Editing Empire (section)

===Colonial empires===
{{main article|Colonial empire}}
[[File:Portugal Império total.png|thumb|right|200px|All areas of the world that were once part of the [[Portuguese Empire]]. The Portuguese established in the early 16th century together with the [[Spanish Empire]] the first global empire and trade network.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Conquerors-Portugal-Forged-Global-Empire/dp/0812994000] ''Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire'', Author: Roger Crowley, Publisher: Random House; 1st edition, year: 2015</ref>]]{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2019}}
Beginning in the 15th century, a number of west European countries reached and colonized overseas regions across the globe. Ushering the [[Age of Discovery]], the imperial expansion advanced to a new global scale. The extensive overseas expansion, particularly in the South Asia and Americas by the Portuguese and Spanish, later joined by the English, French and Dutch, created empires on which the [[Sun never sets]]. The global scale is one of main distinctions between the colonial and traditional land empires.<ref>Adas, Michael (1998). "Imperialism and Colonialism in Comparative Perspective,"  ''International History Review'', vol 20 (2), p 371,  https://www.jstor.org/stable/40108227</ref><ref>Blakemore, Erin (August 16, 2024). "What is Colonialism," ''National Geographic'', https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/colonialism</ref> Colonial empires were a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form one [[world system]], laid the groundwork for globalization, and set human history on the global common course.

The [[Portuguese Empire]] colonized vast portions of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania to become one of the most powerful empires of the period, the longest-lived [[colonial empire]] in European history,<ref>Page, Melvin E. & Sonnenburg, Penny M. (2003). ''Colonialism: An International, Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia'', vol 2, p 481.</ref><ref>Brockey, Liam Matthew (2008). ''Portuguese Colonial Cities in the Early Modern World''. (Ashgate Publishing), p XV.</ref> and one of the [[List of largest empires|largest empires]] in history. The [[Spanish Empire]] expanded over the same continents as well as in Europe,<ref>Thomas, Hugh (2015). ''World Without End: The Global Empire of Philip II'' (Penguin).</ref> exceeding the Portuguese rival in size and, among colonial empires, remaining second only to Britain.<ref name="Taagepera1997">{{cite journal|author=Taagepera|first=Rein|author-link=Rein Taagepera|date=September 1997|title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt3cn68807/qt3cn68807.pdf|url-status=live|journal=[[International Studies Quarterly]]|volume=41|issue=3|pages=492–502|doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053|jstor=2600793|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707203055/https://escholarship.org/content/qt3cn68807/qt3cn68807.pdf|archive-date=2020-07-07|access-date=2020-07-07}}</ref>
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[[File:Modern Empires - en.svg|thumb|350px|Diachronic map of the main empires of the modern era (1492–1945)]]
{{Multiple image
| perrow            = 2
| header            = Empires of the Modern period
| header_background = #f8eaba
| image1            = Map of territorial growth 1775.jpg
| caption1          = Red shows self-governing North American British colonies and pink shows claimed and largely indirectly controlled territories in 1775.
| image2            = 
| caption2          = 
| image3            = Ottoman empire.svg
| caption3          = [[Ottoman Empire]] at its greatest extent
| image4            = Spanish Empire Anachronous en.svg
| caption4          = [[Spanish empire|Spanish]]–[[Portuguese empire|Portuguese]] Empire of the [[Iberian Union]] (1580–1640) was the first global imperial entity. The map includes all Spanish territories, but only territories Portugal had during the Iberian Union.
| image5            = French Empire on World 1812.png
| caption5          = The map includes Napoleon's [[First French empire]] with its colonial ownership in 1812. [[Napoleon]]'s rule over Europe led to massive changes not only in Europe but across the world.
| image6            = The Russian Empire-en.svg
| caption6          = [[Russian Empire]] in 1866 became the second largest contiguous empire to have ever existed. [[Russia|The Russian Federation]] is currently the largest state on the planet.
| image7            = BritishEmpire1919.png
| caption7          = In 1920, the [[British Empire]] was [[List of largest empires|the largest empire in history]].
| image8            = EmpireFrench.png
| caption8          = Evolution of the [[French colonial empire|French Empire]] in the 16th to the 20th century. In 1920, the [[French colonial empire]] was [[List of largest empires|the second largest empire in the world]].
| image9            = Italian Empire.png
| caption9          = [[Italian colonial empire|Italian Empire]] in 1942
| image10           = Qing dynasty in 1760.svg
| caption10         = China's [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]] in 1760
| image11           = Japanese Empire (orthographic projection).svg
| caption11         = 19th to 20th century [[Empire of Japan]] at its maximum extent, 1942
}}

The [[British Empire]] established an [[List of largest empires|absolute imperial record in size]] and, for a century, was the foremost global power.<ref>[[Niall Ferguson|Ferguson, Niall]] (2002). ''Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power''. (Basic Books).</ref> The British established their [[First British Empire|first empire]] (1583–1783) in North America by colonising lands that made up [[British America]], including parts of [[History of Canada#Canada under British rule (1763–1867)|Canada]], the [[Caribbean]] and the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. In 1776, the [[Continental Congress]] of the Thirteen Colonies declared itself independent from the British Empire, thus beginning the [[American Revolution]]. Britain turned towards Asia, the Pacific, and later Africa, with subsequent exploration and conquests leading to the rise of the [[Second British Empire]] (1783–1815), which was followed by the [[Industrial Revolution]] and [[Britain's Imperial Century]] (1815–1914). It became the [[World's largest empires|largest empire]] in world history, encompassing one quarter of the world's land area and one fifth of its population.<ref>Johnston, Steve, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FXkN1SF6NgsC&dq=%22By+1922%2C+the+British+Empire+presided%22&pg=PA90 Tea Party Culture War: A Clash of Worldviews]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p90, "By 1922, the British Empire presided over 458 million people—one-quarter of the world's population—and comprised more than 13 million square miles."</ref> The impacts of this period are still prominent in the current age "including widespread use of the English language, belief in Protestant religion, economic globalization, modern precepts of law and order, and representative democracy."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watts |first=Carl P |title=Pax Britannica |url=https://www.academia.edu/2013776 |page=3 |quote=it left many legacies, including widespread use of the English language, belief in Protestant religion, economic globalization, modern precepts of law and order, and representative democracy.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Winks |first=Robin W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mY7McxJl7jYC&pg=PA406 |title=World civilization: a brief history |date=1993 |publisher=Collegiate Press |isbn=978-0-939693-28-3 |edition=2nd |location=San Diego, CA |page=406 |quote=By 1914 common law, trail by jury, the King James Authorized Version of the Bible, the English language, and the British navy had been spread around the globe.}}</ref>

In India, Britain confronted the [[Sikh Empire]] (1799–1849) in the Punjab region. Weakened by the death of its founder, [[Ranjit Singh]], in 1839, the empire fell to the British after the [[Second Anglo-Sikh war|Second Anglo-Sikh War]] in 1849. During the same period, the [[Maratha Empire]] (also known as the Maratha Confederacy) was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818, and at its peak, the empire's territories covered much of Southern Asia. The empire was founded and consolidated by Shivaji. After the death of [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] Emperor Aurangzeb, it expanded greatly under the rule of the Peshwas. In 1761, the Maratha army lost the Third Battle of Panipat, which halted the expansion of the empire. Later, the empire was divided into a confederacy of states which, in 1818, were lost to the British during the [[Anglo-Maratha Wars (disambiguation)|Anglo-Maratha wars]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pagadi |first=Setumadhavarao R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVFuAAAAMAAJ |title=Shivaji |publisher=National Book Trust, India |year=1983 |isbn=978-81-237-0647-4 |page=21}}</ref>

France was a dominant empire possessing many [[colonies]] in various locations around the world. During [[Louis XIV]]'s long reign, from 1643 to 1715, France was Europe's most populous, richest and powerful country. From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First [[French colonial empire]]’s total area at its peak in 1680 was over {{convert|10|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}}, the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the [[Spanish Empire]].<ref>Robert Aldrich, ''Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion'' (1996) p 304</ref> It had many possessions around the world, mainly in the [[Americas]], [[Asia]] and [[Africa]]. At its peak in 1750, French India had an area of 1.5 million km<sup>2</sup> and a total population of 100 million people and was the most populous colony under [[French India|French rule]]. The [[Napoleonic Empire]] (1804–1814) conquered much of the continental Europe. It ruled over 90 million people and was the leading world power of the time. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire extended over {{convert|13.5|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}} of land at its height in the 1920s and 1930s with a totaled population of 150 million people. Including metropolitan France, the total amount of land under French sovereignty reached {{convert|13.5|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}} at the time, which is 10.0% of the Earth's total land area. The total area of the French colonial empire, with the first (mainly in the Americas and Asia) and second (mainly in Africa and Asia), the French colonial empires combined, reached {{convert|24|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=unit}}, the second largest in the world (the first being the British Empire).<ref>{{cite book |editor=Melvin E. Page |title=Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA218 |year=2003 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=218 |isbn=978-1-57607-335-3 |access-date=23 December 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119170748/https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA218 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Empire of Brazil]] (1822–1889) was the only South American modern monarchy, established by the heir of the [[Portuguese Empire]] as an independent nation eventually became an emerging international power. The new country was huge but sparsely populated and ethnically diverse. In 1889 the monarchy was overthrown in a sudden [[coup d'état]] led by a clique of military leaders whose goal was the formation of a republic.