English.—No colonizing power of Eu rope has had a career of such uniform prosperity as Great Britain. After many fruitless attempts to find a N. E. or N. W. passage to the East Indies, English vessels found their way round the Cape of Good Hope to the East In dies in 1591, and the East India Com pany was established in 1600. On the suppression of the Indian mutiny (1857 1858) the government of India was transferred to the crown by act of par liament in 1858. The English claim to North America, though allowed to lie dormant for nearly a century, was not relinquished and in the reign of Eliza beth, led to colonization on a large scale. Australia was discovered in the begin ning of the 17th century, and the first Australian settlements were British penal colonies. In 1851 the discovery of the abundance of gold in Victoria gave a great impetus to the prosperity of the Australian colonies. In 1874 the Fiji Islands, and in 1884 part of New Guinea, were annexed as crown colonies. In south Africa, Cape Colony, first settled by the Dutch in 1652, became an English colony in 1814. The latest annexations in this quarter are Griqualand West (1880), the Transkeian Territories (1875-1884), Walfisch Bay (1884), Bechuanaland (1885), the former Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics (1900). The Protectorate of Southwest Africa, taken from Germany in 1915, and administrated under a mandate by the Union of South Africa. Further N. are the crown colonies, Lagos, the Niger Districts, the Gold Coast, Gambia, and Sierra Leone, all, except Lagos, which was acquired in 1851, ancient possessions of the British Crown. Togoland and a part of Cameroon, both conquests from the Germans. In Europe, Great Britain has a few colonies acquired for military reasons, Gibraltar in 1704, Malta and Gozzo, 1800.
French.—Among the most important are Pondicherry, and a few other small territories in India; Cochin-China, Ton quin, and the protectorates of Annam and Cambodia in southeastern Asia; New Caledonia, the Loyalty and Marquesas Islands, etc., in Oceania; in Africa, Al geria, Tunis, Senegambia, Islands of Re union, the protectorate of Madagascar, etc.; in America, Martinique, Guade
loupe, St. Bartholomew, and Guiana. Al geria is now officially a French depart ment. One senator and one deputy are allowed to represent French Indo-China in the Chambers of Paris. Cochin-China, populated by Annamites, Cambodians, Chinese, Malays and Malabarians, is en titled, however, to but one representative, a deputy. Tonquin, the adjacent French colony, is not represented, the govern ment being administered by resident French officials. The African colonists are administered by the Minister of the Colonies through governors or commis sioners-general. Algeria, however, on the N. coast, is given a distinct govern ment and laws, and is looked upon as a part of the Republic, the Chambers alone having the right to legislate for it. Crossing to the West Indies, France allows Martinique and Guadeloupe each one senator and two deputies. French Guiana, however, has only one repre sentative, a deputy.
Germans and Danes.—Germany made a strong effort to take rank as a colonial power, and acquired in Africa the terri tories of Damaraland and Liideritzland to the N. of Cape Colony, the Kamerun District, a considerable portion of terri tory formerly claimed by the Sultan of Zanzibar, the Kilima-Njaro, the greater part of Somaliland, etc.; also in the Pa cific a portion of New Guinea, now called Kaiser Wilhelm's Land; the Bismarck Archipelago; and the Caroline, Pelew, and Ladrone (excepting Guam) Islands. These colonies were all lost by the pro visions of the Treaty of Versailles. By the terms of the treaty Great Britain was given a mandate for the former German African colonies, Australia ad ministers the Bismarck Archipelago and Kaiser Wilhelm's Land. Denmark's de pendencies, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, though of considerable extent, are of small value.
The United States has acquired Porto Rico, the Philippine and Sulu Islands, the Ladrone Island of Guam; and the Virgin Islands (Danish West Indies) by treaty and purchase ($25,000,000) in 1916.