CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: Imperial Overview

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: A Resilient Polity

SPAIN: The Genealogy of Modern Colonialism

PORTUGAL: Empire-building in the Old World and the New

THE NETHERLANDS: A Small Country with Imperial Ambitions

SCANDINAVIA: An Outsider in European Imperialism

BRITAIN: Ruling the Waves

FRANCE: Empire and the Mère-Patrie

RUSSIA: The Two Empires

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: The Making of Central Europe

BELGIUM: The Single-Colony Empire

GERMANY: The Latecomer

ITALY: The Last Empire

THE UNITED STATES: Empire as a Way of Life?

Notes and bibliographies

Sources of illustrations

Contributors

Index