portuguese Macau (1557–1999)
Portuguese Nagasaki (1580-1587)
Portuguese Oman (1507-1656)
Portuguese Africa
Portuguese East Africa (1498–1975)
Portuguese West Africa (1575–1975)
Portuguese Guinea (1474–1974)
Portuguese Cape Verde (1462–1975)
Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe (1470–1975)
Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá (1721-1961)
Portuguese Gold Coast (1482-1642)
Russian Empire (1721–1917)
Russian conquest of Siberia
Russian colonization of the Americas:
26x26px Russian America (1733–1867)
24x24px Sagallo (1889)
Transcaucasia
Russian Port Arthur
Russian concession in Tientsin
Spanish Empire (1492–1825/1898)
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Viceroyalty of New Spain
Viceroyalty of Peru
Viceroyalty of New Granada
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
Spanish East Indies (1565–1898)part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain before 1821.
21x21px Spanish Guinea (1778–1968).part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata before 1810.
21x21px Spanish Sahara (1884–1975)
Spanish protectorate in Morocco (1912–1956)
28x28px Ifni (1476-1524/1859-1969).
Swedish Empire (1638–1663, 1733, 1784–1878)
Swedish colonies in the Americas
New Sweden (1638–1655)
23px Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy (1784–1878)
Guadeloupe (1813-1814)
23px Swedish Gold Coast (1650–1658, 1660–1663)
Parangipettai (1733)
Swedish Factory, Canton Factories (1757-1860)
:
Japanese Empire (1868–1945)
Ezo as Hokkaido (1869-present)
Ryukyu as Okinawa Prefecture (1879-1945 & 1972-present)Gregory Smits (1999).
Visions of Ryukyu:  Early-Modern Thought and Politics.
Honolulu:  University of Hawai'i Press, 143–149·
21x21px Taiwan (1895–1945)
21x21px Karafuto Prefecture (1905–1949)
21x21px Korea (1910–1945)
21x21px South Seas Mandate (1919–1947)
21x21px Manchukuo (1932–1945)
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (1932–1945)
:
Wales
Y Wladfa
United States of America (1817–present)
United States territorial acquisitions
American Colonization Society
Colony of Liberia (1821-1847)
American imperialism
American concession in Tientsin
Colonies of the  Habsburg Monarchy and the  Austro-Hungarian Empire (1719–1750, 1778–1783, 1901–1917)
Austrian colonial policy
Austrian colonisation of Nicobar Islands
Austrian East India Company
Tianjin
Móric Benyovszky (1774-1779)
Franz Josef Land
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (a vassal of the 23x23px Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1637–1690)
Couronian colonization
Couronian colonization of the Americas
Jaxa (1665-1685)
Toco (1688-1689)
Colonization attempts by Poland
German colonial initiatives (1683–1721)
Colonies of 22x22px Brandenburg-Prussia (1683–1721)Part of the Holy Roman Empire realm before 1804.
Colonies of 23x23px County of Hanaupart of the Holy Roman Empire before 1736
German colonization of the Americas
Italy and the colonization of the Americas
23px Grand Duchy of Tuscany: Thornton expedition (1608–1609)
23x23px Kingdom of Sicily :  Kingdom of Africa (1135-1160)
border|frameless|23x23px Knights Hospitaller (Malta, a vassal of the 19x19px Kingdom of Sicily): Hospitaller colonization of the Americas
Kingdom of Scotland  (1621–1707)
Scottish colonization of the Americas
Norway
List of possessions of Norway (1920–present)
Norway Antarctic and sub-Antarctic possessions (1927–1957)The dependencies of Norway are uninhabited, thus as end date is taken the latest date of full Norwegian sovereignty extension to such territory, instead of the date of decolonization or integration in the administrative structures of the mainland.
Bouvet Island claimed in 1927, under Norway sovereignty since 1930.
<br />Peter I Island claimed in 1929, under Norway sovereignty since 1933.
<br />Queen Maud Land claimed in 1938, under Norway sovereignty since 1957.
<br />Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land fall under the scope of the Antarctic Treaty System since 1961.
22x22px Sweden-Norway (1814-1905)
Cooper Island (1844-1905)
Chiang Hung (1886-1905)
Kingdom of Morocco (1975–present)
Southern Provinces
border|frameless|22x22px Omani Empire (1652–1892)
Yaruba dynasty (1624-1742)
Sultanate of Muscat (1652-1820)
Sultanate of Zanzibar (taken by Oman in 1698, became capital of the Omani Sultanate or Empire from 1632 or 1640; until 1890)
Mombasa (1698-1728, 1729–1744, 1837–1890)
Gwadar (1783-1958)
Tsardom of Russia, Russian Empire, , and  Russian Federation (1547–1721) (1721-1917) (1917–1991) (1991-present)
Russian Colonialism
Soviet Empire
Russian conquest of Siberia
Soviet Central Asia
Chinese Empire (from Qin dynasty to  Qing dynasty),  Republic of China, and  People's Republic of China (221 BC- Present)
Chinese imperialism
Imperial Chinese Tributary System
Guangxi
Korea
Canghai Commandery(A commandery that self subjugated to Han dynasty from Dongye)
Four Commanderies of Han(Established after the fall of Gojoseon)
Daifang Commandery(Offshoot of the former four commanderies of Han that existed in the 3rd to 4th century)
Colonization attempts of the Tang dynasty after Unification of the three kingdoms of Korea(Gyerim Territory Area Command,Protectorate General to Pacify the East and Ungjin Commandery)
Dongnyeong Prefectures,Ssangseong Prefectures and Tamna prefectures(Yuan dynasty)
Hainan (since the Han dynasty)
Nansha Islands
Xisha Islands
Manchuria (during the Tang, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties)
Inner Manchuria
Outer Manchuria
Kuye Island
Inner Mongolia
Outer Mongolia (during the Tang, Liao, Yuan, Northern Yuan, and Qing dynasties)
Tannu Uriankhai
Taiwan (during the Qing dynasty)
Tibet (during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties)
Yunnan
Vietnam (during the Han, Xin, Eastern Wu, Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Sui, Tang, Wu Zhou, Southern Han, and Ming dynasties)
Xinjiang
Central Asia (during the Tang, Western Liao, and Qing dynasties)
Kingdom of Siam
Kingdom of Vientiane (1778–1828)
Kingdom of Luang Prabang (1778–1893)
Kingdom of Champasak (1778–1893)
Kingdom of Cambodia (1771–1867)
Kedah (1821–1826)
Tierra del Fuego
Patagonia
Falkland Islands (1829–1831, 1832–1833, 1982)
Argentine Antarctica
Misiones
Formosa
Puna de Atacama
California (1818)
Philippines (1818)
Equatorial Guinea (1810-1816)
Gonaïves, Haiti
,
Cisplatina
Acre
Maps
European:
File:Belgian colonial empire.png|Belgian Empire File:The British Empire.png|British Empire File:Denmark-Norway and possessions.png|Danish Empire File:DutchEmpire15.png|Dutch Empire File:English overseas possessions in 1700.png|English Empire File:EmpireFrench.png|French Empire File:German colonial.PNG|German Empire File:Italian Empire total.png|Italian Empire File:All areas of the world that were once part of the Portuguese Empire.png|Portuguese Empire File:The Russian Empire-en.svg|Russian Empire File:Map of the Spanish Empire.png|Spanish Empire File:Sveriges alla besittningar genom tiderna.png|Swedish Empire
Asian:
File:Japanese Empire (orthographic projection).svg|Japanese Empire File:Ottoman Empire 1800.jpg|Ottoman Empire
Other countries with colonial possessions:
File:Außengebiete der Vereinigten Staaten.png|Directly controlled territory of the United States at its greatest extent (1898–1902) File:Norway About 1265.png|Norwegian Realm File:AustrianColonies.png|Austro-Hungarian colonies and concessions throughout history File:Deutsche Kolonien.PNG|German colonial efforts File:Rajendra map new.svg|Chola Empire File:Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste 1740 locator.svg|Duchy of Courland and Semigallia File:Courland colonization Gambia.png|Couronian settlements in Africa File:Hospitaller colonization.png|Map of the Hospitaller order's territories in the Caribbean File:Trinidad and Tobago-CIA WFB Map.png|Couronian settlements in Americas (New Courland on Tobago) File:Corona aragonum 1441.svg| The Crown of Aragon File:Scottish Colonies in North America.png|Scottish colonization of the Americas File:
Map of Morocco and Western Sahara-fr.svg|Map of Morocco and Western Sahara with the Southern Provinces in a darker color.
==See also==
Analysis of Western European colonialism and colonization
Colonial troops
Democratic empire
Empire
Great Divergence
Hegemony
History of Western civilization
Imperialism
List of ancient great powers
List of largest empires
List of medieval great powers
List of modern great powers
Middle Eastern empires
Nomadic empire
The empire on which the sun never sets
Notes and references
External links
Visualizing western empires decline
Empire Category:Empires
