The European Colonial Empires

The Spanish EmpireRed is a area under control of Spain until 1828

Spain

One of the first global empires, Spain became a unified monarchy, the same year that Columbus set sail through the Atlantic ocean.

Spain held territories in Europe, America, Asia, and Oceania.

In the 15th and 17th centuries, known as the age of exploration, Spain ,as well as many other European countries, began to expand westward taking over lands that belonged to other empires, like the Mexica empire in Mexico.

Mexica Empire

The Mexica, often referred to as the Aztecs, were the dominant ethnic groups in Mesoamerica between the 14th and 16th centuries.

The Mexica Empire was and alliance between the three city states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.

The Spaniards, along with allies from indigenous tribes, conquered the capital of the Mexica empire, Tenochtitlan, in 1521, ending the last empire of Mesoamerica.

The Inca Empire

The Inca Empire, or Tawantinsuyu as they were known in their own language, were an ethnic group that controlled a large portion of western South America.

They began as fairly small tribe in their future capital of Cusco in the 12th century and began to expand in the early/mid 15th century with the conquering of the area surrounding the Andes Mountain..

In 1532, having received the approval of the queen of Spain to conquer the Incas, Francisco Pizarro began his conquest, a job made easier because of the tactical superiority of the Spaniards and the weakened state of the empire.

The Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire, which lasted for 6 centuries, was the first global European empire.

Between 1580 and 1640, Portugal and Spain were joined, but ruled separately. Since the empire were now on, it became subject to attacks from three other European empires.

The Portuguese empire finally collapsed with the transfer of Macau’s sovereignty to China on December 20, 1999

Colonial Brazil

From 1500 to 1815, brazil was under the control of the Portuguese.

Brazil was declared independent of the Portuguese empire in 1822, as a consequence of the Liberal Revolution of 1820.

Brazil was an important economic source because of brazilwood, later sugar, and eventually gold.

Unlike the Spanish territories to the north, the former Portuguese colony kept all the territory it had before it gained its independence.

The English Empire

England

At the height of its power, the English empire was the largest of all the European Empires that existed at the time.

It was once said that “the sun never sets on the English empire” because of the sheer size of the empire ensured that the sun was out on at least one of the many areas under its control.

In 1997, the English empire gave up Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China “ending the empire”

The French Empire

France

The French Empire, at the height of its power, was the second most powerful empire, behind the English Empire.

Due to the empire’s power, French has become a widely spoken language, despite not keeping many colonial territories.

The French were unable to keep many colonies because of the, more powerful, Spanish and English empires.

The French in North America

Despite owning a large portion of the land in America, France was unable to keep too many colonies under their power because of the monopolies held by other empires.

Until 1605, France had not yet become a major colonial empire. Port Royal, in Acadia, what is now Canada.

The French empire began to fall apart during WWII, when other nations occupied areas under French control. Later conflicts with French and foreign territories would help end French control of their colonies.

The Dutch and New Netherland

New Netherland (1609-1667), as well as New Sweden, was established by the Dutch and was able to survive so long because of the neglect of the area by the English.

The English king, King Charles II, later saw this area as important in increasing the wealth of the crown, and at the same time decreasing the power of the Dutch empire.

The areas that were once part of New Netherland are now parts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut.

The capital was New Amsterdam, shown on the map as being on the southern tip of New York, would later be known as New York city