Empires and colonies in the modern world: a global perspective

Timeline

Introduction: Why define?; Empire; Imperialism; Colonialism; Global and modern; Looking ahead

Part one. The rise of early modern empires, c.1350-1650

The forging of early modern empires

Emerging imperialism and colonialism in early modern empires

Intersecting empires in the Americas

Part two. Atlantic and Asian empires in a global age, c. 1600-1830

The rise of the slave/plantation complex

Colonial societies in the Atlantic world

Asian land empires in a global age

Part three. Informal empires, c.1810-1880

The Industrial Revolution and the era of informal imperialism

Living the colonial experience

Part four. The new imperialism, c. 1870-1930

Dividing the world

Strategies of the colonized

The sinews of the new imperialism

Part five. The rise and fall of high imperialism, c. 1890-1975

Imperial projects and colonial petitions

Imperial world wars

Unraveling colonialism

Part six. The world we live in, 1948 to today

Cold War empires

Imperialism now

Glossary.