kernals12
Banned
It seems like a rule of human civilization, at least until the last century when we decided that self-determination was good: if you don't colonize, you will be colonized. At one point, European powers controlled all of the Western Hemisphere and Africa (besides Ethiopia and Liberia, sort of). The Ottomans, ruling from Turkey, took control of all of the Middle East west of Iran, and then that was given to the French and British after the First World War. The British took all of South Asia (including India) besides Afghanistan. The Russians took Central Asia. The French got Southeast Asia, besides Siam (now Thailand). But there is one glaring exception: China. It is the world's largest nation and while it had some chunks taken by the Russians, Japanese and others, it always remained nominally independent. So why did nobody try to make it into a colony during the 19th century or earlier?