Editing Imperialism (section)

==Western imperialism by country==
[[File:Modern Empires - en.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Diachronic map of the main empires of the modern era (1492–1945)]]
{{See also|Western world}}
===Rome===
{{Main|Roman Empire}}
{{Expand section|date=April 2021}}
[[Image:Roman Empire Map.png|thumb|250px|Provinces of the [[Roman Empire]] around 117 AD]]
The Roman Empire was the post-[[Roman Republic|Republican]] period of [[ancient Rome]]. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, ruled by [[Roman emperor|emperors]].

===Belgium===
{{Main|Belgian Empire}}
{{Expand section|date=April 2020}}

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Historiography of the British Empire|British Empire}}
[[File:Henry Singleton - The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultan - WGA21457.jpg|thumb|''[[The Last Effort and Fall of Tippoo Sultaun]]'' by [[Henry Singleton (painter)|Henry Singleton]], c.1800. [[Tipu Sultan|Tipu]], [[Kingdom of Mysore|Sultan of Mysore]], an ally of [[Napoleone Bonaparte]], confronted [[Presidency armies|British East India Company forces]] at the [[Siege of Seringapatam (1799)|Siege of Srirangapatna]], where he was killed.]]
[[File:Resa del bacino del Brandewater.jpg|thumb|The result of the [[Boer Wars]] was the annexation of the [[Boer Republics]] to the British Empire in 1902.]]

==== England ====

England's imperialist ambitions can be seen as early as the 16th century as the [[Tudor conquest of Ireland]] began in the 1530s. In 1599 the British [[East India Company]] was established and was chartered by Queen Elizabeth in the following year.<ref name="Painter & Jeffrey"/>{{Rp|174}} With the establishment of trading posts in India, the British were able to maintain strength relative to other empires such as the Portuguese who already had set up trading posts in India.<ref name="Painter & Jeffrey"/>{{Rp|174}}

==== Scotland ====

Between 1621 and 1699, the [[Kingdom of Scotland]] authorised [[Scottish colonization of the Americas|several colonies in the Americas]]. Most of these colonies were either closed down or collapsed quickly for various reasons.

==== United Kingdom ====

Under the [[Acts of Union 1707]], the English and Scottish kingdoms were merged, and their colonies collectively became subject to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] (also known as the United Kingdom). The empire Great Britain would go on to found was the largest empire that the world has ever seen both in terms of landmass and population. Its power, both military and economic, remained unmatched for a few decades.

In 1767, the [[Anglo-Mysore Wars]] and other political activity caused exploitation of the East India Company causing the plundering of the local economy, almost bringing the company into bankruptcy.<ref name="ReferenceC">"British Empire" British Empire | historical state, United Kingdom | Encyclopædia Britannica Online</ref> By the year 1670 Britain's imperialist ambitions were well off as she had colonies in Virginia, Massachusetts, Bermuda, [[Honduras]], [[Antigua]], [[Barbados]], [[Jamaica]] and [[Nova Scotia]].<ref name="ReferenceC"/>
Due to the vast imperialist ambitions of European countries, Britain had several clashes with France. This competition was evident in the colonization of what is now known as Canada. [[John Cabot]] claimed Newfoundland for the British while the French established colonies along the St. Lawrence River and claiming it as "New France".<ref>{{Cite web |title=New France (1608–1763) |url=http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/pioneers/pioneers3_e.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008091712/http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/pioneers/pioneers3_e.html |archive-date=October 8, 2014 |access-date=February 3, 2015 |website=Canada in the Making}}</ref> Britain continued to expand by colonizing countries such as New Zealand and Australia, both of which were not empty land as they had their own locals and cultures.<ref name="Painter & Jeffrey"/>{{Rp|175}} Britain's nationalistic movements were evident with the creation of the commonwealth countries where there was a shared nature of national identity.<ref name="Painter & Jeffrey"/>{{Rp|147}}

Following the [[proto-industrialization]], the "First" [[British Empire#"First" British Empire (1707–1783)|British Empire]] was based on [[mercantilism]], and involved colonies and holdings primarily in North America, the Caribbean, and India. Its growth was reversed by the loss of the American colonies in 1776. Britain made compensating gains in India, Australia, and in constructing an informal economic empire through control of trade and finance in Latin America after the independence of Spanish and Portuguese colonies in about 1820.<ref>Piers Brendon, ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781–1997'' (2008) p. 61</ref> By the 1840s, the United Kingdom had adopted a highly successful policy of [[Economic history of the United Kingdom#19th century|free trade]] that gave it dominance in the trade of much of the world.<ref>Lawrence James, ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997) pp. 169–83</ref> After losing its first Empire to the Americans, Britain then turned its attention towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Following the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1815, the United Kingdom enjoyed a century of almost unchallenged dominance and expanded its imperial holdings around the globe. [[Royal Navy#1815–1914|Unchallenged at sea]], British dominance was later described as ''[[Pax Britannica]]'' ("British Peace"), a period of relative peace in Europe and the world (1815–1914) during which the British Empire became the global [[hegemon]] and adopted the role of global policeman. However, this peace was mostly a perceived one from Europe, and the period was still an almost uninterrupted series of colonial wars and disputes. The [[British Raj|British Conquest of India]], its intervention against [[Mehemet Ali]], the [[Anglo-Burmese Wars]], the [[Crimean War]], the [[Opium Wars]] and the [[Scramble for Africa]] to name the most notable conflicts mobilised ample military means to press Britain's lead in the global conquest Europe led across the century.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Johnston |first1=Douglas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVuwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA508 |title=The Historical Foundations of World Order |last2=Reisman |first2=W. Michael |date=2008 |isbn=978-9047423935 |pages=508–510|publisher=BRILL }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">[[#refOHBEv3|Porter]], p.&nbsp;332.</ref><ref>Sondhaus, L. (2004). ''Navies in Modern World History''. London: Reaktion Books. p. 9. {{ISBN|1-86189-202-0}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC |title=The Nineteenth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume III |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-924678-6 |page=332 |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref=refOHBEv3}}</ref>

In the early 19th century, the [[Industrial Revolution]] began to transform Britain; by the time of [[the Great Exhibition]] in 1851 the country was described as the "workshop of the world".<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The Workshop of the World |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/workshop_of_the_world_01.shtml |magazine=BBC History |access-date=28 April 2013}}</ref> The British Empire expanded to include [[British Raj|India]], large [[British Empire#Cape to Cairo|parts of Africa]] and many other territories throughout the world. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, British dominance of much of world trade meant that it effectively [[Informal Empire|controlled the economies of many regions]], such as Asia and Latin America.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oo3F2X8IDeEC |title=The Nineteenth Century, The Oxford History of the British Empire Volume III |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-924678-6 |page=8 |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref=refOHBEv3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=P.J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2EXN8JTwAEC |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-00254-7 |pages=156–57 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |ref=refMarshall}}</ref> Domestically, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies and a gradual widening of the voting franchise. During this century, the population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tompson |first=Richard S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5kcJqmXk2oC&pg=PA63 |title=Great Britain: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8160-4474-0 |page=63|publisher=Infobase }}</ref> To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] under [[Disraeli]] launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, and elsewhere. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hosch, William L. |title=World War I: People, Politics, and Power |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-61530-048-8 |series=America at War |page=21}}</ref><ref>James, ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997) pp. 307–18</ref>
[[File:British Empire 1921.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of the British Empire at its territorial peak in 1921]]
A resurgence came in the late 19th century with the [[Scramble for Africa]] and major additions in Asia and the Middle East. The British spirit of imperialism was expressed by [[Joseph Chamberlain]] and [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery|Lord Rosebury]], and implemented in Africa by [[Cecil Rhodes]]. The pseudo-sciences of Social Darwinism and theories of race formed an ideological underpinning and legitimation during this time. Other influential spokesmen included [[Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer|Lord Cromer]], [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]], [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|General Kitchener]], [[Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner|Lord Milner]], and the writer [[Rudyard Kipling]].<ref>William L. Langer, ''The Diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902'' (2nd ed. 1950) pp. 67–100</ref> After the [[First Boer War]], the [[South African Republic]] and [[Orange Free State]] were recognised by the United Kingdom but eventually re-annexed after the [[Second Boer War]]. But British power was fading, as the reunited [[Germany|German state founded by the Kingdom of Prussia]] posed a growing threat to Britain's dominance. As of 1913, the United Kingdom was the world's fourth economy, behind the U.S., Russia and Germany.

[[Irish War of Independence]] in 1919–1921 led to the сreation of the Irish Free State. But the United Kingdom gained control of former German and Ottoman colonies with the [[League of Nations mandate]]. The United Kingdom now had a practically continuous line of controlled territories from Egypt to Burma and another one from Cairo to Cape Town. However, this period was also one of emergence of independence movements based on nationalism and new experiences the colonists had gained in the war.

[[World War II]] decisively weakened Britain's position in the world, especially financially. [[Decolonization]] movements arose nearly everywhere in the Empire, resulting in [[Indian independence movement|Indian independence and partition]] in 1947, the self-governing dominions break away from the empire in 1949, and the establishment of independent states in the 1950s. British imperialism showed its frailty in Egypt during the [[Suez Crisis]] in 1956. However, with the United States and Soviet Union emerging from World War II as the sole superpowers, Britain's role as a worldwide power declined significantly and rapidly.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Darwin |first=John |title=Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml |access-date=13 April 2017 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

=== Canada ===
In Canada, the "imperialism" (and the related term "colonialism") has had a variety of contradictory meanings since the 19th century. In the late 19th and early 20th, to be an "imperialist" meant thinking of Canada as a part of the [[British national identity|British nation]] not a separate nation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Carl |title=The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism, 1867–1914 |year=1970 |pages=passim |author-link=Carl Berger (historian)}}</ref> The older words for the same concepts were "[[loyalism]]" or "[[Unionism in the United Kingdom|unionism]]", which continued to be used as well. In mid-twentieth century Canada, the words "imperialism" and "colonialism" were used in English Canadian discourse to instead portray [[Victim mentality|Canada as a victim]] of [[Americanization|economic and cultural penetration by the United States]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Granatstein |first=J. L. |title=Yankee Go Home?: Canadians and anti-Americanism |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=1996 |pages=passim |author-link=J. L. Granatstein}}</ref> In twentieth century French-Canadian discourse the "imperialists" were all the [[Anglosphere|Anglo-Saxon countries]] including Canada who were oppressing [[Francophone Canadians|French-speakers]] and the [[Quebec|province of Quebec]]. By the early 21st century, "colonialism" was used to highlight supposed [[Anti-indigenous racism in Canada|anti-indigenous]] attitudes and actions of Canada inherited from the British period.

===Denmark===
{{Main|Danish overseas colonies}}
[[Denmark–Norway]] ([[Denmark]] after 1814) possessed overseas colonies from 1536 until 1953. At its apex there were colonies on four continents: Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. In the 17th century, following territorial losses on the [[Scandinavian Peninsula]], Denmark-Norway began to develop colonies, forts, and trading posts in West Africa, the [[Caribbean]], and the [[Indian subcontinent]]. [[Christian IV of Denmark|Christian IV]] first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark-Norway's overseas trade, as part of the [[mercantilist]] wave that was sweeping Europe. Denmark-Norway's first colony was established at [[Tranquebar]] on India's southern coast in 1620. Admiral [[Ove Gjedde]] led the expedition that established the colony. After 1814, when Norway was ceded to Sweden, Denmark retained what remained of Norway's [[Greater Norway|great medieval colonial holdings]]. One by one the smaller colonies were lost or sold. Tranquebar was sold to the British in 1845. The United States purchased the [[Danish West Indies]] in 1917. Iceland became independent in 1944. Today, the only remaining vestiges are two originally Norwegian colonies that are currently within the [[Danish Realm]], the [[Faroe Islands]] and [[Greenland]]; the Faroes were a Danish county until 1948, while Greenland's colonial status ceased in 1953. They are now autonomous territories.<ref>Prem Poddar and Lars Jensen, eds., ''A historical companion to postcolonial literatures'' (Edinburgh UP, 2008), "Denmark and its colonies" pp 58–105.
</ref>

===France===
{{Main|French colonial empire}}
[[File:French Empire 17th century-20th century.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue) French colonial empires]]
During the 16th century, the [[French colonization of the Americas]] began with the creation of [[New France]]. It was followed by [[French West India Company|French East India Company]]'s trading posts in Africa and Asia in the 17th century. France had its "First colonial empire" from 1534 until 1814, including [[New France]] ([[Canada (New France)|Canada]], [[Acadia]], [[Newfoundland]] and [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]]), [[French West Indies]] ([[Saint-Domingue]], Guadeloupe, [[Martinique]]), [[French Guiana]], [[Senegal]] ([[Gorée]]), [[Mascarene Islands]] ([[Mauritius Island]], Réunion) and [[French India]].

Its "Second colonial empire" began with the seizure of [[Algiers]] in 1830 and came for the most part to an end with the granting of independence to [[Algeria]] in 1962.<ref>Robert Aldrich, ''Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion'' (1996)</ref> The French imperial history was marked by numerous wars, large and small, and also by significant help to France itself from the colonials in the world wars.<ref>Anthony Clayton, ''The Wars of French Decolonization'' (1995)</ref> France took control of Algeria in 1830 but began in earnest to rebuild its worldwide empire after 1850, concentrating chiefly in North and West Africa ([[French North Africa]], [[French West Africa]], [[French Equatorial Africa]]), as well as South-East Asia ([[French Indochina]]), with other conquests in the South Pacific ([[New Caledonia]], [[French Polynesia]]). France also twice attempted to make Mexico a colony in 1838–39 and in 1861–67 (see [[Pastry War]] and [[Second French intervention in Mexico]]).

[[File:LaGuerreAMadagascar.jpg|thumb|upright=1|French poster about the "[[Franco-Hova Wars|Madagascar War]]"]]

French Republicans, at first hostile to empire, only became supportive when Germany started to build her own colonial empire. As it developed, the new empire took on roles of trade with France, supplying raw materials and purchasing manufactured items, as well as lending prestige to the motherland and spreading French civilization and language as well as Catholicism. It also provided crucial manpower in both World Wars.<ref>[[Winfried Baumgart]], ''Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion, 1880–1914'' (1982)</ref> It became a moral justification to lift the world up to French standards by bringing Christianity and French culture. In 1884 the leading exponent of colonialism, [[Jules Ferry]] declared France had a [[civilising mission]]: "The higher races have a right over the lower races, they have a duty to civilize the inferior".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Emmanuelle Jouannet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=docaDtxWPK8C&pg=PA142 |title=The Liberal-Welfarist Law of Nations: A History of International Law |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-107-01894-5 |page=142| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Full citizenship rights – ''assimilation'' – were offered, although in reality assimilation was always on the distant horizon.<ref>Raymond Betts, ''Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890–1914'' (2005)</ref> Contrasting from Britain, France sent small numbers of settlers to its colonies, with the only notable exception of Algeria, where French settlers nevertheless always remained a small minority.

The French colonial empire of extended over {{convert|11,500,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} at its height in the 1920s and had a population of 110 million people on the eve of World War II.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taagepera |first=R. |date=1997 |title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 |journal=International Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=475–504 |doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053 |issn=0020-8833}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Population en 2019 - Tableaux de séries longues − La situation démographique en 2019 {{!}} Insee |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/5390418?sommaire=5390468 |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=www.insee.fr}}</ref>

In World War II, [[Charles de Gaulle]] and the [[Free France|Free French]] used the overseas colonies as bases from which they fought to liberate France. However, after 1945 anti-colonial movements began to challenge the Empire. France fought and lost a bitter war in [[Vietnam]] in the 1950s. Whereas they won the war in Algeria, de Gaulle decided to grant Algeria independence anyway in 1962. French settlers and many local supporters relocated to France. Nearly all of France's colonies gained independence by 1960, but France retained great financial and diplomatic influence. It has repeatedly sent troops to assist its former colonies in Africa in suppressing insurrections and coups d'état.<ref>Tony Chafer, ''The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization?'' (2002)</ref>

====Education policy====
French colonial officials, influenced by the revolutionary ideal of equality, standardized schools, curricula, and teaching methods as much as possible. They did not establish colonial school systems with the idea of furthering the ambitions of the local people, but rather simply exported the systems and methods in vogue in the mother nation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clignet |first=Remi |year=1970 |title=Inadequacies of the Notion of Assimilation in African Education |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=425–444 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00019935 |jstor=158852|s2cid=145692910 }}</ref> Having a moderately trained lower bureaucracy was of great use to colonial officials.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ọlọruntimẹhin |first=B. Ọlatunji |year=1974 |title=Education for Colonial Dominance in French West Africa from 1900 to the Second World War |journal=Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=347–356 |jstor=41857017}}</ref> The emerging French-educated indigenous elite saw little value in educating rural peoples.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Genova |first=James E. |year=2004 |title=Conflicted Missionaries: Power and Identity in French West Africa During the 1930s |journal=The Historian |volume=66 |pages=45–66 |doi=10.1111/j.0018-2370.2004.00063.x |s2cid=143384173}}</ref> After 1946 the policy was to bring the best students to Paris for advanced training. The result was to immerse the next generation of leaders in the growing anti-colonial diaspora centered in Paris. Impressionistic colonials could mingle with studious scholars or radical revolutionaries or so everything in between. [[Ho Chi Minh#Political education in France|Ho Chi Minh]] and other young radicals in Paris formed the French Communist party in 1920.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rice |first=Louisa |year=2013 |title=Between empire and nation: Francophone West African students and decolonization |journal=Atlantic Studies |volume=10 |pages=131–147 |doi=10.1080/14788810.2013.764106 |s2cid=144542200}}</ref>

Tunisia was exceptional. The colony was administered by [[Paul Cambon]], who built an educational system for colonists and indigenous people alike that was closely modeled on mainland France. He emphasized female and vocational education. By independence, the quality of Tunisian education nearly equalled that in France.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Degorge |first=Barbara |year=2002 |title=The Modernization of Education: A Case Study of Tunisia and Morocco |url=https://www.academia.edu/33429271 |journal=The European Legacy |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=579–596 |doi=10.1080/1084877022000006780 |s2cid=146190465}}</ref>

African nationalists rejected such a public education system, which they perceived as an attempt to retard African development and maintain colonial superiority. One of the first demands of the emerging nationalist movement after World War II was the introduction of full metropolitan-style education in French West Africa with its promise of equality with Europeans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chafer |first=Tony |year=2001 |title=Teaching Africans to be French?: France's 'civilising mission' and the establishment of a public education system in French West Africa, 1903–30 |journal=Africa |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=190–209 |jstor=40761537 |pmid=18254200}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gardinier |first=David E. |year=1974 |title=Schooling in the States of Equatorial Africa |journal=Canadian Journal of African Studies |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=517–538 |doi=10.1080/00083968.1974.10804447}}</ref>

In Algeria, the debate was polarized. The French set up schools based on the scientific method and French culture. The [[Pied-Noir]] (Catholic migrants from Europe) welcomed this. Those goals were rejected by the Moslem Arabs, who prized mental agility and their distinctive religious tradition. The Arabs refused to become patriotic and cultured Frenchmen and a unified educational system was impossible until the Pied-Noir and their Arab allies went into exile after 1962.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heggoy |first1=Alf Andrew |last2=Zingg |first2=Paul J. |year=1976 |title=French Education in Revolutionary North Africa |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=571–578 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800024703 |jstor=162510|s2cid=161744830 }}</ref>

In South Vietnam from 1955 to 1975 there were two competing powers in education, as the French continued their work and the Americans moved in. They sharply disagreed on goals. The French educators sought to preserving French culture among the Vietnamese elites and relied on the Mission Culturelle – the heir of the colonial Direction of Education – and its prestigious high schools. The Americans looked at the great mass of people and sought to make South Vietnam a nation strong enough to stop communism. The Americans had far more money, as USAID coordinated and funded the activities of expert teams, and particularly of academic missions. The French deeply resented the American invasion of their historical zone of cultural imperialism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nguyen |first=Thuy-Phuong |year=2014 |title=The rivalry of the French and American educational missions during the Vietnam War |url=https://www.academia.edu/31337115 |journal=Paedagogica Historica |volume=50 |issue=1–2 |pages=27–41 |doi=10.1080/00309230.2013.872683 |s2cid=144976778}}</ref>

===Germany===
{{Main|German colonial empire}}
[[File:German colonial.PNG|thumb|upright=1.25|German colonial empire, the third largest [[colonial empire]] during the 19th century after the [[British Empire|British]] and the [[Second French colonial empire|French]] ones<ref>[https://www.welt.de/kultur/article168705897/Diese-deutschen-Woerter-kennt-man-noch-in-der-Suedsee.html Diese deutschen Wörter kennt man noch in der Südsee, von Matthias Heine] "Einst hatten die Deutschen das drittgrößte Kolonialreich ... ."</ref>]]

German expansion into Slavic lands begins in the 12th–13th-century (see [[Drang Nach Osten]]). The concept of Drang Nach Osten was a core element of German nationalism and a major element of [[Nazi ideology]]. However, the German involvement in the seizure of overseas territories was negligible until the end of the 19th century. Prussia unified the other states into the [[second German Empire]] in 1871. Its Chancellor, [[Otto von Bismarck]] (1862–90), long opposed colonial acquisitions, arguing that the burden of obtaining, maintaining, and defending such possessions would outweigh any potential benefits. He felt that colonies did not pay for themselves, that the German bureaucratic system would not work well in the tropics and the diplomatic disputes over colonies would distract Germany from its central interest, Europe itself.<ref>Thomas Pakenham, ''The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912'' (1992) ch 12</ref>

However, public opinion and elite opinion in Germany demanded colonies for reasons of international prestige, so Bismarck was forced to oblige. In 1883–84 Germany began to build a colonial empire in Africa and the South Pacific.<ref>Paul M. Kennedy, ''The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860–1914'' (1988) pp. 167–83.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Wehler |first=Hans–Ulrich |title=Bismarck's Imperialism 1862–1890 |journal=Past and Present |issue=48 |pages=119–55 |year=1970 |doi=10.1093/past/48.1.119}}</ref> The establishment of the [[German colonial empire]] started with [[German New Guinea]] in 1884.<ref>{{Citation |last=von Strandmann |first=Hartmut Pogge |title=Domestic Origins of Germany's Colonial Expansion Under Bismarck |journal=Past and Present |issue=42 |pages=140–59 |year=1969 |doi=10.1093/past/42.1.140}}</ref> Within 25 years, [[German South West Africa]] had committed the [[Herero and Namaqua genocide]] in modern-day Namibia, the first genocide of the 20th century.

German colonies included the present territories of in Africa: [[Tanzania]], [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], [[Namibia]], [[Cameroon]], [[Ghana]] and [[Togo]]; in Oceania: [[New Guinea]], [[Solomon Islands]], [[Nauru]], [[Marshall Islands]], [[Mariana Islands]], [[Caroline Islands]] and [[Samoa]]; and in Asia: [[Qingdao]], [[Yantai]] and the [[Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory|Jiaozhou Bay]]. The Treaty of Versailles made them mandates under the control the Allied victors.<ref>{{Cite journal <!-- so the bot doesn't erase the url -->| doi=10.2307/1943638 | jstor=1943638| title=Origin of the System of Mandates Under the League of Nations| journal=American Political Science Review| volume=16| issue=4| pages=563–583| year=1922| last1=Potter| first1=Pitman B.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1943638.pdf}}</ref>
Germany also lost the portions of its Eastern territories that had Polish majorities to independent Poland as a result of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919. The Eastern territories inhabited by a German majority since the Middle Ages were torn from Germany and became part of both Poland and the USSR as a result of the territorial reorganization established by the [[Potsdam Conference]] of the Allied powers in 1945.

===Italy===
{{Main|Italian Empire}}
[[File:Italian empire 1940.PNG|thumb|250px|The Italian Empire in 1940]]
The '''Italian Empire''' (''Impero italiano'') comprised the overseas possessions of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] primarily in northeast Africa. It began with the purchase in 1869 of [[Assab|Assab Bay]] on the [[Red Sea]] by an Italian navigation company which intended to establish a coaling station at the time the [[Suez Canal]] was being opened to navigation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fuller |first=Mia |year=2014 |title=Italian Colonial Rule |journal=Oxford Bibliographies in African Studies |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199846733-0150}}</ref> This was taken over by the Italian government in 1882, becoming modern Italy's first overseas territory.<ref>Theodore M. Vestal, "Reflections on the Battle of Adwa and Its Significance for Today", in ''The Battle of Adwa: Reflections on Ethiopia's Historic Victory Against European Colonialism'' (Algora, 2005), p. 22.</ref> By the start of the [[First World War]] in 1914, Italy had acquired in Africa the colony of [[Italian Eritrea|Eritrea]] on the Red Sea coast, a large protectorate and later colony in [[Italian Somaliland|Somalia]], and authority in formerly Ottoman [[Italian Tripolitania|Tripolitania]] and [[Italian Cyrenaica|Cyrenaica]] (gained after the [[Italo-Turkish War]]) which were later unified in the colony of [[Italian Libya|Libya]].

Outside Africa, Italy possessed the [[Italian Aegean Islands|Dodecanese Islands]] off the coast of Turkey (following the Italo-Turkish War) and a [[concessions in Tianjin|small concession in Tianjin]] in China following the [[Boxer War]] of 1900. During the First World War, Italy occupied southern [[Principality of Albania|Albania]] to prevent it from falling to [[Austria-Hungary]]. In 1917, it established [[Italian protectorate over Albania|a protectorate over Albania]], which remained in place [[Vlora War|until 1920]].<ref name="Nigel Thomas 2001. Pp. 17">Nigel Thomas, ''Armies in the Balkans 1914–18'' (Osprey Publishing, 2001), p. 17.</ref> The [[National Fascist Party|Fascist government]] that came to power with [[Benito Mussolini]] in 1922 sought to increase the size of the Italian empire and to satisfy the claims of [[Italian irredentists]].

In its [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|second invasion of Ethiopia]] in 1935–36, Italy was successful and it merged its [[Italian Ethiopia|new conquest]] with its older east African colonies to create [[Italian East Africa]]. In 1939, [[Italian invasion of Albania|Italy invaded Albania]] and [[Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943)|incorporated it]] into the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist state]]. During the [[Second World War]] (1939–1945), Italy [[Italian conquest of British Somaliland|occupied British Somaliland]], [[Italian occupation of France|parts of south-eastern France]], western [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]] and [[Axis occupation of Greece#The Italian occupation zone|most of Greece]], but then lost those conquests and its African colonies, including Ethiopia, to the invading [[Allies of World War II|allied forces]] by 1943. It was forced in the [[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947|peace treaty of 1947]] to relinquish sovereignty over all its colonies. It was granted a [[Trust Territory of Somaliland|trust to administer former Italian Somaliland]] under United Nations supervision in 1950. When [[Somalia]] became independent in 1960, Italy's eight-decade experiment with colonialism ended.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kelly |first=Saul |year=2000 |title=Britain, the United States, and the End of the Italian empire in Africa, 1940–52 |journal=The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=51–70 |doi=10.1080/03086530008583098 |s2cid=159656946}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hofmann |first=Reto |title=The Fascist Effect |year=2015 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801456350 |jstor=10.7591/j.ctt20d88b6}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=July 2020}}

===Netherlands===
{{Main|Dutch Empire}}
{{Expand section|date=January 2025}}

The most notable example of Dutch imperialism is regarding [[Indonesia]].

===Portugal===
{{Main|Second Portuguese Empire}}
[[File:All_areas_of_the_world_that_were_once_part_of_the_Portuguese_Empire.png|thumb|250px|Areas across the world that were, at one point in their history, part of the [[Portuguese Empire]]]]

=== Russia ===
{{main |Russian imperialism}}
====Russian Empire====
{{further |Territorial evolution of Russia }}
[[File:Russian expansion 1300-1914.png|thumb|Expansion of the Tsardom and Empire of Russia until 1914]]
By the 18th century, the [[Russian Empire]] extended its control to the Pacific, peacefully forming a common border with the [[Qing Empire]] and [[Empire of Japan]]. This took place in a large number of military invasions of the lands east, west, and south of it. The [[Polish–Russian War of 1792]] took place after Polish nobility from the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] wrote the [[Constitution of 3 May 1791]]. The war resulted in eastern [[Poland]] being conquered by Imperial Russia as a colony until 1918. The southern campaigns involved a series of [[Russo-Persian Wars]], which began with the [[Persian Expedition of 1796]], resulting in the acquisition of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] as a protectorate. Between 1800 and 1864, Imperial armies invaded south in the [[Russian conquest of the Caucasus]], the [[Murid War]], and the [[Russo-Circassian War]]. This last conflict led to the [[ethnic cleansing of Circassians]] from their lands. The [[Russian conquest of Siberia]] over the [[Khanate of Sibir]] took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, and resulted in the slaughter of various indigenous tribes by Russians, including the [[Daur people|Daur]], the [[Koryaks]], the [[Itelmens]], [[Mansi people]] and the [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]]. The Russian colonization of Central and Eastern Europe and Siberia and treatment of the resident indigenous peoples has been compared to European colonization of the Americas, with similar negative impacts on the indigenous Siberians as upon the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The extermination of indigenous Siberian tribes was so complete that a relatively small population of only 180,000 are said to exist today. The Russian Empire exploited and suppressed [[Cossacks]] hosts during this period, before turning them into the special military estate [[Sosloviye]] in the late 18th century. Cossacks were then used in Imperial Russian campaigns against other tribes.<ref>Willard Sunderland, "An Empire of Peasants. Empire-Building, Interethnic Interaction, and Ethnic Stereotyping in the Rural World of the Russian Empire, 1800–1850s." ''Imperial Russia. New histories for the Empire'' (1998): 174–198.</ref>

The acquisition of Ukraine by Russia commenced in 1654 with the [[Pereiaslav Agreement]]. Georgia's accession to Russia in 1783 was marked by the [[Treaty of Georgievsk]].

====Soviet Union====
{{further|Soviet empire}}
[[File:Former Russia-controlled territories without Alaska.png|thumb|{{Legend2|#673334}}Soviet Union<br/>{{Legend2|#800000}}Soviet territories that were never part of Imperial Russia: [[Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Tuva]], [[Kaliningrad Oblast|East Prussia]], [[western Ukraine]], [[Kuril Islands dispute|Kuril Islands]]<br/>{{Legend2|#B31B1B}}Imperial territories that did not become part of the Soviet Union<br />{{Legend2|#FF0000}}Soviet sphere of influence: [[Warsaw Pact]], [[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]]<br />{{Legend2|#FB607F}}Soviet military occupation: [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|northern Iran]], [[Soviet occupation of Manchuria|Manchuria]], [[Soviet Civil Administration|northern Korea]], [[Soviet invasion of Xinjiang|Xinjiang]], [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]]]
[[Bolshevik]] leaders had effectively reestablished a polity with roughly the same extent as that empire by 1921, however with an internationalist ideology: Lenin in particular asserted the right to limited self-determination for national minorities within the new territory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=V.I. Lenin |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/crnq/index.htm |title=Critical Remarks on the National Question |publisher=Prosveshcheniye |year=1913}}</ref> Beginning in 1923, the policy of "[[Indigenization]]" [korenizatsiya] was intended to support non-Russians develop their national cultures within a socialist framework. Never formally revoked, it stopped being implemented after 1932{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}. After World War II, the [[Soviet Union]] installed socialist regimes modeled on those it had installed in 1919–20 in the old [[Russian Empire]], in areas its forces occupied in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Soviet Union and Europe after 1945 |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005506 |access-date=December 30, 2010 |publisher=The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> The Soviet Union and later the People's Republic of China supported revolutionary and communist movements in foreign nations and colonies to advance their own interests, but were not always successful.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Melvin E. Page |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA138 |title=Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-57607-335-3 |page=138| publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> The USSR provided great assistance to [[Kuomintang]] in 1926–1928 in the formation of a unified Chinese government (see [[Northern Expedition]]). Although then relations with the USSR deteriorated, but the USSR was the only world power that provided military assistance to China against Japanese aggression in 1937–1941 (see [[Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact]]). The victory of the Chinese Communists in the civil war of 1946–1949 relied on the great help of the USSR (see [[Chinese Civil War]]).

Although the [[Soviet Union]] declared itself [[anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]], critics argue that it exhibited traits common to historic empires.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beissinger |first=Mark R. |year=2006 |title=Soviet Empire as "Family Resemblance" |journal=Slavic Review |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=294–303 |doi=10.2307/4148594 |jstor=4148594 |s2cid=156553569}}</ref><ref>Dave, Bhavna. 2007 Kazakhstan: Ethnicity, language and power. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.</ref><ref name="olaf">{{Cite journal |last=Caroe |first=Olaf |author-link=Olaf Caroe |date=1953 |title=Soviet Colonialism in Central Asia |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=135–44 |doi=10.2307/20031013 |jstor=20031013}}</ref> Some scholars hold that the Soviet Union was a hybrid entity containing elements common to both multinational empires and nation-states. Some also argued that the USSR practiced colonialism as did other imperial powers and was carrying on the old Russian tradition of expansion and control.<ref name="olaf"/> [[Mao Zedong]] once argued that the Soviet Union had itself become an [[social imperialism|imperialist power]] while maintaining a socialist façade. Moreover, the ideas of imperialism were widely spread in action on the higher levels of government. [[Josip Broz Tito]] and [[Milovan Djilas]] have referred to the [[History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)|Stalinist USSR]]'s foreign policies, such as the occupation and economic exploitations of [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern Europe]] and its aggressive and hostile policy towards [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] as Soviet imperialism.<ref>{{cite book|last=Djilas|first=Milovan|date=1957|url=https://archive.org/details/816ilasMilovanTheNewClassAnAnalysisOfTheCommunistSystemThamesAndHudson1957|title=The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System|location=London|publisher=Thames & Hudson|access-date=9 October 2023|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="Perović, 2007">{{cite journal |title=The Tito–Stalin split: a reassessment in light of new evidence |first=Jeronim |last=Perović |journal=[[Journal of Cold War Studies]] |volume=9 |issue=2 |date=2007 |pages=32–63 |publisher=MIT Press |doi=10.1162/jcws.2007.9.2.32 |s2cid=57567168 |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/62735/1/Perovic_Tito.pdf}}</ref> Some Marxists within the Russian Empire and later the USSR, like [[Sultan Galiev]] and [[Vasyl Shakhrai]], considered the Soviet regime a renewed version of the Russian imperialism and colonialism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Velychenko |first=Stephen |title=Painting Imperialism and Nationalism Red: The Ukrainian Marxist Critique of Russian Communist Rule in Ukraine, 1918–1925 |year=2015 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442648517 |jstor=10.3138/j.ctv69tft2}}</ref> The crushing of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] and [[Soviet–Afghan War]] have been cited as examples.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arendt |first=Hannah |year=1958 |title=Totalitarian Imperialism: Reflections on the Hungarian Revolution |journal=The Journal of Politics |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=5–43 |doi=10.2307/2127387 |jstor=2127387 |s2cid=154428972}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Richard Smith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfrIBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT520 |title=The Invasion of Afghanistan and UK-Soviet Relations, 1979-1982: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III |last2=Patrick Salmon |last3=Stephen Robert Twigge |year=2012 |isbn=9781136325489 |page=520| publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>Alvin Z. Rubinstein, "Soviet Imperialism in Afghanistan." ''Current History'' 79#459 (1980): 80-83.</ref>

====Russia under Putin====
{{further|Russian neo-imperialism|Ruscism}}
[[File:Putin (2022-03-08).jpg|thumb|Russia's president [[Vladimir Putin]] compared himself to Emperor [[Peter the Great]] in an effort to regain former Russian lands.<ref>{{cite news |title=Putin compares himself to Peter the Great over drive to 'take back Russian land' |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/06/10/putin-compares-himself-to-peter-the-great-over-drive-to-take-back-russian-land |work=Euronews |date=10 June 2022}}</ref>]]
Since the 2010s, [[Russia under Vladimir Putin]] has been described as [[Russian neo-imperialism|neo-imperialist]].<ref>
*{{cite web |last1=Kolesnikov |first1=Andrei |author1-link=Andrey Kolesnikov (journalist) |title=Blood and Iron: How Nationalist Imperialism Became Russia's State Ideology |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/11/blood-and-iron-how-nationalist-imperialism-became-russias-state-ideology?lang=en |publisher=[[Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center]] |date=December 2023}}
*{{cite web |last1=Melvin |first1=Neil |author1-link=Neil Melvin |title=Nationalist and Imperial Thinking Define Putin's Vision for Russia |url=https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/nationalist-and-imperial-thinking-define-putins-vision-russia |publisher=[[Royal United Services Institute]] |date=2 March 2022}}
*{{cite book |last1=Van Herpen |first1=Marcel |title=Putin's Wars: The Rise of Russia's New Imperialism |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=61}}
*{{cite book |last1=McNabb |first1=David |title=Vladimir Putin and Russia's Imperial Revival |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |page=58}}
*{{cite book |last1=Grigas |first1=Agnia |title=Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=2–3, 9}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Mankoff |first1=Jeffrey |title=The War in Ukraine and Eurasia's New Imperial Moment |journal=[[The Washington Quarterly]] |date=2022 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=127–128 |doi=10.1080/0163660X.2022.2090761 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2022.2090761}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Götz |first1=Elias |last2=Merlen |first2=Camille-Renaud |title=Russia and the question of world order |journal=[[European Politics and Society]] |date=2019 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=133–153 |doi=10.1080/23745118.2018.1545181 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23745118.2018.1545181}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Mälksoo |first1=Maria |title=The Postcolonial Moment in Russia's War Against Ukraine |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]] |date=2023 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=471–481 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2022.2074947 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2022.2074947}}
*{{cite magazine |author1=Orlando Figes |author1-link=Orlando Figes |title=Putin Sees Himself as Part of the History of Russia's Tsars—Including Their Imperialism |url=https://time.com/6218211/vladimir-putin-russian-tsars-imperialism/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=30 September 2022}}</ref> Russia [[Russian-occupied territories|occupies parts of neighboring countries]] and has engaged in [[Russian irredentism|expansionism]], most notably with the 2008 [[Russo-Georgian War|Russian invasion of Georgia]], the 2014 [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexation of Crimea]], and the 2022 [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine]] and [[Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts|annexation of its southeast]]. Russia has also established [[Union State|domination over Belarus]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mankoff |first1=Jeffrey |title=The War in Ukraine and Eurasia's New Imperial Moment |journal=[[The Washington Quarterly]] |date=2022 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=127–128 |doi=10.1080/0163660X.2022.2090761 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2022.2090761}}</ref> Four months into the invasion of Ukraine, Putin compared himself to Russian emperor [[Peter the Great]]. He said that [[Tsar]] Peter had [[Treaty of Nystad|returned "Russian land"]] to the empire, and that "it is now also our responsibility to return (Russian) land".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dickinson |first1=Peter |title=Putin admits Ukraine invasion is an imperial war to "return" Russian land |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putin-admits-ukraine-invasion-is-an-imperial-war-to-return-russian-land/ |publisher=[[Atlantic Council]] |date=10 June 2022}}</ref> Kseniya Oksamytna wrote that in Russia media, the invasion was accompanied by discourses of Russian "supremacy". She says that this likely fuelled [[War crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine|war crimes against Ukrainians]] and that "the behavior of Russian forces bore all hallmarks of imperial violence".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oksamytna |first1=Kseniya |title=Imperialism, supremacy, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine |journal=[[Contemporary Security Policy]] |date=October 2023 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=497–512 |doi=10.1080/13523260.2023.2259661 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13523260.2023.2259661#abstract}}</ref> The Putin regime has revived imperial ideas such as the "[[Russian world]]"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grigas |first1=Agnia |title=Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=30–31}}</ref> and the ideology of [[Eurasianism]].<ref>"Hirsh Eurasianism">{{cite web |author1=Michael Hirsh |author1-link=Michael Hirsh (journalist) |title=Putin's Thousand-Year War |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/12/putins-thousand-year-war/ |website=[[Foreign Policy]] |date=12 March 2022}}</ref> It has used [[Russian disinformation|disinformation]] and the [[Russian diaspora]] to undermine the sovereignty of other countries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grigas |first1=Agnia |title=Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=2–3, 9}}</ref> Russia is also accused of [[Neocolonialism#Russia|neo-colonialism in Africa]], mainly through the [[Wagner Group activities in Africa|activities of the Wagner Group and Africa Corps]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doboš |first1=Bohumil |last2=Purton |first2=Alexander |title=Proxy Neo-colonialism? The Case of Wagner Group in the Central African Republic |journal=[[Insight on Africa]] |date=2024 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=7–21 |doi=10.1177/09750878231209705 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=How Russia's Wagner Group funds its role in Putin's Ukraine war by plundering Africa's resources |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-wagner-group-ukraine-war-putin-prigozhin-africa-plundering-resources/ |work=CBS News |date=16 May 2023 |access-date=25 August 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622145256/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-wagner-group-ukraine-war-putin-prigozhin-africa-plundering-resources/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===United States===
{{Main|American imperialism}}
[[File:Raising of American flag at Iolani Palace with US Marines in the foreground (detailed).jpg|thumb|Ceremonies during the [[Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii#Annexation|annexation of the Republic of Hawaii]], 1898]]
[[File:Independence Seaport Museum 226.JPG|thumb|upright|Cartoon of belligerent [[Uncle Sam]] placing Spain on notice, {{Circa|1898}}]]
Made up of former colonies itself, the early United States expressed its opposition to imperialism, at least in a form distinct from its own [[Manifest Destiny]], through policies such as the [[Monroe Doctrine]]. However the US may have unsuccessfully attempted to capture Canada in the [[War of 1812]]. The United States achieved very significant territorial concessions from Mexico during the [[Mexican–American War]]. Beginning in the late 19th and early 20th century, policies such as [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s interventionism in Central America and [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Woodrow Wilson]]'s mission to "make the world safe for democracy"<ref name="mtholyoke">{{Cite web |title=Woodrow Wilson: War Message &#124; Text of Original address (mtholyoke.edu) |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww18.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970501050006/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww18.htm |archive-date=May 1, 1997 |access-date=June 13, 2015}}</ref> changed all this. They were often backed by military force, but were more often affected from behind the scenes. This is consistent with the general notion of hegemony and imperium of historical empires.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boot |first=Max |author-link=Max Boot |date=July 15, 2004 |title=In Modern Imperialism, U.S. Needs to Walk Softly |url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/7190/in_modern_imperialism_us_needs_to_walk_softly.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720214335/http://www.cfr.org/publication/7190/in_modern_imperialism_us_needs_to_walk_softly.html |archive-date=July 20, 2006 |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Oliver Kamm |date=October 30, 2008 |title=America is still the world's policeman |work=The Times |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/specials/article5047143.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602202401/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/specials/article5047143.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 June 2010}}</ref> In 1898, Americans who opposed imperialism created the [[American Anti-Imperialist League|Anti-Imperialist League]] to oppose the [[US annexation of the Philippines]] and Cuba. One year later, a war erupted in the Philippines causing business, labor and government leaders in the US to condemn America's occupation in the Philippines as they also denounced them for causing the deaths of many Filipinos.<ref name="google">{{Cite book |last=Ooi, K.G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |volume=1 |page=1075 | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |access-date=June 13, 2015}}</ref> American foreign policy was denounced as a "racket" by [[Smedley Butler]], a former American general who had become a spokesman for the far left.<ref name="federalobserver">{{Cite web |title=Moore: War is just a racket, said a General in 1933 |url=http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=5776 |access-date=June 13, 2015 |publisher=federalobserver.com |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924011500/http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=5776 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

At the start of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was opposed to European colonialism, especially in India. He pulled back when Britain's Winston Churchill demanded that victory in the war be the first priority. Roosevelt expected that the United Nations would take up the problem of decolonization.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=D. Ryan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8D6JDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |title=The United States and Decolonization: Power and Freedom |last2=V. Pungong |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-333-97795-8 |pages=64–65| publisher=Springer }}</ref>

Some have described the internal strife between various people groups as a form of imperialism or colonialism. This internal form is distinct from informal U.S. imperialism in the form of political and financial hegemony.<ref name="Empire- A Very Short Introduction">{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Stephen |title=Empire – A Very Short Introduction |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=57}}</ref> It also showed difference in the United States' formation of "colonies" abroad.<ref name="Empire- A Very Short Introduction"/> Through the treatment of its indigenous peoples during westward expansion, the United States took on the form of an imperial power prior to any attempts at external imperialism. This internal form of empire has been referred to as "internal colonialism".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Stephen |title=Empire – A Very Short Introduction |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=59}}</ref> Participation in the African slave trade and the subsequent treatment of its 12 to 15&nbsp;million Africans is viewed by some to be a more modern extension of America's "internal colonialism".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Stephen |title=Empire – A Very Short Introduction |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=67}}</ref> However, this internal colonialism faced resistance, as external colonialism did, but the anti-colonial presence was far less prominent due to the nearly complete dominance that the United States was able to assert over both indigenous peoples and African-Americans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Stephen |title=Empire – A Very Short Introduction |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=97}}</ref> In a lecture on April 16, 2003, Edward Said described modern imperialism in the United States as an aggressive means of attack towards the contemporary Orient stating that "due to their backward living, lack of democracy and the violation of women's rights. The western world forgets during this process of converting the other that enlightenment and democracy are concepts that not all will agree upon".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Said |first=Edward |date=April 16, 2003 |title=orientalism |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JncXpQQoZAo | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/JncXpQQoZAo| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|access-date=April 7, 2015 |ref=16 minute}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Spain ===
[[File:Spanish Empire Anachronous en.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|The areas of the world that at one time were territories of the Spanish Empire]]
{{Main|Spanish Empire}}
Spanish imperialism in the colonial era corresponds with the rise and decline of the [[Spanish Empire]], conventionally recognized as emerging in 1402 with the conquest of the Canary Islands. Following the successes of exploratory maritime voyages conducted during the [[Age of Discovery]], Spain committed considerable financial and military resources towards developing a robust navy capable of conducting large-scale, transatlantic expeditionary operations in order to establish and solidify a firm imperial presence across large portions of North America, South America, and the geographic regions comprising the [[Caribbean basin]]. Concomitant with Spanish endorsement and sponsorship of transatlantic expeditionary voyages was the deployment of ''[[Conquistador]]s'', which further expanded Spanish imperial boundaries through the acquisition and development of territories and colonies.<ref>Roger Bigelow Merriman, ''The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and in the New'' (4 vol 1918–1933) [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%28Merriman%2C%20Roger%20Bigelow.%20%29%20empire online].</ref>

==== Imperialism in the Caribbean basin ====
[[File:Spanish Caribbean Islands in the American Viceroyalties 1600.png|thumb|Spanish colonies and territories in the Caribbean basin (c. 1490 – c. 1660)]]
In congruence with the colonialist activities of competing European imperial powers throughout the 15th – 19th centuries, the Spanish were equally engrossed in extending geopolitical power. The Caribbean basin functioned as a key geographic focal point for advancing Spanish imperialism. Similar to the strategic prioritization Spain placed towards achieving victory in the conquests of the [[Aztec Empire]] and [[Inca Empire]], Spain placed equal strategic emphasis on expanding the nation's imperial footprint within the Caribbean basin.

Echoing the prevailing ideological perspectives regarding colonialism and imperialism embraced by Spain's European rivals during the colonial era, including the English, French, and the Dutch, the Spanish used colonialism as a means of expanding imperial geopolitical borders and securing the defense of maritime trade routes in the Caribbean basin.

While leveraging colonialism in the same geographic operating theater as its imperial rivals, Spain maintained distinct imperial objectives and instituted a unique form of colonialism in support of its imperial agenda. Spain placed significant strategic emphasis on the acquisition, extraction, and exportation of precious metals (primarily gold and silver). A second objective was the evangelization of subjugated indigenous populations residing in mineral-rich and strategically favorable locations. Notable examples of these indigenous groups include the [[Taíno|Taίno]] populations inhabiting Puerto Rico and segments of Cuba. Compulsory labor and slavery were widely institutionalized across Spanish-occupied territories and colonies, with an initial emphasis on directing labor towards mining activity and related methods of procuring semi-precious metals. The emergence of the ''[[Encomienda]]'' system during the 16th–17th centuries in occupied colonies within the Caribbean basin reflects a gradual shift in imperial prioritization, increasingly focusing on large-scale production and exportation of agricultural commodities.

==== Scholarly debate and controversy ====
The scope and scale of Spanish participation in imperialism within the Caribbean basin remains a subject of scholarly debate among historians. A fundamental source of contention stems from the inadvertent conflation of theoretical conceptions of imperialism and colonialism. Furthermore, significant variation exists in the definition and interpretation of these terms as expounded by historians, anthropologists, philosophers, and political scientists.

Among historians, there is substantial support in favor of approaching imperialism as a conceptual theory emerging during the 18th–19th centuries, particularly within Britain, propagated by key exponents such as [[Joseph Chamberlain]] and [[Benjamin Disraeli]]. In accordance with this theoretical perspective, the activities of the Spanish in the Caribbean are not components of a preeminent, ideologically driven form of imperialism. Rather, these activities are more accurately classified as representing a form of colonialism.

Further divergence among historians can be attributed to varying theoretical perspectives regarding imperialism that are proposed by emerging academic schools of thought. Noteworthy examples include [[cultural imperialism]], whereby proponents such as John Downing and Annabelle Sreberny-Modammadi define imperialism as "...the conquest and control of one country by a more powerful one."<ref>Downing, John; Ali Mohammadi; Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi (1995). ''Questioning the media: a critical introduction'' (2, illustrated ed.). Sage. p. 482. {{ISBN|978-0-8039-7197-4}}.</ref> Cultural imperialism signifies the dimensions of the process that go beyond economic exploitation or military force." Moreover, colonialism is understood as "...the form of imperialism in which the government of the colony is run directly by foreigners."<ref>Downing; Sreberny-Mohammadi (1995). p. 482.</ref>

In spite of diverging perspectives and the absence of a unilateral scholarly consensus regarding imperialism among historians, within the context of Spanish expansion in the Caribbean basin during the colonial era, imperialism can be interpreted as an overarching ideological agenda that is perpetuated through the institution of colonialism. In this context, colonialism functions as an instrument designed to achieve specific imperialist objectives.

===Sweden===

{{Main|Swedish overseas colonies}}