Who Ruled What? - Three-for-One Edition Quiz

Answer: Spain

At its maximum extent, in the mid-18th century, the Spanish colonial empire - one of the largest in history - included more than one-third of the Americas and various territories in Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

The largest of the Caribbean islands, Cuba was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 27 October 1492, and immediately claimed for the newly established Kingdom of Spain. The island's current capital, Havana, was founded in 1519. With its large plantations - supported by the work of African slaves - Cuba gradually became one of Spain's most important colonies. Surprisingly, while in the early 19th century most of Spain's Central and South American colonies had broken out from Spain, Cuba remained loyal almost until the end of the century, when a strong pro-independence movement arose. Cuba became a protectorate of the United States after the Spanish-American War of 1898, and obtained independence on 20 May 1902.

Though Spanish is no longer an official language in the Philippines - superseded by English - the Spanish influence in the large archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean is still considerable. Named after King Philip II, the islands were colonized by Spain in 1565, and until 1821 were ruled by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City. During the Spanish-American War, the Philippines declared their independence, but the United States - to which they had been ceded at the end of the war - refused to recognize it. After a very tempestuous first half of the 20th century - culminating in the bloody Japanese occupation during WWII - the Philippines finally became independent on 4 July 1946.

Equatorial Guinea is the only sovereign nation in Africa where Spanish is an official language - together with French and Portuguese. Located on the west coast of Central Africa, the country also includes a number of islands, the largest of which - Bioko and Annobon - were initially colonized by the Portuguese in the 1470s. Bioko (then known as Fernando Po) was ceded to the Spanish in 1778, who from there began to colonize the territory on the mainland, later to be known as Rio Muni. Though Spain tried to keep hold of Spanish Guinea by raising its status from colony to province, the push for independence was too strong, and on 12 October 1968 the Republic of Equatorial Guinea was born.

Answer: Germany

After its unification in 1871, Germany set about creating its own colonial empire. Though short-lived (1884-1920), the German colonial empire at its height was the third-largest of its time, comprising sizable sections of Africa and Oceania.

Located on the Atlantic coast of southern Africa, present-day Namibia was known as South-West Africa. The vast, sparsely-populated territory had only a few European settlements - many of them Protestant missions from Germany. The arrival of Bremen merchant Alfred Lüderitz in 1882 led the way to Germany's acquisition of the territory two years later. Rich in mineral resources, South-West Africa became even more profitable for Germany when diamonds were discovered in 1908. Relations between the German colonizers and the native population, however, were very difficult, culminating in a genocidal campaign against the Herero and Namaqua in 1904-1907. During WWI, South-West Africa was occupied by South African troops. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) decreed that South-West Africa would remain a South African possession as a League of Nations mandate. The territory took the name of Namibia when it achieved independence on 20 March 1990.

The mainland part of Tanzania, located on the east coast of Africa, has been continuously inhabited by hominids and humans for over 3 million years. In the mid-19th century, explorations of the interior of the territory attracted the attention of several European powers, including Germany. The colony of German East Africa (which eventually grew to include also Burundi and Rwanda) began in 1885, when the Society for German Colonization founded by adventurer Karl Peters obtained an imperial charter to establish a protectorate in the African Great Lakes region. Native resistance to German expansion was fierce, even though the German administration vastly improved the territory's infrastructure. After Germany's defeat in WWI, German East Africa broke up, and the territory came under British control with the name of Tanganyika. Present-day Tanzania was born on 26 April 1964 from the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

The world's third-smallest sovereign country, Nauru is a tiny island located in Micronesia, north-east of Australia. First sighted by Europeans in 1798, it was given the name of "Pleasant Island", and was often visited by European sailors. Towards the end of the 19th century, Germany took advantage of the civil war that raged for ten years (1878-1888) to annex the island and incorporate it into the Marshall Islands Protectorate. It was under German rule that the phosphate deposits briefly made the island prosperous in the 20th century (though with considerable damage to the environment and the population's health). During WWI, Nauru was captured by Australian troops, and then put under League of Nations trusteeship. Occupied by the Japanese during WWII, Nauru was administered by a United Nations trusteeship until it became independent on 31 January 1968.

Answer: United Kingdom

At its peak in 1920, the British Empire was one of the contenders for the title of "largest empire in history". No wonder it was described as "the empire over which the sun never sets" - a phrase that had been previously used to refer to the Spanish Empire between the 16th and the 18th century.

Located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, the island nation of Mauritius became a Dutch possession at the end of the 16th century; the French then took over in 1715, naming it Isle de France. In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British invaded the colony - which, with the Treaty of Paris of 1814, was officially ceded to the United Kingdom; the nearby island of Réunion, which is also part of the Mascarene Islands, was instead returned to France, to which it still belongs. Under British rule, Mauritius was a plantation colony, like most other territories located in the Tropics. When slavery was abolished in 1833, a large number of indentured labourers from India were brought to the islands: for this reason, over 65% of Mauritius' population is of Indian ethnicity. Independence came to Mauritius on 12 March 1968, though the country kept Queen Elizabeth II as head of state until 1992.

The sultanates of the Malay Peninsula, where now mainland Malaysia is located, came under British influence in the early 19th century, after almost two centuries spent under Dutch control. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 set the boundaries between the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and British Malaya - which also included Singapore. In 1909, another treaty defined the boundaries between Thailand (one of the few Asian countries to have avoided Western colonization) and British Malaya. Of the two Malaysian states located on the island of Borneo, Sabah came under British control in 1878, and Sarawak in 1946. Occupied by Japan during WWII, the Federation of Malaya achieved independence on 31 August 1957; Malaysia came into being on 16 September 1963.

Located in northeastern Central America, Belize is the only country in the region (excluding the Caribbean) that has English as an official language. One of the main hubs of the ancient Maya civilization, in the early 16th century the territory was claimed by Spain, which encountered stiff resistance from the native populations. The first permanent British settlement was founded in 1716; throughout the 18th century, the British settlers had to fend off Spanish attacks. The Crown Colony of British Honduras was formally established in 1862, after years of conflict between the British and the Maya. In the 20th century, a combination of natural and economic disasters encouraged the birth of an independence movement. In 1973, British Honduras changed its name to Belize, and independence was declared on 21 September 1981.

Answer: Portugal

Portugal was the first European power to acquire colonies outside the continent during the Age of Discoveries. The most important of them, Brazil, to this day is the largest Portuguese-speaking nation in the world. Other significant colonies were in Asia and Africa.

The Cape Verde archipelago is the southernmost of the four island groups in the North Atlantic Ocean known as Macaronesia ("Islands of the Blessed"). The islands were one of the first territories to be colonized by Portuguese explorers in the mid-15th century. Because of its location of the coast of West Africa, Cape Verde became a hub for the slave trade, and later an important location for resupplying ships sailing around Africa. Cape Verde's independence from Portugal came on 5 July 1975, a year after the April Revolution that put an end to the authoritarian regime that had ruled Portugal since 1933.

Now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, Macao (or Macau) is located in the West Pearl River Delta, on the South China Sea. In 1557, it was leased to the Portuguese as a trading post by the Ming Dynasty; then, in 1887, Portugal was granted full possession of the territory. Macao was handed over to China on 20 December 1999. The Portuguese cultural influence is still strong in the small territory, which consists of a peninsula and the islands of Taipa and Coloane.

Timor-Leste comprises the eastern part of the island of Timor, in the Indonesian archipelago; its name means simply "East Timor". In 1613, the western half of Timor came under the control of the Dutch East Company, and the Portuguese strengthened their presence in the eastern half of the island, which was officially declared a colony in 1702. East Timor remained in Portuguese hands until 1975, when an anti-colonialist political faction unilaterally declared the territory's independence. East Timor was eventually occupied by Indonesia, with grievous consequences for its people, who were subjected to appalling acts of violence. It took over twenty years for the unfortunate country to have its independence formally recognized on 20 May 2002.

Answer: Soviet Union

Strictly speaking, the Soviet Union was not a colonial empire, but a federal union of 15 socialist republics governed centrally from Moscow. However, the relationship between Russia and its satellite states resembled in many ways the one between a colonizing nation and its possessions.

Located in Central Asia, Uzbekistan is one of two doubly-landlocked countries (the other being Liechtenstein). Inhabited since the 1st millennium BC, the territory of present-day Uzbekistan was part of most of the major empires that held sway in that part of the world, and some of its cities (such as Samarkand and Bukhara) grew prosperous because of their location on the Silk Road. In the 1860s, most of Central Asia was conquered by the Russian Empire, and remained part of the Soviet Union after the Empire's collapse. The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, established in 1924, also included neighbouring Tajikistan; the two republics were separated in 1929. The environmental disaster of the Aral Sea occurred under Soviet rule, when the waters of the rivers that fed the lake were used for irrigation of the country's extensive cotton fields. The independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan was declared on 31 August 1991.

A landlocked country in the Caucasus, Armenia boasts a rich cultural heritage that goes back to the Bronze Age, possibly even earlier. In the 19th century, it was divided between the Ottoman Empire (Western Armenia) and Russia (Eastern Armenia). During WWI, Armenia found itself in the crossfire of the conflict between the two declining empires - which culminated in the genocide of 1915. In 1918, the collapse of both empires led to the establishment of the short-lived First Republic of Armenia, which fell to the Soviet Union in 1920. Together with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Georgia, Armenia was incorporated into the Union. The final years of Armenia as a Soviet Socialist Republic coincided with natural disasters (1988 earthquake) and growing tensions with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenian independence was restored on 23 September 1991.

One of the three Baltic states, sandwiched between Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia was ruled by Sweden, Poland and Lithuania before it was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1795. Like other parts of that vast empire, Latvia took advantage of the power vacuum created by the Russian Revolution to declare its independence in 1919. In 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union assigned Latvia (together with Estonia and Finland) to the Soviet "sphere of influence". Incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, and occupied by Germany in 1941, Latvia suffered heavy population losses during WWII and in the post-war years, when repression against anti-Soviet activities was at its worst. Under Mikhail Gorbachev's more open-minded rule, the pro-independence movement gained momentum; the country's independence was restored on 21 August 1991.

Answer: France

Even if its colonial empire - which at its peak included large portions of Africa and Southeast Asia - is long gone, France, like the UK and the Netherlands, still keeps some of its overseas possessions. The countries listed in the question were all part of the Second French Colonial Empire, which began in 1830 with the conquest of Algiers.

The world's fourth-largest island, located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa, Madagascar was discovered by the Portuguese in 1500. Though trading posts were established by Europeans in the following centuries, the island's rule remained in the hands of various local kingdoms. The political influence of France and Britain, however, steadily grew, until France invaded the island in 1883, eventually overthrowing the Merina Kingdom that had been in power since the mid-16th century. After years of conflict, the French annexed Madagascar in 1896. The years of French rule were not easy for either the colonizers or the colonized: in 1947, a violently repressed uprising led to the deaths of thousands of Malagasy people. Madagascar eventually achieved independence on 26 June 1960.

Formerly known as French Somaliland, Djibouti is a small country in the Horn of Africa. Its territory was ruled by various local sultanates, and then by the Ottoman Eyalet (province) of Egypt. In 1883, the French arrived on an exploratory mission - which, two years later, led to the coastal area around the Gulf of Tadjoura becoming a French protectorate. In 1958, following a referendum, French Somaliland was granted the status of Overseas Territory; in 1967, a second referendum changed its name to French Territory of the Afars and Issas. These changes, however, did not stem a growing struggle for independence that often turned violent. After a third referendum, the territory finally became independent on 27 June 1977 - depriving France of its last outpost in Africa.

Inhabited for thousands of centuries, Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, located in the Indochinese Peninsula. From 1353 to 1707 it was the seat of the wealthy kingdom of Lan Xang, which eventually broke up into three separate kingdoms that came under Burmese and Siamese control. By 1899, the whole territory of present-day Laos had become part of French Indochina, which already included Cambodia and Vietnam. For France, Laos was mainly useful as a buffer between Thailand and Vietnam, as well as a source of labour and raw materials. In February 1945, Laos was invaded by the Japanese, which exploited the growing opposition to France to pressure the king into declaring independence; however, the French resumed control in April 1946. Independence for Laos came on 22 October 1953, while France was engaged in the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh.

Answer: Italy

In the 1880s, two decades after its unification in 1861, the Kingdom of Italy sought to follow other European powers in the creation of a colonial empire, and became involved in what is known as the Scramble for Africa.

When Italy set its sights upon Eritrea, the region in the Horn of Africa was under the control of the Ottoman Empire through the Khedivate of Egypt. The first step towards the establishment of Italian Eritrea was the conquest of the port city of Massawa in 1885; the new colony was officially proclaimed on 1 January 1890. The Italian presence brought many improvements to the country's infrastructure, and many native Italians settled there, especially in the capital Asmara, which was nicknamed "Little Rome". In 1936, after the invasion of Ethiopia, Benito Mussolini declared the birth of the Italian Empire, and Eritrea became part of Italian East Africa together with Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. In 1941, the British invaded Eritrea, and held it under military administration until 1950. Eventually annexed by Ethiopia, Eritrea did not become officially independent until 24 May 1993.

The coastal region of Libya on the Mediterranean Sea was ruled by the Ottoman Empire as the Eyalet (later Vilayet) of Tripolitania from 1551 to 1911. As a consequence of the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912, the Italians seized control of the region, which became known as Italian North Africa. During Mussolini's rule, the colony was split into Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania; like Eritrea, it attracted a large number of Italian settlers. Libyan resistance to Italian rule was fierce, and repression by the Italian military led to many deaths among the Bedouin population. When Italy entered WWII, Libya became the setting for the North African Campaign, which ended with Italy and Germany's defeat in 1943. Under Allied occupation until 1951, Libya declared independence on 10 February 1947.

Located in the Balkan Peninsula, with a coastline on both the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea, Albania had been under Ottoman rule for almost five centuries when it became independent in 1912. In 1925, Albania signed a treaty with Italy that gave the latter a monopoly in shipping and trade concessions. Ahmet Zogu, Albania's president, proclaimed himself king in 1928; however, Italy controlled almost every aspect of the country's political life. Then, in 1939, Italy invaded Albania, making it a protectorate and a dependency. Italy intended to make Albania a colony, and eventually turn it into an Italian land, but the end of the Fascist regime in 1943 intervened. Albania was occupied by Germany, and at the end of WWII became a one-party communist state led by Enver Hoxha.

Answer: Netherlands

The Dutch were among the first empire-builders in Europe - in particular during the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age, when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC) were founded. Dutch explorers discovered new territories - such as Australia and New Zealand - and established coastal forts and settlements in many parts of the known world.

Also known as Dutch Guiana, Suriname is South America's smallest sovereign nation, located in the northeastern part of the continent. The Dutch and the English arrived there in the mid-17th century, establishing plantation colonies in the fertile plains of the region. The Treaty of Breda of 1667 put an end to the disputes between the two countries: in exchange for Surinam (as the name was originally spelled), the Dutch granted the English possession of New Amsterdam, which eventually became New York City. The economy of the colony was heavily based on slavery, and the brutality of the planters towards their slaves led to frequent unrest. When slavery was abolished in 1863, the plantations became reliant on labour imported from Asia - hence the remarkable ethnic and cultural diversity of Suriname's current population. Suriname became independent on 25 November 1975.

First reached by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias in 1487, what is now South Africa became a target of Dutch interest in the mid-17th century. In 1652, a supplying stations for ships sailing to
Asia was established at the Cape of Good Hope on behalf of the VOC; it would later became Cape Town, one of South Africa's three capitals. The Dutch Cape Colony steadily grew and thrived for about 150 years, expanding inland and occupying much of the territory of present-day South Africa. In 1795, Great Britain invaded the Cape Colony to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French, who had invaded the Low Countries. After a brief return of the Dutch in 1803-1806, the colony was once again invaded by the British, and after the end of the Napoleonic Wars became officially part of the British Empire. South Africa became independent on 11 December 1931.

The colony of the Dutch East Indies, consisting of much of present-day Indonesia, was formed in 1800 from the nationalization of the numerous trading posts established by the VOC since they first arrived in the archipelago in the late 16th century. The Dutch presence was strongest on the island of Java, where the capital, Batavia (now Jakarta) was located, while other parts of the islands kept their independence; conflicts with indigenous groups occurred throughout the period in which the Dutch were in control. However, by the early 20th century Dutch domination had extended to the whole territory of what is now Indonesia. Dutch rule ended in 1941 with the Japanese invasion of the islands. Two days after the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, Indonesia declared itself independent. Four years later, on 27 December 1949, the Netherlands finally recognized the country's independence, bowing to international pressure.

Answer: Belgium

Compared to other European powers, Belgium came late to the colonial game. The kingdom's overseas possession, all acquired in the early years of the 20th century, consisted of two territories located in Central Africa, which now correspond to three sovereign countries.

The second-largest country in Africa after Algeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was known as Belgian Congo from 1908 to 30 June 1960, when it achieved independence with the name of Republic of the Congo-Léopoldville. However, before it became a colony of the Belgian kingdom, the vast territory (which is almost completely landlocked, with a very short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean) was a personal possession of King Leopold II, acquired in 1885 during the Scramble for Africa, and named Congo Free State. Before that, the huge Congo Basin, one of the world's largest areas of tropical rainforest, had not been claimed by any European nation because of its challenging environmental conditions (including the prevalence of dangerous tropical diseases). During the 23 years of the Congo Free State's existence, numerous well-documented atrocities were committed against the native population - whose disclosure led to the end of Leopold's tyrannical rule.

Rwanda and Burundi, two small landlocked countries located east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were two separate kingdoms - Ruanda and Urundi - when they became part of German East Africa at the end of the 19th century. In 1916, while WWI was raging in Europe, the Belgians occupied the two territories, which in 1922 were eventually awarded to Belgium as a Class-B Mandate of the League of Nations. After the formal dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946, Ruanda-Urundi remained under Belgian control until 1 July 1962, when it became independent with the name of Rwanda-Burundi. Burundi became a separate republic on 28 November 1966.

Answer: Ottoman Empire

In its heyday, the Ottoman (or Turkish) Empire ruled most of the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in 1299, it was officially abolished in 1922, after its defeat in WWI.

Located in the Balkan Peninsula, with a coastline on the Black Sea, Bulgaria first became a state in 681; the Cyrillic script was developed there, probably in the 9th century. The First Bulgarian Empire was eventually conquered by the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century, but a successful revolt in 1185 established the Second Bulgarian Empire. By the end of the 14th century, the Second Bulgarian Empire had all but disintegrated, and the Ottoman Turks took over in 1396. Bulgaria remained part of the Ottoman Empire - which suppressed its culture and imposed heavy taxes - until the Turks were defeated by Russia in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). The country became officially independent from the Ottoman Empire on 5 October 1908.

Located in the Eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon is the ancient home of the Phoenician civilization. In 1516, it was ceded to the Ottoman Empire by the Mamluk Sultanate that had ruled the country since the late 13th century. When, at the end of WWI, the Ottoman Empire was dismembered, in 1920 the State of Greater Lebanon was created under French and British mandate. The country's independence dates from 22 November 1943.

One of the cradles of Western civilization, Egypt has a history that goes back to the 6th millennium BC. In 1517, the Mamluk Sultanate was defeated by the Ottoman Turks, and Egypt became an "eyalet" (province) of the Ottoman Empire, with semi-autonomous status. Ottoman rule ended temporarily in 1798 with Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion, but then resumed with the ascent of the Muhammad Ali dynasty in 1805. Egypt declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1914, shortly after the start of WWI, and was a British protectorate until 28 February 1922.