Imperialism and empires Modern history

in 1800s , 1900s, once great , powerful empires such spain, ottoman turkey, mughal empire, , kingdom of portugal began break apart. spain, @ 1 time unrivaled in europe, had been declining long time when crippled napoleon bonaparte s invasion. sensing time right, spain s vast colonies in south america began series of rebellions ended of spanish territories gaining independence.

the once mighty ottoman empire wracked series of revolutions, resulting ottoman s holding small region surrounded capital, istanbul.

the mughal empire, descended mongol khanate, bested upcoming maratha confederacy. going marathas until british took interest in riches of india , british ended ruling not boundaries of modern india, pakistan, burma, nepal, bangladesh , southern regions of afghanistan.

the king of portugal s vast territory of brazil reformed independent empire of brazil.

with defeat of napoleonic france, britain became undoubtedly powerful country in world, , end of first world war controlled quarter of world s population , third of surface. however, power of british empire did not end on land, since had greatest navy on planet.

electricity, steel, , petroleum enabled germany become great international power raced create empires of own.

the meiji restoration chain of events led enormous changes in japan s political , social structure taking firm hold @ beginning of meiji era coincided opening of japan arrival of black ships of commodore matthew perry , made imperial japan great power.

russia , qing dynasty china failed keep pace other world powers led massive social unrest in both empires. qing dynasty s military power weakened during 19th century, , faced international pressure, massive rebellions , defeats in wars, dynasty declined after mid-19th century.

european powers controlled parts of oceania, french new caledonia 1853 , french polynesia 1889; germans established colonies in new guinea in 1884, , samoa in 1900.

the united states expanded pacific hawaii becoming u.s. territory 1898.

disagreements between us, germany , uk on samoa led tripartite convention of 1899.