page_title: Pre-modern human migration
section_title: Colonial empires
hierarchical_section_title: Pre-modern human migration / Early Modern period / Colonial empires
caption_attribution_description: Map of major world powers by year, derived from public domain animated map on wikipedia. Maps of world history BC 2000&#160;&#183; 1000&#160;&#183; 500&#160;&#183; 400&#160;&#183; 323&#160;&#183; 300&#160;&#183; 200&#160;&#183; 100&#160;&#183; 50 AD 1&#160;&#183; 50&#160;&#183; 100&#160;&#183; 200&#160;&#183; 250&#160;&#183; 300&#160;&#183; 400&#160;&#183; 500&#160;&#183; 700&#160;&#183; 750&#160;&#183; 820&#160;&#183; 900&#160;&#183; 1556&#160;&#183; 1700&#160;&#183; 1815&#160;&#183; 1859 Maps of colonization history 1492&#160;&#183; 1550&#160;&#183; 1600&#160;&#183; 1660&#160;&#183; 1754&#160;&#183; 1800&#160;&#183; 1812&#160;&#183; 1822&#160;&#183; 1885&#160;&#183; 1898&#160;&#183; 1914&#160;&#183; 1920&#160;&#183; 1936&#160;&#183; 1938&#160;&#183; 1945&#160;&#183; 1959&#160;&#183; 1974&#160;&#183; 1975&#160;&#183; 2007 Animated Map Maps of Cold War 1959&#160;&#183; 1980&#160;&#183; see also: Eastern Hemisphere only maps template (1300BC-1500AD) (this template: · view · discuss ) As the orriginal licence of the animation was Public Domain, this image which has been derived from it is too: This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Andrei nacu. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Andrei nacu grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
context_page_description: Paleolithic migration prior to end of the Last Glacial Maximum
  spread anatomically modern humans throughout Afro-Eurasia and to the Americas.
  During the Holocene climatic optimum, formerly isolated populations began to move and merge, giving rise to the
  pre-modern distribution of the world's major language families.
  In the wake of the population movements of the Mesolithic came the Neolithic revolution,
  followed by the Indo-European expansion in Eurasia and the Bantu expansion in Africa.
  Population movements of the proto-historical or early historical period include the Migration period, followed by the Slavic, Magyar, Norse, Turkic and Mongol expansions of the medieval period.
  The last world regions to be permanently settled were the Pacific Islands and the Arctic, reached during the 1st millennium AD.
  Since the beginning of the Age of Exploration and the beginning of the Early Modern period and its emerging colonial empires, an accelerated pace of migration on the intercontinental scale became possible.
context_section_description: European Colonialism from the 16th to the early 20th centuries led to an imposition of a European colonies in many regions of the world, particularly in the Americas, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia, where European languages remain either prevalent or in frequent use as administrative languages. Major human migration before the 18th century was largely state directed. For instance, Spanish emigration to the New World was limited to settlers from Castile who were intended to act as soldiers or administrators. Mass immigration was not encouraged due to a labour shortage in Europe (of which Spain was the worst affected by a depopulation of its core territories in the 17th century).
  Europeans also tended to die of tropical diseases in the New World in this period and for this reason England, France and Spain preferred using slaves as free labor in their American possessions. Many historians attribute a change in this pattern in the 18th century to population increases in Europe.
  However, in the less tropical regions of North America's east coast, large numbers of religious dissidents, mostly English Puritans, settled during the early 17th century. Spanish restrictions on emigration to Latin America were revoked and the English colonies in North America also saw a major influx of settlers attracted by cheap or free land, economic opportunity and the continued lure of religious toleration.
  A period in which various early English colonies had a significant amount of self-rule prevailed from the time of the Plymouth colony's founding in 1620 through 1676, as the mother country was wracked by revolution and general instability. However, King William III decisively intervened in colonial affairs after 1688 and the English colonies gradually came more directly under royal governance, with a marked effect on the type of emigration. During the early 18th century, significant numbers of non-English seekers of greater religious and political freedom were allowed to settle within the British colonies, including Protestant Palatine Germans displaced by French conquest, French Huguenots disenfranchised by an end of religious tolerance, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Quakers who were often Welsh, as well as Presbyterian and Catholic Scottish Highlanders seeking a new start after a series of unsuccessful revolts.
  The English colonists who came during this period were increasingly moved by economic necessity. Some colonies, including Georgia, were settled heavily by petty criminals and indentured servants who hoped to pay off their debts. By 1800, European emigration had transformed the demographic character of the American continent. This was also due in part to the devastating effect of European diseases and warfare on Native American populations.
  The European settlers' influence elsewhere was less pronounced as in South Asia and Africa, European settlement in this period was limited to a thin layer of administrators, traders and soldiers.
caption: Map of colonial empires throughout the world in 1754, prior to the Seven Years' War
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