Colonial Rivarly of the European Powers

Spain and Portugal were the first colonial empires . Sharp colonial and sea – trade rivalry developed between the two countries . To avoid an open conflict , they concluded an agreement in 1529 ; according to the agreement the world was divided in two halves , from pole to pole , the Spaniards having the right to seize colonies in one half and the Portuguese in the other . That was the first colonial division of the world . But the antagonisms between Spain and Portugal did not disappear and other invaders – Holland , England and France – began to appear in the world arena . In the 17th century , crowding out Spain and Portugal , Holland became one of the largest colonial powers . Dutch conqueror merchants had penetrated into India as far back as the end of the 16th century . A united East – India Company was organised in 1602 ( it existed until 1798 ) ; the company had a monopoly right to trade in the Indian and Pacific oceans . The Dutch merchants and their hirelings enslaved the people of Indonesia and predatorily exploited the riches of this tropical country . They annihilated the ” superfluous ” ( from the Dutch point of view ) population of the islands and burned a mass of valuable products in order to keep up high prices . In 1621 the Dutch set up the West – India Company which conducted operations on the American continent . colonial knowledge and In the middle of the 17th century the Dutch forced the Portuguese out of the southern part of Africa and founded their own colony – the ” Cape Colony ” . In 1656 the Dutch crowded the Portuguese out of Ceylon . But Holland was predominantly a trading country with a less developed industry , and in the sharp rivalry between Holland and industrial England the latter gained the upper hand . In particular , as the result of Anglo – Dutch wars , the English took the place of the Dutch in North America . The English colonial rise was hindered primarily by the powers – Portugal and Spain . With the approval of their government and without declaring war English warships attacked Spanish sea caravans sailing from America to Europe and looted them . The culmination of the Anglo – Spanish colonial and naval rivalry was the misfortune of the famous Invincible Armada ( 1588 ) destroyed by the English fleet . England rapidly became the ” ruler of the waves ” . However , it was not this high – sounding title that the young English bourgeoisie needed . The rule of the waves was a means of achieving domination on land . By the 17th century England had completed the conquest

Ancient Greek Colonisation

Greek colonisation progressed apace with the formation of the polises , stemming from those regions of Greece where the clan aristocracy was in power . By concentrating the land in its own hands and thus dooming the masses of freemen to impoverishment , it forced them to leave the land . They were joined by the poor of the cities and the polises , by craftsmen who had become bankrupt as a result of the grow ing competition of slave labour , by small and middle land owners . Many of the colonists were aristocrats who had emigrated from their polises for political reasons . The merchants were tempted to undertake distant journeys by the lure of great riches to be gained in salt , grain , metals and slaves . In the 8th – 6th centuries B.C. Greek colonies appeared on the Mediterranean Coast of present – day France , Spain and Italy , in the Nile delta , on the Black Sea and Azov Sea coasts . These were independent polises which maintained close cul tural and economic ties with the metropolis . Greek colonisation played a tremendous role both in the history of the Greeks themselves and of the peoples with whom they came into close and prolonged contact .

The struggle of the Towns Against the Feudal Lords

The medieval towns were located on lands owned by feud al lords and were thus under their rule ; initially the feudal tract the greatest possible profit from it . That is why the bud ding town bodies of self – government had to enter into a conflict with the feudal lords . In the struggle to establish the rights of the town commun ity the entire population would rise up against the feudal lord . The outcome of thiş struggle determined the political structure of the town and its further dependence upon the feudal lord , from the right of the citizens to collect taxes to complete self – government . The self – governing towns , which became independent political units ( in France they were called communes ) , had their own courts , garrisons , finances , etc. The inhabitants of a city – commune were exempt from paying the usual taxes to the feudal lord . In Western Europe the self – governing city – republics first appeared in Italy , France , the Netherlands and , later , in Ger many in the 11th – 12th centuries ) . In the 11th century Nov gorod Veliky was a distinctive republic in Rus . Many towns , especially those which had arisen on royal lands , did not receive the right to self – government as com munes but enjoyed a number of privileges and freedoms . The elected town bodies acted jointly with representatives of the feudal lord or the royal officials . The town council was the supreme elected body in the towns ; it mustered the local guard , controlled the crafts and issued various ordinances . An elected citizen headed the town council . In France and England he was called a mayor , in Germany a burgomaster , etc. Small towns which had neither the necessary military force nor the means to oppose the feud al lord remained under the jurisdiction of the latter . One feature all the towns had in common was the fact that the inhabitants had achieved personal freedom . Any peasant who had lived in a town for a year and a day became a free man .In Asia the towns also fought against the feudal lords but , as a rule , these bitter struggles usually ended in the defeat of the former ; the inhabitants were thus unable to achieve self – government .