The most exhaustive reference work available on this critical subject in world history, focusing on the politics, economy, culture, and society of both colonizers and colonized. "The history of the last 500 years is the history of imperialism," writes editor Melvin Page. In the Americas, as a result of imperialist conquest, disease, famine, and war nearly wiped out a population estimated in the tens of millions. Africa was devastated by the slave trade, an integral part of imperialism from the 1400s to the 1800s. In Asia, even though native populations survived, native political institutions were destroyed. Imperialism also forged the two most important ideologies of the last five centuries--racialism and modern nationalism. In more than 600 essays presented in this three-volume encyclopedia, Page and other leading scholars--historians, political scientists, economists, and sociologists--analyze the origins of imperialism, the many forms it took, and its impact worldwide. They also explore imperialism's bitter legacy: the gross inequities of global wealth and power that divide the former conquerors--primarily Europe, the United States, and Japan--from the people they conquered. 600 entries covering ideologies, religions, theory, geography, imperial nations, colonies, colonized regions, ethnic groups, individuals, and treaties Contributions from an international team of academic experts in history, political science, economics, sociology, and other social sciences A collection of documents representing each imperial power as well as primary sources relating to multiple empires and areas of the world to provide a deeper understanding of the processes of colonialism, which encompassed virtually the entire globe Extensive chronologies of various imperial empires (Austro-Hungarian, Belgian, British, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Ottoman, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and United States) provide context for the diverse entries

Available online or as a four-volume print set, The Encyclopedia of Empire provides exceptional in-depth, comparative coverage of empires throughout human history and across the globe. Features over 400 peer-reviewed entries, including both short definitional entries as well as discursive, essay-style articles on major topics and themes Coverage includes individual empires, people, events and ideas that shaped the imperial experience as well as comparative themes such as environment, slavery, law, and weaponry Reflects the recent resurgence of interest in this interdisciplinary and dynamic field of study, with newer approaches included alongside traditional topics 4 Volumes www.encyclopediaofempire.com

Volume 1, The Explorers, presents more than 950 biographical entries that begin with birth and death dates, nationality, occupations, and areas of the world explored, followed by an account of the subject's exploration activities. Among the explorers who are covered are the well known, such as Neil Armstrong, Ferdinand Magellan, and Ernest Shackleton, but also the less familiar, such as Ahmad Ibn Fadlan (fl. 920s), whose record of his diplomatic mission from Baghdad to Russia and eastern Europe is the earliest account of that region in pre-Christian times, and Koncordie Dietrich (1821-91), a German naturalist whose travels through the Australian outback resulted in the largest collection of flora and fauna assembled by a woman. Entries range from two or three paragraphs to four pages in length and are accompanied by 144 illustrations and photographs. Appendixes list explorers by occupation, by region of activity, by nationality or sponsoring country, and in chronological order by birth date. Volume 2, Places, Technologies, and Cultural Trends, has more than 260 A-Z entries on such topics as Aerial photography, Circumnavigation of the world, Drift ice, Fur trade, Native peoples and exploration, Orinoco River, Virginia Company, and Women explorers. Entries range in length from 2 paragraphs to more than 10 pages and are accompanied by 67 photographs and illustrations and 62 maps. An appendix contains maps by region; by ancient routes in the Mediterranean, Europe, and Asia; by new water routes; and by the interior in Asia, the Americas, the Pacific Ocean and Australia, Africa, the Arctic, and the Antarctic. The volume concludes with a very thorough chronology of exploration, a further reading list for the set, a list of volume 2 entries by subject, and a 35-page cumulative index for both volumes. In both volumes, capital letters are used in the text to designate terms that are also entry headings.

The overseas empires of Western Europe, including the US first as colony then as colonizer, is deemed here to have ended in the middle to late 20th century. Over 400 articles provide information about such aspects as economic concepts and ideas, explorations and migrations, industries, organizations and institutions, people and peoples, religions,

The Palgrave Encyclopedia Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism objectively presents the prominent themes, epochal events, theoretical explanations, and historical accounts of imperialism from 1776 to the present. It is the most historically and academically comprehensive examination of the subject to date.