What was the best Colonial empire for their people both in the mother country and colonies ?Though Russia was continuous Siberia was much more akin to a colony than anything else .
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Poll ,Best Colonial Empire .
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I'll have to say the United Kingdom is the obvious choice here. While there's obviously a lot deeply wrong about colonialism, I think the British at least brought the most good to their colonies in terms of protection, innovations and stability. And obviously the British people in the 'mother country' benefitted the most from the situation, which was the entire point of colonialism to begin with.
In terms of benefit for the mother country, definitely the United States had the best colonial empire.
Caesar Biden
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In terms of how much power they held onto and how much their power benefited the people of their country....
It's the United States. They held onto most of their Empire, from coast to coast, and still have all sorts of overseas possessions for weapon testings and the like. None of the other Colonial Empires, even Britain, had the staying power and cultural influence of the United States.
In the absence of this, it's Russia, because they also kept and integrated vast chunks of their Empire, and had even more of it 30 years ago.
In terms of being good to their colonies? I don't know, probably Denmark, because they didn't have many and what they had were basically just a few small business ventures in the Caribbean plus Greenland.
It's the United States. They held onto most of their Empire, from coast to coast, and still have all sorts of overseas possessions for weapon testings and the like. None of the other Colonial Empires, even Britain, had the staying power and cultural influence of the United States.
In the absence of this, it's Russia, because they also kept and integrated vast chunks of their Empire, and had even more of it 30 years ago.
In terms of being good to their colonies? I don't know, probably Denmark, because they didn't have many and what they had were basically just a few small business ventures in the Caribbean plus Greenland.
Surely the longevity of the US "Empire" is more due to time and size than anything. Britain and France probably have as many overseas holdings as the US if we're talking tiny islands. And I wouldn't call any of the continental US part of the American "Empire", the states are all a key part of the mother country. Its also worth considering that the US is much, much younger than the other Empires.
And in terms of effectiveness I don't think Russia is right at all. Rebellions in Russia's Empire were far more common and successful than those in Britain, Germany or Frances and the only reason Russia stuck around and they didn't was due to demographic/geographical factors. Russia's "Empire" was on the front door step and almost empty whilst the other empires had much more populous and far flung colonies to keep an eye on.
Britain also has a strong relationship with her ex-colonies (US included) and the Five Eyes (UKUSCANZA) and their close relations as well as the existence of the Commonwealth and the continued influence of HM the Queen means that Britain has a strong, continuing legacy. France shouldn't be dismissed either and has a strong presence in her ex-African colonies as well as retaining (iirc) more of her island holdings than any other state (Guiana, Polynesia, New Caledonia).
And the assertion that the US has had more impact culturally than the UK I just don't buy. Parliamentary Democracy, the Westminister System in particular but also the general system, is as prevalent as the American Presidential system. British musical influence I would argue as greater than American, merely as a case of Beatles/Stones/Floyd/Queen/Zepplin vs Elvis/MJ/ect. Britain's influence in film and literature is also comparable to America's, particularly when we consider comparative size. 21st century philosophy follows the Anglo-American model which itself developed from British Empiricism and that indicates something wider; the values and culture of the US are themselves extremely derivative of Britain. The Rights of teh Individual were seen pioneered by the English and at one point not only was America a part of Britain but "Americans" were almost entirely British. America itself is the off spring of another empire and so one could argue (perhaps somewhat contrivedly) that the spreading of US culture is merely the spreading of a derivitive of British Culture.
Yeah, not seeing anything good from any of the empires, the British Empire most certainly included.
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Japan's Empire at its height was larger than everyone's except Britain.
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The British Empire is hugely overrated, since the British are incredibly good at managing to pass themselves off as having only had the interests of the colonials at heart. Naturally this is greatly exaggerated, and British colonies had rather monstrous offenses. These were commonly hidden though; a good example of this is during the Mandate system, when the only important directly British mandate was Tanganyika; this was run along the "indirect rule" lines (it is debatable whether this is really a good strategy or not but I digress), and the British managed to get to be praised as the best mandate and proof of how good the British Empire was, showing off the way it rule. Right across the border was Kenya, which was settler colonialism in its worse guise, similar to South Africa - this however, was not paid attention to, since all the focus was on the "ideal" Mandate. The British Dominions furthermore had terrible, terrible policies in Namibia, Nauru, and New Guinea(and New Zealand was comically inept in Samoa, to the point of managing to kill off 1/5 of the population from the Spanish Flu, as well as causing a major non-violent resistance campaign), but these could be ignored because they weren't "British".
I'd guess Denmark probably benefitted their people the most, because their territories were worthless so they didn't much deal with them.
As far as the benefitting nations; I'd say the British, French, Russians, Spanish, and maybe the Portuguese get the most out of their former empires nowadays due to commercial and political influence and lingual benefits. At the height in the 1890-1930 period it was probably the French, British, and Russians. The Germans and Italians have probably benefitted the least (negative benefits) and the Netherlands got some benefits from their colonies in the commercial sense in the 17th-19th century, but no real gains any more.
I'd guess Denmark probably benefitted their people the most, because their territories were worthless so they didn't much deal with them.
As far as the benefitting nations; I'd say the British, French, Russians, Spanish, and maybe the Portuguese get the most out of their former empires nowadays due to commercial and political influence and lingual benefits. At the height in the 1890-1930 period it was probably the French, British, and Russians. The Germans and Italians have probably benefitted the least (negative benefits) and the Netherlands got some benefits from their colonies in the commercial sense in the 17th-19th century, but no real gains any more.
Russia, because it was an integral part of the nation rather than being a resource bank for the European capitalist system.
Also, Siberia wasn't really a colony so much as Russia's version of the Wild West.
And really, the best colonial empires are none of them, because colonialism was an awful, extractive process that impoverished a great deal of the world while enriching a small fraction of Europe's population.
Good colonialism does not exist.
Also, Siberia wasn't really a colony so much as Russia's version of the Wild West.
And really, the best colonial empires are none of them, because colonialism was an awful, extractive process that impoverished a great deal of the world while enriching a small fraction of Europe's population.
Good colonialism does not exist.
Staying power? The American empire is barely 200 years old. Rome took that long just to conquer Carthage. And the English/British Empire began in the 16th century and ended in the 20th, so...
British empire wins because it's the biggest and has bequeathed a cultural heritage only rivalled by the Romans. Though they all sucked for anyone and everyone not in the metropole, so it's kind of like best serial killer.