Colonial empire

Quick Facts: Who was Colonial empire?

Subject:

Colonial empire

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A state engaging in colonization, establishing or maintaining overseas territories.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

A colonial empire is a state engaging in colonization, and possibly establishing or maintaining colonies, infused with some form of coloniality and colonialism. Before the expansion of early modern European powers, other empires had conquered and colonized territories, such as the Roman Empire in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. 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. 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.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

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 Spaniards 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. This paradigm shifted by the time of the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, and Roman Empires. The European countries of the modern era that are most remembered as colonial empires are the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy and sometimes Russia with Sweden. Portugal began establishing the first global trade network and one of the first colonial empires under the leadership of Henry the Navigator.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

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. 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.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1479: 1479 Milestone — Agreements were also made to divide the world up between them in 1479, 1493, and 1494.
2. 1580: 1580 Milestone — 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.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Colonial empire

True or False: “The initial impulse behind all early modern European maritime empires was purely scientific exploration and knowledge acquisition.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): The primary initial impulse for these dispersed maritime empires was trade, driven by the new ideas and capitalism emerging from the European Renaissance.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Antonello da Messina — Historical peer (Died in 1479) (1479): Master Italian painter known for introducing Netherlandish oil techniques to the Renaissance.
• Diego Columbus — Historical peer (Born in 1479) (1479): Spanish explorer and second admiral of the Indies, son of Christopher Columbus.
• Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor — Historical peer (Died in 1493) (1493): Holy Roman Emperor and fourth King of the Romans from the House of Habsburg.
• Martín Alonso Pinzón — Historical peer (Died in 1493) (1493): Spanish mariner and explorer, pivotal figure in the voyages to the New World.
• Domenico Ghirlandaio — Historical peer (Died in 1494) (1494): Master Florentine Renaissance painter known for vivid portraiture in religious scenes.
• François Rabelais — Historical peer (Born in 1494) (1494): Pioneering French Renaissance humanist, satirist, and scholar of the Gargantua cycle.
• Andrea Palladio — Historical peer (Died in 1580) (1580): Master Renaissance architect whose villas defined the Palladian style.
• Bessho Nagaharu — Historical peer (Died in 1580) (1580): A Sengoku period daimyō who initially allied with the Oda before revolting against Hideyoshi.
• Aphra Behn — Historical peer (Born in 1640) (1640): Pioneering English writer, poet, and spy of the Restoration era.
• Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland — Historical peer (Born in 1640) (1640): Notorious English royal mistress and Duchess of Cleveland, famed for her connection to Charles II.

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