History of colonialism

The history of colonialism traces how states and companies established control over other societies, governed them, faced resistance, and relinquished power. It examines varied forms of expansion and their lasting effects.

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Age of Discovery: The period of European maritime exploration and overseas expansion beginning in the fifteenth century. Atlantic voyages opened routes that enabled European conquest and settlement overseas.
Settler colonialism: A form of colonialism in which settlers seek to establish permanent societies on Indigenous land. It distinguishes settlement and land seizure from rule focused mainly on extracting resources.
Bartolomé de las Casas: A sixteenth-century Spanish Dominican friar who condemned abuses against Indigenous peoples in the Americas. His writings exposed colonial violence and influenced debates over Spanish rule.
Conquest of the Aztec Empire: The Spanish campaign that overthrew the Aztec Empire between 1519 and 1521. It shows how alliance, warfare, epidemic disease, and imperial expansion converged.
Decolonization: The process by which colonies gained independence or colonial systems were dismantled, especially after 1945. It names the political transition that ended formal empire across much of the world.
Portuguese Empire: A maritime empire established by Portugal across territories and trading posts from the fifteenth century onward. Its trading-post network pioneered a durable model of overseas imperial control.
Company rule in India: The East India Company's political and territorial rule over parts of the Indian subcontinent from 1757 to 1858. A chartered corporation became a territorial ruler before the British Crown took control.
Queen Nzinga: A seventeenth-century ruler of Ndongo and Matamba who resisted Portuguese expansion in Central Africa. Her diplomacy and warfare exemplify African resistance to European conquest.
Haitian Revolution: A revolution from 1791 to 1804 that ended slavery and French rule in Saint-Domingue, founding Haiti. It was the only successful revolution by enslaved people to establish an independent state.
Neocolonialism: A form of influence in which powerful states or institutions shape formally independent countries through economic or political pressure. The concept addresses claims that imperial power can persist after legal independence.