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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 Western 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. [2]
For the French colonies, this meant the enforcement of the French penal code, the right to send a representative to parliament, and imposition of tariff laws as a form of economic assimilation. Requiring natives to assimilate in these and other ways, created an ubiquitous, European-style identity that made no attempt to protect native ...
Before 1800, France was the most populated country in Europe, with a population of 17 million in 1400, 20 million in the 17th century, and 28 million in 1789. [ citation needed ] The 17th and 18th centuries saw a steady increase in urban populations, although France remained a profoundly rural country, with less than 10% of the population ...
Later the Northern European countries began establishing settlements of their own, primarily in areas that were outside of Spanish interests, such as what is now the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada, or islands in the Caribbean, such as Aruba, Martinique, and Barbados, that had been abandoned by the Spanish in favor of the ...
The Dutch East India Company, which was founded in 1602 as an amalgamation of 12 voorcompagnies, had extensive financial interests in maritime Southeast Asia, the source of highly profitable spices which were in high demand in Europe. A Dutch expedition had already made contact with the islands in 1599, signing several contracts with Bandanese ...
China had more large cities but far fewer small ones than in contemporary Europe. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] Kenneth Pomeranz originally claimed that Great Divergence did not begin until the 19th century. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Later he revisited his position and now sees the date between 1700 and 1750.
In the 1500s, France was still the most populous country in Europe, [10] and would remain so until the mid-19th to late 19th century. [11] During the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, from 1643 to 1715, France was the leading European power as Europe's richest and most powerful country. The dominance of France over world affairs extended to ...
This is a list of former European colonies. The European countries which had the most colonies throughout history were: United Kingdom (130), France (90), Portugal (52), Spain (44), Netherlands (29), Germany (20), Russia (17), Denmark (9), Sweden (8), Italy (7), Norway (6), Belgium (3), and Courland (2).