Latin American Imperialism
An Atlantic Habsburg? Maximilian and the dream of building an Atlantic Empire (Austria-Hungary, Brazil and Mexico) in the 1860s.
João Fábio Bertonha
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the major states of Western Europe built great Atlantic empires, based on direct colonization, naval power and commerce. These countries were the main protagonists of a movement that included trade and the establishment of naval bases and commercial outposts in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as in the Mediterranean, the Baltic and other seas. In this context and period, the American continent was the center of the colonizing effort, with great Empires being created by Spain, Portugal, Britain and France.
In the nineteenth century, with the American revolution and, shortly after, the independence of the Latin American countries, this first imperialist wave was over. Nevertheless, a new kind of imperialism emerged. Its focus changed to the direct conquest of large territories in the Asian and African continents and to the massive colonization of some territories by European settlers, as well as the maintenance of commercial interests, now supplemented by investment flows. European empires would only end in the …show more content…
As early protagonists, we would have Portugal and Spain, while Germany and Italy might be named latecomers. England and France are an indispensable presence in any history of European imperialism, while Holland and Belgium might be considered of importance, especially in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, respectively. Russia would be a particular case, since its expansion was especially on land, and some small countries on the European continent, such as Bulgaria, Greece or Finland, could be ignored, since they were not participants in the European expansion outside the continent and, in the limit, were victims of this
João Fábio Bertonha
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the major states of Western Europe built great Atlantic empires, based on direct colonization, naval power and commerce. These countries were the main protagonists of a movement that included trade and the establishment of naval bases and commercial outposts in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as in the Mediterranean, the Baltic and other seas. In this context and period, the American continent was the center of the colonizing effort, with great Empires being created by Spain, Portugal, Britain and France.
In the nineteenth century, with the American revolution and, shortly after, the independence of the Latin American countries, this first imperialist wave was over. Nevertheless, a new kind of imperialism emerged. Its focus changed to the direct conquest of large territories in the Asian and African continents and to the massive colonization of some territories by European settlers, as well as the maintenance of commercial interests, now supplemented by investment flows. European empires would only end in the …show more content…
As early protagonists, we would have Portugal and Spain, while Germany and Italy might be named latecomers. England and France are an indispensable presence in any history of European imperialism, while Holland and Belgium might be considered of importance, especially in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, respectively. Russia would be a particular case, since its expansion was especially on land, and some small countries on the European continent, such as Bulgaria, Greece or Finland, could be ignored, since they were not participants in the European expansion outside the continent and, in the limit, were victims of this