colonial empires
Overseas territorial holdings
Colonial empires are nations that extend their power by establishing control over distant territories, extracting resources and labor while imposing their political systems, languages, and cultures on indigenous populations.
The term typically refers to European powers—Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium—that dominated much of Africa, Asia, and the Americas from the 16th through mid-20th centuries.
The colonial empires collapsed after World War II as independence movements swept the globe.
- mercantilismTrade policy favoring exports
- viceroysRoyal deputies abroad
- neocolonialismIndirect foreign domination
- missionary activityReligious conversion efforts
- triangular tradeThree-legged Atlantic exchange system
slave trade · trading posts · religious conversion · native populations · cash crops · rubber plantations · protectorates · silver mining · spice trade · mandates · Bandung Conference · white man's burden · Raj · divide and rule · mother country · Opium Wars · scramble for Africa · education systems
- colonialismprotectorate, settlers, occupier, mother country, direct rule
- Atlantic tradetriangle trade, Atlantic slave trade, slave ships, trade winds, Atlantic crossings
colonial empiressovereign nations
Self-ruling states with autonomy
self-determination · national independence · home rule · indigenous sovereignty · nation-states
colonial empiresdecolonization
Ending imperial control
independence movements · national liberation · post-colonialism · self-rule · colonial independence
colonial, empires, colony, colonies, colonize, colonized, colonizing, colonization, colonizer