European control of the world (war, Roman, greatest, England)

[krsheely]

This is a hard to define question/statement but here goes,

Has there ever in histroy a period of time similar to what occured during the period of colinization?

Has there ever been a period of time when such a small group of countries which are all not very great in size controlled so much of the world.

I understand they all did not get along so it doesnt count as one country owning everything. But let's say those 5 or 6 countries (ENGLAND,FRANCE,SPAIN,NETHERLANDS,PORTUGAL) controlled what % of the world? 65-70%, also add to the fact that these groups of countries generally held them for numerous years, and when territory was lost it was very rarely lost to anyone other than another European power. So while they were not exactly working together it was most definatley a mentality of EUROPE>WORLD, at least until the independence movements started.

[Dd714]

Mongolian Empire under the Kahns held land from Korea down to India across the Europe and the Suez.
Roman Empire conquered a majority of what was considered the civilized world in the west.
Greek conquests under Alexander conquered from Europe, down to Africa, across to India.
These leave out major portions of the world - the far east (under Greece and Rome), sub saharan Africa, and the America's. So your answer is of course, no, before the period of colonization there was never one power or group of powers that controlled a large portion of the world. And during those times the rest of the world was still in unorganized roaming tribes of hunter/gatherers or operating in loose city-states (with some local exceptions - some African tribes and Chinese dynasties, Inca and Mayan kingdoms, etc).

[krsheely]

Yes, the actual reason for my thread was because I was just browsing through old threads and saw a map that showed empires of the middle east using a timeline. This showed me that (in general) with each new civilization the amount of land controlled got larger and larger, again with a few exceptions.

Also what would you guys consider the most profitable colony of any empire? Im guessing INDIA?

[krsheely]

Something that impresses me about the European countries, particularly England, because it seemed to control the most vast areas with the greatest space in between. Was the logistical feats they acomplished in maintaining such a vast amount of land. As well as the fact that they did take a rather active role in most affairs of the colonies.

[Retroit]

It was only possible with the advances in the long-range sailing ship and navigation. INDIA would be my guess as well, at least initially.

[Escort Rider]

Irony abounds in world history as in other areas of life. These dominate European colonizing nations which fought each other so often over the centuries have finally and slowly united in the wake of World War II, an event which marked the essential end of their colonial empires. The victors, primarily England and France, were too weakened by what amounted to their pyhrric victory to hold onto their empires. I am speaking about their unity in the immensely positive developments of NATO and the European Union. It's too bad economic rot and decay from within, epitomized by the undisciplined Greeks but not limited to them, is taking away from the good example of peaceful cooperation and collective self-defense which had been created.

[jtur88]

Control of the world was not possible until A) we knew it was there and B) we knew how to get there. Once those had been attained, it was pretty much automatic that tyrants would set their sights on it.