Portugal was the most successful imperial power

I will begin my side of the argument by Responding to Jifpop09's concluding statement, in which he says the following: "Now I would begin my next case, but I would run out of characters. By creating this debate, I hope I have now proven that the greatest imperial power should't be judged by land, prestige, or power, but in stability, wealth, and development, all of which Portugal was far ahead of the world in. Thanks for the debate Con, and good luck." ------------- My response: You cannot pick and choose what elements determine whether a country was the most "Succesful Imperial power". Imperialism by definition, states: im"pe"ri"al"ism noun \im-G2;pir-ē-ə-G6;li-zəm\ : a policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world The official definition of the word says "increases its power" yet you are trying to change the definition of the word Imperialism by saying that the greatest imperial power SHOULDNT be judge by power, despite the fact that power is by definition, what Imperialism is all about. Imperialism is mostly about power and conquering other countries and taking over their land. Wealth and development all come as a result of conquest. When you get more land, you get more wealth. Why? Because you gain access to more resources, trading routes, and different civilizations/countries. When you get more wealth, your country becomes more developed. It all comes as a result of power. That is the main principal of Imperialism. With that being said, I will now prove to the audience that Portugal was no where near the "most succesful Imperial power": http://upload.wikimedia.org... In this picture, ONLY the red is what Portugal owned over their reign from 1415-1999. The audience should know that the Portuguese NEVER owned any where near this amount of territory at any one time. This is only the combination of all the land (red) they owned over their entire existence. The colored sea is the areas they traded through and explored. The pink are areas of influence -- not actual possessions. Even in the own maps you've posted, mainly the scramble for Africa one, Portugal was being dominated by France and Great Britain. Sure, Portugal had the wealthiest colonies for a period of time, but they also had a very weak military and the smallest amount of land in the long run in comparison to the true Imperialistic nations, like Great Britain, "The Empire on which the sun never sets". The British Empire was the true "most successful Imperial Power". And this reminds me about the Treaty of Tordesillas, which you posted at the very beginning of your side of the debate. Sure, they signed a treaty. But that didn't last long, and lost almost all of that land within a short period of time. If Portugal was the greatest Imperial Power of all time, then how come they only had two relatively small pieces of land in Africa and a few small islands by the 1700-1800's? Portugal was simply not a threatening Imperial Power, and no where near the most succesful. France, Great Britain, and Spain all had stronger militaries, acquired more land, and held it for a longer period of time than Portugal did. Portugal got dominated in the Napoleonic Wars as well, in which many Latin American colonies previously owned by Portugal gained independence. In 1822, Brazil, formerly under Portugal control, also gained indepence as a result of the war. Here are a few tidbits from some of my source wiscnetwork that further back up my side: "Between the 1590s and 1760s, the Portuguese Eastern Empire was almost completely swept from the map. Portugal lost the monopoly of the Cape of Good Hope route, most of its fortresses and trade factories, and even any significant position in the trading activity of the Indian Ocean and the Far East. Meanwhile, Brazil had become the main element of a third Portuguese colonial empire."[6] It is true that the Dutch had an advantage over Portugal in at least three areas: technology, organisation and human capital.[7.4] Sources: http://www.merriam-webster.com... http://www.napoleon-series.org... http://www.wiscnetwork.org...