Colonialism: Did you mean...?

The Inquisition was the official institution of the medieval Catholic Church that established ecclesiastical judges to investigate and judge divergent opinions and practices that...

In this gallery of seven maps, we examine the vast overseas territories of the Spanish Empire from the late 15th century to the 19th century. The empire reached its height during the Age of Exploration and included...

The British East India Company (EIC) was founded as a trading company in 1600. Run by a board of directors in London, the company employed a private army, first to protect the trade it conducted in the Indian...

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you (thank you). Support your local station here: http://to.pbs.org/DonateORIG ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Here in the United States, when we think about the...

The reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603 CE) witnessed an extraordinary spurt of exploration as tiny wooden ships boldly set sail from English shores to cross the world's oceans. Famous mariners like...

The systematic European colonization of North America unfolded between the first voyages of the 1490s and the outbreak of the French and Indian War in the 1750s. Spanish, French, English, and...

A map illustrating the British Raj around 1930, a period of direct British rule over the Indian subcontinent that began in 1858. Following the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, also known as the First War of Independence, the...

Portugal established the first and longest-lasting of Europe’s overseas empires, developing a maritime-commercial network that connected the Atlantic...

The English East India Company (EIC) was established by Royal Charter on 31 December 1600 under Queen Elizabeth I (reign 1558–1603), granting it a monopoly on English trade east of the Cape of Good Hope...

By the 18th century, European power had become truly global through a combination of maritime expansion, state-backed commerce, and military force. The leading Atlantic empires, Spain, Portugal...