Despite the fact that the great colonial powers have greatly "lost weight" over the past century, the metropolises and colonies still exist on the modern political map of the world. Today these territories are called differently: overseas departments, overseas territories or unincorporated territories. Colonies may even have their own state flag and self-government bodies. But this does not change the meaning: the colonies and their indigenous population are in varying degrees of dependence on their metropolises and do not have political sovereignty.

V modern world there are more than 50 colonies whose owners are in no hurry to part with their overseas territories. Let's see which of the metropolises today have the largest number of colonies - dependent territories that are not officially part of the state (metropolis).

Great Britain

Little remains of the former greatness of the British Empire. Nevertheless, today Great Britain owns colonies in all key regions of the planet.

1. Europe: Jersey in the English Channel, Guernsey in the English Channel, the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, the city of Gibraltar in the south of the Iberian Peninsula (disputed by Spain), Akrotiri and Dhekelia are military bases on the island of Cyprus.

2. Atlantic Ocean(excluding Caribbean colonies): Bermuda, Saint Helena, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha Archipelago, Falkland Islands off the coast of South America (territory disputed by Argentina), South Georgia Island and the South Sandwich Islands (territory disputed by Argentina).

3. Caribbean Sea: Anguilla Islands, Cayman Islands (Cayman Islands), Montserrat Island, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caycos Islands.

4. Pacific Ocean: The Pitcairn Islands are five islands in the South Pacific.

5. Indian Ocean: British Territory in Indian Ocean- a group of 55 islands. The colony was formed contrary to the decisions of the UN in 1965, contested by the Seychelles and Mauritius.

France

Not so long ago, France owned vast territories in Africa and other regions of the world. Most countries have gained independence today, but France is still the master of a large number of overseas territories, the population of which exceeds the "colonial subjects" of Great Britain.

1. South America: French Guiana, population 240,000.

2. Atlantic Ocean (excluding the colonies of the Caribbean islands): the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

3. Caribbean Sea: Island state Guadeloupe, Martinique Island, Saint Barthélemy Island, Saint Martin.

4. Indian Ocean: Reunion Island, Mayotte Island in the Mozambique Channel (disputed by the Comoros), Amsterdam Island, Saint-Paul Island, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Archipelago, Eparse Islands (most of them are disputed by neighboring states).

5. Pacific Ocean: Territory of Wallis and Futuna Islands, New Caledonia, French polynesia with a population of about 280,000, Clipperton Island.

United States of America

The United States does not appear in school textbooks as a colonial empire, but today it is this state that is the largest metropolis in terms of the number of dependent population (more than 4 million people).

1. Caribbean: The United States Virgin Islands, a freely associated state of Puerto Rico, is a state ruled by the US Congress and actually dependent on the United States, with a population of 3.7 million.

2. Pacific Ocean: Guam Island, North Mariana islands, American Samoa (Eastern Samoa), a group of 9 islands - the Outer Minor Islands, the US associated state of the Marshall Islands.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Today, the Netherlands have only colonies on the islands of the Caribbean. These are the island of Aruba, the island of Curacao, the state of Sint Maarten on the island of St. Martin and the Caribbean Netherlands (the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba).

Portugal

In the past, an influential Portuguese empire, today this country has only two overseas possessions in the Atlantic Ocean: the island of Madeira with a population of 270,000 and the Azores with a population of about 250,000.

Spain

Today Spain has lost almost all of its colonial possessions, it has several colonies left not so far from the state itself.

1. Atlantic Ocean: Canary Islands.

2. Mediterranean Sea: the cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, opposite Spain, which have the status of autonomous cities, as well as the islands of Alusemas, Chafarinas, Perejil, Alboran.

All these territories do not have political sovereignty and their own armed forces, and their security is ensured by the army of the mother countries.

Almost all European countries at different stages of their development tried to increase their power and prosperity by conquering and ruling colonies. The greatest successes in the conquest and development of new lands were achieved by Spain, Portugal and England. They competed with: the Netherlands, France and Germany. Even countries like Denmark and Sweden owned their own colonies.

The reasons driving people to equip colonial expeditions were: trade, searching for gold and other minerals, finding places to live, neutralizing pirate states, building a prestigious image.

The colonial empire of France arose gradually, it would be more correct to distinguish two long historical stages:

• The first colonial empire (XVI-XVIII centuries) was built mainly by large royal trading companies, such as the French West Indian Trading Company. During her conquests, the country grew over a large part of North America, the Caribbean and a solid part of India, a significant part of which passed to England in 1763.
• The Second Colonial Empire (late 19th century) was built primarily to challenge the power of the British Empire, and lasted until the 1960s. It included the lands of North Africa, a solid piece of Western and Central Africa, Indochina and a significant number of islands around the world.

At the peak of the conquests, the empire reached a total area of ​​12.3 million square kilometers, which is 25 times the area of ​​the state itself. In scale, it was inferior only to the capabilities of Great Britain, which had grown by 30 million square kilometers of colonized lands.

Colonies of France on the world map

Expansion start

At the initial stage, which originated in the first third of the sixteenth century, the military annexation of territories was carried out, which was obviously beneficial from a political and economic point of view, which is undeniable historical fact, not being a real priority for the development of the country.

The early travels of a native Italian serving in France, Giovanni da Verrazano, led to the discovery of new lands. With his light hand, the place of his residence was declared the property of the crown. At the beginning of the 16th century, the discoverer Jacques Cartier made three voyages along North America, which marked the beginning of its exploration by France.

Fishermen loved to go to the Grand Bank near Newfoundland for a century, which marked the beginning of the history of North American colonial expansion. In 1534, the first French colonists settled in Canada. Fishing and the search for precious metals have inspired newcomers. Spain's zealous defense of "its" American monopoly and the internal war of religion at the end of the 16th century did not allow for due consistent efforts to gain a foothold in the region. There were early attempts by France to establish colonies in Brazil in 1555, in San Luis in 1612, and in Florida, but they were not fated to materialize due to Portuguese and Spanish vigilance.

First colonial empire of France

The history of the empire began in 1605 with the founding of Port Royal in present-day Canadian Nova Scotia. After 3 years, the traveler Samuel Champlain founded the French settlement of Quebec, which was to become the capital New France, the richest furs region. By forging beneficial alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were free to rule most of the North American continent. For the time being, the areas of the French settlement were limited to the valley of the St. Lawrence River. And before the creation of the Sovereign Council in 1663, the territory of New France had the status of a trading colony. But the right to manage it was transferred to the British according to the Utrecht Peace Agreement of 1713.

In the seventeenth century, commercial ambitions lead to conquests in Caribbean region... The empire was replenished with Martinique, Guadeloupe and Santo Domingo. The introduced system of extracting maximum efficiency from the occupied lands in this case was based on the slave trade and slave labor in the field of cultivation of sugar cane and tobacco plantations. During the same period, colonists settled Senegal, Africa and Reunion in the Indian Ocean and established some dominance in India.

Parallel to the expansion of the empire in North America the conquest of the West Indies was carried out. Settlement along the South American coast, in what is now French Guiana, began in 1624, and the colony of Saint Kitts was founded in 1627. Before the peace agreement with the British, the island was divided, and after that it was completely ceded.

Ostrovnaya American company founded colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1635, and subsequently in 1650 in Saint Lucie. The plantations were cultivated by the effort of slaves exported from Africa. Indigenous resistance led to bloody ethnic cleansing in 1660.

The French presence abroad was not convincing, and in February 1763 the Treaty of Paris, which marked the end of the Anglo-French War, forced the country to abandon its claims to Canada and the presence in Senegal.

The most lucrative expansion of the Caribbean colonies occurred in 1664, with the rise of the country of Saint-Domingo, today's Haiti. The settlement was founded on the western edge of the Spanish island of Hispaniola. By the 18th century, Haiti had become the most profitable sugar plantation in The Caribbean. Eastern half Hispaniola was run by the country for a short period, but was ceded to Spain after the Haitian revolution.

The conquests were not limited to acquisitions in the New World. In 1624, the first trading posts in western Africa appeared in Senegal.

In 1664, a company was created that fought for the supremacy in trade in the east. Controlled lands appeared in: Chandannagar in 1673, Pondicherry, Yanaone, Mahe, Karaikal. The acquisitions formed the basis of French India. The territory of the present Reunion in the Indian Ocean, modern Mauritius and the Seychelles in 1756 was also not ignored. Under Napoleon, Egypt was also conquered for a short period, but the rule there extended only to the immediate vicinity of the Nile.

In 1699, territorial claims in North America expanded further with the founding of Louisiana in the Mississippi River Basin. Wide commercial network throughout the region, connected to Canada through the Great Lakes, was supported by a network of defenses centered in Illinois and present-day Arkansas.

In the course of a series of conflicts between France and England, a solid part of the conquered empire was lost.

Second colonial wave (1830-1870)

The second French colonial epic debuted with an attack on Algeria. Under Napoleon III, daring was carried out against Mexico. Napoleon controlled the south of Vietnam, Cambodia and Saigon. The authorities added a number of pacific islands such as Tahiti and New Caledonia. They tried to establish themselves in Asia.

After the Franco-Prussian War, the country grew into Indochina. Using the newly annexed lands of Vietnam, Tonkin and Annam were captured in 1883, Laos and Kwan-Chou-Wan. The country became the second most powerful colonial power, after England.

In the middle of the 19th century, a concession was established in Shanghai, which existed there until 1946, and a protectorate in Tunisia by the end of the century. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with tremendous efforts over 16 years of struggle, Mauritania became a colony. The crown was replenished with Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Niger, Chad, Congo and Morocco.

The last successful colonization interventions came around the end of the First World War.

Colony management

There were two ways of regulating colonies: assimilation or association. On the one hand, during assimilation, the administration in Paris dictates the laws that the controlled lands must obey, on the other hand, the path of unification is a more flexible system. The path of association leaves power, but residents do not become full citizens of the country. Despite the diversity of administrative systems, the French government claims its sovereignty. Domination is reflected at the level of the economy. The indigenous population is characterized by a lack of voting rights, is subject to a special tax and a lack of fundamental freedoms. Among other things, the European colonial structure conflicts with local culture and customs. The educational system applied in the controlled territories is an effective means of inculcating a European way of thinking.

Colonial Exhibition in Paris 1931

The international exposition, which opened on May 6, 1931 in Paris, can be considered a symbol of the country's prestige and glory in the field of conquering the world. The laying of the first stone took place on November 5, 1928, construction was carried out for more than two years on an area of ​​110 hectares located around Lake Domenil in the east of the capital in the green massif of the Vincennes forest. The main entrance decorated the golden gates that have survived to this day. The Colonial Exhibition represented all the colonies and countries under the French protectorate. For every corner of the world conquered by the country, a special pavilion was provided. Catholic and Protestant churches were represented by mission flags. About 200 buildings occupied large companies, restaurants and eateries, exotic food stores. The exposition was complemented by a museum of colonies, a tropical aquarium and a zoo. The area was decorated with stately illuminated fountains. To move around the park, a five and a half kilometers long railway was built, along which six stations were built. It was also possible to move around in electric vehicles. For the entertainment of visitors, 16 boats, many rowing boats and 30 boats for water attractions on the lake were purchased. Various festivals and exhibitions were held in the park, among which a special place was occupied by the "Day of Colonial Tourism".

The exhibition was a colossal success: more than 8 million visitors, some of whom came here again. The Colonies Museum told visitors about the different stages of the colonial conquest. 5 months after the opening, funding began to be cut, so that the zoo, the museum of the colonies and the pagoda have survived and are popular to this day.

French colonies now

Colonization was a rather unpopular measure, and was largely considered a waste of money and war effort. At the beginning of the twentieth century, right-wing parties opposed decolonization because they considered it too costly, and the left wing did not support his position, seeing peace, freedom and civilization in the rejection of this policy. At the end of the colonial empire, the left wing was in favor of decolonization, while the right - resisted until the civil war of 1960-1961.

Having come to power in 1936, the Popular Front lobbied for reforms to increase the independence of the colonies. To the end of the era of conquest leads and economic crisis 30s, and the second World War.

During a conference in Brazzaville in January 1944, the countries together tried to develop an administrative system that would provide more opportunities for self-determination of indigenous peoples. The first victory that marks the failure of colonial France is the declaration of independence for Lebanon and Syria in 1941, which took effect in 1943.

Unable to organize the process of painless decolonization in the middle of the last century, France experienced a difficult situation, especially in Algeria, where the war for independence lasted from 1954 to 1962 and ended practically civil war in France. Colonial France begins to collapse and the National Liberation Front is born, which causes an armed uprising in Algeria. The war in Algeria is responsible for the birth of the Fifth Republic. An agreement in 1962 marked the end of the war and the independence of Algeria.

By the beginning of 1960, almost all of the former French colonies had become independent countries. Several territories remain part of France. Inhabitants former colonies, especially Algeria, demanded the privileged right to become citizens of the country.

Decolonization is taking place in other countries as well. Tunisia became independent in 1956, African countries between 1960 and 1963. Other foreign territories gradually changed their status.

Belonging to a former empire has become a matter of geopolitics and national pride. The older generation lives with the thought that they are lucky to live in a country that was the second largest empire and brought civilization and democracy to the peoples of nine percent of the world's surface. Decolonization, organized under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle, was approved by the majority, despite the trauma caused by the Algerian war.

Most of the people who acquire French citizenship today come from former colonies.

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The colony. Yandex map.

Allows you to: change the scale; measure distances; switch display modes - diagram, satellite view, hybrid. The mechanism of Yandex maps is used, it contains: districts, street names, house numbers, etc. objects of cities and large villages, allows you to perform search by address(square, avenue, street + house number, etc.), for example: "Lenin street 3", "Colony hotel", etc.

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Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 completed the era of the formation of national states in Western Europe... A relative political equilibrium was established on the continent - no power possessed a military, political or economic priority that would allow it to establish its hegemony, thus for more than forty years Europe, with the exception of its southeastern part, got rid of military conflicts.

From now on, the political energy of the European powers turns beyond the continent, concentrating on the division of yet undivided territories in Africa and Asia. But at the same time, along with the old colonial powers (England, France, partly Russia), new European states - Germany and Italy, as well as the United States and Japan, which made in the 60s, begin to take part in the colonial expansion. XIX century. a historical choice in favor of political, social and economic modernization (in the USA - the war of the North and the South; in Japan - the Meiji revolution).

Among the reasons for the intensification of expansion in the first place were political and military-strategic. The desire to create a world empire was dictated both by considerations of national prestige and by the desire to establish military-political control over strategically important regions of the world and prevent the expansion of rivals' possessions. An important role was played by economic motives - the search for sales markets and sources of raw materials; however, in many cases, economic development was very slow; quite often the colonial powers, having established control over this or that territory, actually "buried" about it; most often, economic interests turned out to be leading in the subordination of the relatively developed and richest countries of the East (Persia, China). Finally, demographic factors were also of a certain importance: population growth in the metropolises and the presence of "human surplus" - those who were socially unclaimed at home and were ready to look for luck in distant colonies.

England expanded its colonial possessions, capturing more and more territories. France took possession of Indochina and significant territories in Africa. Algeria remained the main French colony in North Africa. Germany in the 80s. seeks to capture southwest coast Africa (territory of modern Namibia). German Southwest Africa soon emerged. However, the advance of Germany further into Africa was prevented by the British. The First World War ended the German colonies in Africa, and Namibia eventually became a mandate territory of the Union of South Africa.

Colonial division of the world at the end of the 19th century. was primarily a section African continent. If in the early 70s. colonial possessions accounted for only a few percent of the territory of Africa, then by the beginning of the XX century. it was almost completely divided. Two states were considered sovereign: Ethiopia, which managed to defeat in 1896 the Italian army sent to conquer it, and Liberia, founded by black immigrants from America. The rest of the territory of the Northern, Tropical and South Africa was part of the European colonial empires.

The most extensive were the possessions Great Britain. In the southern and central parts of the continent: Cape Colony, Natal, Bechu-analand (now Botswana), Basutoland (Lesotho), Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). In the east: Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar, British Somalia. In the northeast: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, formally considered a co-ownership of England and Egypt. In the west: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and the Gold Coast. In the Indian Ocean - the island of Mauritius and Seychelles.

Colonial empire France was not inferior in size to the British, but the population of its colonies was several times smaller, and Natural resources- poorer. Most of the French possessions were located in Western and Equatorial Africa and a large part of their territory fell on the Sahara, the adjacent semi-desert region of the Sahel and rainforests: French Guinea (now the Republic of Guinea), Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Dahomey (Benin), Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, French Sudan (Mali), Gabon, Chad, Middle Congo (Republic of the Congo), Ubangi Shari (Central African Republic), French coast of Somalia (Djibouti), Madagascar, Comoros, Reunion.

Portugal owned Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau), which included the Cape Verde Islands (Republic of Cape Verde), Sao Tome and Principe. Belgium owned the Belgian Congo ( Democratic Republic Congo, and in 1971 - 1997 - Zaire), Italy - Eritrea and Italian Somalia, Spain - Spanish Sahara ( West Sahara), Germany - German East Africa (now - the continental part of Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi), Cameroon, Togo and German South West Africa(Namibia).

The main reasons that led to the clash of the European powers for Africa were economic. The drive to exploit the natural resources and people of Africa was paramount. But it cannot be said that these hopes were immediately justified. The south of the continent, where the world's largest deposits of gold and diamonds were discovered, began to generate huge profits. But before income was received, large investments were first needed to explore natural resources, create communications, adapt the local economy to the needs of the metropolis, to suppress the protest of the indigenous people and find effective ways to make them work for the colonial system. All this took time. Another argument of the ideologues of colonialism was not immediately justified. They argued that the acquisition of colonies would open up many jobs in the metropolises themselves and eliminate unemployment, as Africa would become a capacious market for European products and huge construction would begin there. railways, ports, industrial enterprises... If these plans were implemented, it was slower than anticipated, and on a smaller scale.

In the African colonies, two systems of government gradually developed - direct and indirect. In the first case, the colonial administration appointed African leaders to a particular area, regardless of the local institutions of power and the origin of the applicant. As a matter of fact, their position differed little from that of the officials of the colonial apparatus. And under a system of indirect government, the colonialists formally retained the institutions of power that existed in pre-colonial times, but completely changed their content. The leader could only be a person of local origin, usually from the "traditional" nobility. He remained at his post all his life, if he arranged the colonial administration, receiving his main means of subsistence from deductions from the amount of taxes collected by him. The system of direct control was more often used in the French colonies, and indirect control in the British.

Fast economic development Of Japan in the second half of the 19th century. also forced her to look for new markets for products, to create new enterprises. In addition, the numerous descendants of the samurai, who lost their privileges, retained their belligerence and aggressiveness. Implementation of aggressive foreign policy Japan began with a struggle to establish its influence in Korea, which could not withstand a strong adversary. In 1876, an agreement was signed that provided the Japanese with a number of privileges and rights. In 1885, China accepted Japan's condition for equality of rights and interests in Korea. The victory of Japan in the war of 1894 provided her with the first colonies - Taiwan (Formosa), Penghuledao Islands. Towards the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Japan has become one of the most powerful powers.

The strengthening of Japan could not but worry the European powers that had interests in Asia, in particular in China. At first, Russia, supported by Germany and France, demanded that Japan return Port Arthur to China (it soon rented it for 99 years, and in 1900 occupied the territory of Manchuria). Japan responded to this with a conclusion at the beginning of the 20th century. military alliance with England. Russia became the main enemy of Japan in its aggressive colonial policy.

At the end of the century, USA. Relying on its enormous economic and military potential, the United States easily penetrated the economies of other countries, often using military force. At the end of the XIX century. they captured the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, and practically turned into a colony

Cuba. In an effort to establish economic and, to a certain extent, and political priority in countries that formally remained independent, the United States resorted to unequal treaties, provided loans at high interest rates, and thereby sought to solve the problem of subjugating weak states.

Thus, to late XIX v. the territorial division of the world is completed, colonial system capitalism. However, the rivalry and contradictions between major countries raised the question of the redistribution of colonies. They tried to solve this issue with the help of military force. The desire to redistribute the divided world and spheres of influence, as well as the internal contradictions of the leading states, led to an increase in the size of the army and the arms race. The militaristic policy was characteristic both of countries with remnants of feudalism (Russia, Italy) and countries with intensively developing economies, which considered themselves to be deprived of colonies (Germany, Japan). In 1887, 17 European states kept 3,030,100 soldiers under arms and spent 1/4 of their income on the upkeep of the army and navy. From 1869 to 1897, the armed forces of the six great European powers increased by 40%.

Europe was much less diverse than it is now. There were 13 states on this territory. Most of them had colonies outside the continent. The main colonial power in the world was Great Britain. Its territories included present-day Ireland. Also the British dominion were Canada, Australia and the Union of South Africa. Dominions enjoyed a greater degree of autonomy than colonies. In South America, Britain owned part of Guiana and several islands in the Caribbean. The African colonies of the British Empire were Nigeria, Northern Rhodesia, East Africa and the Seychelles. In Asia, Britain controlled the south of the Arabian Peninsula, the territory of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as Burma and part of New Guinea. Two Chinese cities - Hong Kong and Weihai - were also under the direct control of Britain.

At the beginning of the 20th century British empire reached its maximum size.

The possessions of other European countries were somewhat more modest. Country Southern Europe- Spain and Portugal - lost most of their holdings in South America. At the same time, France retained colonial influence - it ruled over a small territory on the coast of South America, as well as vast lands in Africa - Algeria, Morocco, West Africa, Equatorial Africa, as well as the territory of modern Vietnam in Asia. Denmark owned Iceland and Greenland. The Dutch and Belgian colonies in Africa were much more modest.

The territory of Germany in Europe was smaller than the modern one, and this country had few colonies. Italy by the beginning of the 20th century had just begun to expand its colonial possessions. On the map of Europe there were also countries without colonies at all - Austria-Hungary, Norway and Sweden.

The Russian Empire was not a colonial power in the narrow sense, but it included Poland and Finland. Their status could be compared with the British dominions, since these states had a fairly wide autonomy.

The Russian Empire united several semi-independent Central Asian countries under its protectorate.

The rest of the world

There were many independent states outside Europe at that time. North America had two major independent states- USA and Mexico. All of South America was independent, with the exception of Guiana. Political Map this continent practically coincided with the modern one. On the territory of Africa, only Ethiopia and partly Egypt retained independence - it was under British protectorate, but was not a colony. In Asia, Japan was an independent and strong power - this country also owned the Korean Peninsula. China, Mongolia and Siam, while maintaining formal independence, were divided into spheres of influence of European states.