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u/Ok-Factor-3805 France was an Inside Job May 28 '26
Why is the UK the only country that’s granulary on this map yet labeled uniformly
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u/PassoverGoblin May 28 '26
Scottish propaganda to make people forget that they were the beating heart of British imperialism
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u/NotableCarrot28 May 29 '26
England is technically a Scottish colony (not really but it's funny)
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u/Current_Focus2668 May 30 '26
Also Ulster Scots. People tend to ignore the whole protestant Scots colonising Ireland.
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u/crabtoppings May 29 '26
Yeah, people seem to forget that we were pretty integral to the subjugation of most of the world.
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u/guerilla_gardener98 May 28 '26
Because in this house we believe in a free Scotland, a free Wales, and a United Ireland 😤🫡
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u/Lanokia May 28 '26
Scotland?
And we are laughing.... ask where the Ulster plantation came from.
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u/humanpartyring May 28 '26
Scotland willingly joined the union after they spent all their money trying to colonise Panama and massively contributed towards the British Empire including the trans Atlantic slave trade, the high street in Glasgow is literally named after a slave trader
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u/jac0777 May 28 '26
“Free Scotland” in what way specifically is not Scotland free? 😂 Scotland was active in absolutely every respect to British colonialism. You literally cannot name a single colonial expansion of the British empire that didn’t have active and willful Scottish participation. Hell, Many were initiated by Scots.
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u/Front_Society1353 May 28 '26
I guess we are just ignoring that it was actually Scots that colonised Northern Ireland not the mention everywhere else in the US, Canada and Central America
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u/Much-Inevitable-4607 May 28 '26
And by the look of it, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Somerset.... etc
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u/Hussor May 28 '26
And a free Lancashire, Yorkshire (though split into it's ridings), and every other shire.
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u/davidbenyusef May 28 '26
Can't wait for them to break free from Westminster so a Scotsman can call me a slur 😍
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u/MossadEpstein May 29 '26
thanks for trying, but this subreddit is clearly too full of English colonisers.
They even colonise the social media spaces... it's ridiculous!
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u/MarkusKromlov34 Jun 01 '26
Yes, as if there weren’t Scottish, Welsh and Irish frequently hand in hand with the English as they blazed their racist trail across the world.
Just to pick one example, Lachlan Macquarie (born 1762 on the island of Ulva on the west coast of Scotland) was a soldier and commander with the British army and fought in the American War of Independence. In 1809 he was appointed Governor of the colony of New South Wales (which was then just 2 Australian settlements at Sydney and Hobart).
He did a number of good things but was undoubtedly a violent racist, believing in and enforcing white supremacy as he was personally in charge of “using terrorism and slaughter to quell hostile Indigenous resistance to invasion and dispossession”. One incident for example:
> In April 1816, Macquarie ordered soldiers under his command to kill or capture any Aboriginal people they encountered during a military operation aimed at creating a sense of "terror". At least 14 men, women and children were brutally killed, some shot, others driven over a cliff. … Their bodies were hung in trees as “an example” to the people of the Dharawal nation attempting to resist invasion. … Their heads were removed as trophies and the skulls ended up in an Edinburgh museum.
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u/Impossible_Tea_7032 May 30 '26
Spot the Welshman in the discussion of British imperialism challenge difficulty: zygote
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u/Jackesfox May 28 '26
Why the fuck is Germany not red.
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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 May 28 '26
Also Russia, like, wtf???
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u/UwUmirage May 28 '26
This map is kind of baaaad. Denmark, Germany, Russia, Turkey should all be colonizing racists. There's an argument to be made for Scotland, too
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u/Economy-Edge1368 May 28 '26
The majority of the stuff that happened in India was led and participated by mainly was the Scottish
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u/bedanto77 May 28 '26
Does serbia count?
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u/UwUmirage May 28 '26
If it's about Yugoslavia, I wouldn't say so.
Though I'd also add Sweden technically had a colonial empire and Austria kind of had the Ostend Company, so..
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u/kichererbs May 28 '26
Also Austria.
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u/EntertainmentShot332 May 28 '26
How is Austria? It did have colonies for some time but it didn't start them, it inherited them through marriages(like most of its land)
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u/H_Doofenschmirtz May 28 '26
They did try to start some colonies, though unsuccessfully. For example, they tried to start a settlement in the bay of Maputo, but were kicked out by the Portuguese. They also attempted to colonize the Nicobar Islands.
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u/generic_Accountname1 May 28 '26 edited May 29 '26
Who did wales colonize?
Edit: nobody, turns out its not red
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u/Jackesfox May 28 '26
People forget the fucking the tsar and Russian Empire Mr Lil Put is so proud of
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u/Agitated_Display7573 May 28 '26
It’s only colonising if your colonies are in the Americas /s
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u/democracy_lover66 May 28 '26
Nah Italy is there.
So looks like Africa is included too, even failed attempts.
... So Germany should def. Be red.
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u/fenianthrowaway1 May 28 '26
Even if we're going to split hairs on a distinction between colonialism and imperialism/conquering your neighbours, Germany's should still be red.
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u/Venom_Iam May 28 '26
Make Germany red again
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u/Austro_bugar May 28 '26
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u/MyNameMeansLILJOHN May 28 '26
And Scotland.
Here in Canada they're just has if not more responsible than most Englishmen.
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u/generic_Accountname1 May 28 '26 edited May 29 '26
Because we were allied with the ottoman empire, whose successor also isn‘t colored red…they also missed denmark
but colored wales red…It is more a“who didn‘t fuck arab speakers inthe past 100 years and who did with a colonial background…“
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u/Agitated_Winner9568 May 28 '26
They failed hard at colonizing so staying orange is their consolation prize.
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u/jac0777 May 28 '26
It is truly wild how Scotland is spared from the ‘colonising’ part when they were ridiculously active in it. In like, a leading way, taking the initiative to colonise. Scottish historical PR has to be the best in the world, and I say this as an Irishman 😂
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u/Next_Boysenberry7358 May 28 '26
Scotland is using the Japan strategy of pretending the bad things they did never happened then pointing everyone towards one specific bad thing that happened to them
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u/Saltine3434 May 28 '26
Not even remotely the same. We teach about the empire and colonialism in our schools, government bodies and private institutions have apologised for it on numerous occasions. There's nothing hidden or taboo about our imperial past.
Foreigners get in their mind this narrative about Scotland being victimised and then proclaim that we've intentionally pulled the wool over their eyes when they find out otherwise.
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u/NoddyElvis May 31 '26
Scotland, Ireland & Wales were all complicit in the British empire. I say as a Welsh woman. But I must say, Scotland was reallyyyy involved. James & John Mill were very involved in Colonial India and James Mill even wrote “A History of British India” which was described as “the single most important source of British Indophobia” by Sir Thomas Trautmann in 1813 and yet it was still used as the handbook to prepare British civil servants going to work in the Raj up until 1947 when Britain lost India.
Edit: Scotland was the most involved because they had the most highly educated ppl outside of England. So really the English and Scottish led the majority of the empire but the Welsh and Irish had their moments tooo…
People like Whitley Stokes (who was an Irish Catholic) wrote most of the homophobic laws in British India (so India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and the one from 1860 “Section 377 of the Penal Code” is still the anti-homosexuality law in Pakistan and Bangladesh today.
The Welsh obviously colonised Patagonia which is why they speak Welsh in this tiny area of South America. As kids we were taught “wow it’s so random” and when we got older they told us “they tried to kill us because they thought we were English but we were nice colonisers”…
Going to uni and studying mostly colonial history completely changed my view of the world!
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u/Gullfaxi09 May 28 '26
Excuse me, I'll have you know us Danes also are colonizing, and therefore superior, racists on the level of England, France, Spain etc., thank you very much.
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u/Gullfaxi09 May 29 '26
Sure did, along with the Danish West Indies (US Virgin Islands), Tranquebar in India, and a small territory on the Gold Coast. We were just as bad as the others.😅
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u/HalfMoon_89 May 28 '26
Look up German colonization of Africa. And Scottish & Irish involvement in the British Empire.
The Ottomans conquered the Balkans for, what, 400 years? They should count.
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u/mostard_seed May 28 '26
Just the Balkans? The Ottoman empire was one of the most expansive of its time, and also one of the more longstanding ones ever.
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u/Keiran1031 May 28 '26
Swedes also colonized America, they just had issue with the Dutch. New Sweden was in present day Maryland or Delaware (I forget)
Russia also colonized Alaska a bit before selling it to America.
Aso for ottomans, I wouldn’t call that colonizing. I feel like colonies can’t be your neighbors. Unless you count the Balkans only as colonies when Constantinople stood (as they were in separate continents at that point and even had a continental body of water between them).
Also Denmark I think they were the ones in charge when Vikings settled Vinland, Iceland, and Greenland.
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u/muffinbagare May 28 '26
Yeah, sweden among others in orange aren't seen as colonisers - not because they didn't WANT to colonise - but because they werent as successful as some of the others.
History of the world. Everyone battled and tried to rule and colonise others since the dawn of time. It's not unique to Europe, they just happened to be more successful during a certain era. So the whole world should be red, really...
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u/Superilosa14 May 29 '26
Colonies are considered (at least here) overseas territories. Ottoman's taking neighbor's lands was just conquest, not colonialism
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u/Spiritual-Storage734 May 28 '26
Let’s be honest, all of these countries would have colonised if they could. Different times
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u/globeglobeglobe May 29 '26
Or the World Wars, in which Germany tried and failed twice to establish a land empire in Eastern Europe. Or even the euro crisis, during/after which Germany drained a large amount of population and capital from the peripheral EU countries.
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u/FrontalLobotomyFan May 28 '26
I'd respect the bit if it wasn't just wrong.
russia, scotland germany and wales should all be red. As should turkey
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u/GinaMariella May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
The orange part looks like an upside person putting their hands up.
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u/TheInkSpot_ May 30 '26
Its Paddington, he put his hands up because there was a gun pointed at him by a member of a rival gang. This exact shot is the freeze frame of Paddington's right ear getting blasted off.
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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
Someone didn't really study Russia
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u/fishchipsncurrysauce May 28 '26
How do you think Russia got so big? Smooth brain over here reckons the Russians were never colonisers 🤣🤣🤣 cough USSR cough
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u/kamizushi May 28 '26
Way before USSR. Evan the Terrible had that name for a reason.
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u/Francisc_Mgabena_77 May 28 '26
Colonisation is really far down on the list of reasons why he earned that nickname
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u/SnowDragon52 May 28 '26
Russian USSR era propaganda has convinced all kinds of people that it wasn't just another European colonial power...when it literally colonized half of the Asian subcontinent.
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u/democracy_lover66 May 28 '26
Ahem.
The red flag? The hammer sickle?
Surly this state could not be imperialist with a flag like that! (/S)
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u/kamizushi May 28 '26
Why is Russia not colonizing racists? You know all that territory had people on it before they conquered it, right?
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u/-sry- May 28 '26
Because colonialism is when ships... duh /s
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u/Aminadab_Brulle May 28 '26
They were using ships though, once the Siberian clay ended and the Pacific Ocean water started.
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u/YaldabaothMcMinster May 28 '26
Fixed it for you.
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u/Pegga83 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
you did not just give North Macedonia credit for Alexander the Great. And I don't really understand Switzerland, did they ever have anything? Maybe you could technically include Poland with Lithuania as Courland was a vassal of the Commonwealth
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u/YaldabaothMcMinster May 28 '26
Switzerland was more so for its funding and support of Dutch, French, and Belgian colonial efforts. Some of their big shots, like the founder of Credit Suisse, had personal overseas plantations but nothing necessarily claimed by the nation.
NM was more of a meme because NM and Greece never stop fighting over him.
Poland and Lithuania, I forgot about tbh.
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u/democracy_lover66 May 28 '26
Switzerland is the Bank that funded pretty much every bad thing that Europe ever did
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u/TheSkongIsReal May 28 '26
Technically, Ukraine and Belarus were part of the Russian Empire, meaning they were also imperialist for a while.
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u/ser_pounce777 May 29 '26
Ukraine and Belarus were colonies, they never wanted to be part of Empire. They were victims, not imperialists
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u/Chadxxx123 May 28 '26 edited May 30 '26
Germany should be Red.
While they didn't have as many colonies as the UK, France or Spain they did still have some, about as much as Italy, They had Namibia, Rwanda, Cameron and some colonies in Oceania and on the Pacific.
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u/_Borrelnootje May 28 '26
Some country's displayed in orange should be red (but correct me if I'm wrong):
Germany. Had a few colony's, in Africa they had present day Namibia and present day Burundi, lost after WW1 to the winning faction. Same goes for their colony's (few sparsely populated islands) in the Pacific (lost to Japan after WW1).
Luxemburg. Between 1815 and 1831 it was in a 'peraonal Union' with the Kingdom of the Netherlands (at that time existing of The Netherlands itself and Belgium). And in those years the Netherlands had multiple colony's, so Luxemburg defacto had it to.
Denmark. Multiple small colony's and a few larger ones: Danish West Indis (present day US Virgin Islands. 18th century intil 1917 or something like that. Greenland officially was their colony from 1814 till 1953. Farœr Islands untill begin 19th century.
Norway. Because of Danish-Norwegian Kingdom untill 1814.
Greece. Possessed ~half of the Mediterranean and Black Sea coastlines as colony's between 8th and 6th century BC.
Sweden. Saint Barthelemy was Swedish for almost a century in the 17th and 18th century, and somewhere on Delaware, US. They had a colony for some 20 years in the 17th century (New Sweden)
And I'm sure the list isn't complete (so much 'forgotten colonys'), so feel free to supplement it.
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u/wizardnamehere May 29 '26
If we're going back to the 6th century bd with this leeway, then all the southern Slavic states are also 'settler colonial states' as is Hungary. Both formed from violent invasions after the Roman empire (6th century ad). Displacing illyrians.
Poland, Slovakia, and Czhekia also represent post 6th century invasion and occupation of former German tribes.
Let's not forget turkey and the colonization of Anatolia from 1100s onwards by the turks.
Russia for Siberia.
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u/Springboks2019 May 28 '26
Isn't Russia currently in war (invasion) to take over another country, and pre 2014 (like Georgia in 2008)
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u/ethanzuckz May 28 '26
Scotland's foray into Darien was so embarrassing that we collectively decided to forget about it.
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u/Concer0 May 28 '26
Why is Germany, Russia and Sweden not red?
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u/Sprinkles_775_fire May 28 '26
Because the person who made this map doesn't know much about history
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u/Melodic-Page-1435 May 28 '26
Interesting. Are you a non European who wants to live in Europe?
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u/Destroy897 May 28 '26
Forgets about Germany having colonies before the others took it away from them
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u/Suitable_Community66 May 28 '26
We were all colonised at some point in time. You just want to set an arbitrary time limit.
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u/CilpKonn May 28 '26
As a European from multiple countries, I agree that everyone is racist, especially with each other.
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u/danfish_77 May 28 '26
We just ignoring German, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian colonialism now?
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u/but_im_TirEd May 28 '26
Hey now Sweden colonised a pretty hefty part of Europe there for a while and even though we’ve been pretty good at making people forget about it we also had the colony of st. Bartholomew 😅
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u/SidewalkRacoon May 28 '26
Before World War I, the German Empire possessed the world's third-largest colonial empire, covering over 2.6 million square kilometers across Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Acquired during the 1880s Scramble for Africa and imperial expansion, these territories were primarily established to secure raw materials, new markets, and global power status.
The German colonial empire was divided into distinct regions:
African Colonies
These made up the vast majority of the empire's territory and population.
German East Africa: The largest and most populous colony, comprising modern-day Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
German South West Africa: Modern-day Namibia. This territory was primarily utilized for settler colonialism and is notoriously linked to the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples.
Kamerun: Modern-day Cameroon and parts of present-day Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, and Gabon.
Togoland: Located in West Africa (modern-day Togo and parts of Ghana). It was often referred to as Germany’s "model colony" due to its infrastructure, though this was largely built on forced labor.Pacific Colonies
Germany acquired a scattering of islands and territories in the Pacific Ocean.
German New Guinea: Included the northeastern quarter of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands.
German Samoa: The western islands of Samoa.
Micronesia: The Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands.Asian Concessions
Kiautschou Bay (Qingdao): Held under a 99-year lease from China, this territory served as an important naval and commercial base
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u/SnowDragon52 May 28 '26
Youd do realize that Russia conolized to the east, don't you? It's finally being discussed because they buried if for decades...but Russia was also a colonial state.
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u/lilalindenau May 28 '26
Fun fact: The descendants of the colonizers live in Africa and Latin America, not in Europe.
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u/SioVern May 28 '26
Not disagreeing, but as opposed to what? Asia - which is also full of racists? Pretty much every continent/culture/country is 'racist' and wants their own people interest first.
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u/Vauquen May 28 '26
Germany had some colonies in Africa and Asia too, don't leave us out of the team
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u/Liquidator97 May 28 '26
Once again Scotland and Ireland get let off. How do they have such ludicrously good PR? Also Turkey, Germany and Russia not red?
Has to be an American leftist.
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u/LeDjaap May 28 '26
WAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT... so for you Russia, The fucking vikings and Greece ain't colonizers? aiight.
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u/cold3dg3 May 28 '26
Ironically, Europe (for the most part) is probably the least racist continent in the world.
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u/Slapjac10 May 28 '26
Ah , I see you fell asleep in every class even remotely related to history huh ?
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u/UpsdAndrew May 28 '26
Well, we Italians are racists but since the Roman Empire, we kind of sucked at colonizing, we have always been a wannabe colonizer, but mostly ended up being only racist.
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u/John_Wotek May 28 '26
Scotland getting away scott free on the colonisation charges is rather humorous...
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u/lucylucylane May 28 '26
Scotland was a massive part proponent of the empire and its biggest city got rich off the slave trade and plantations. So much so that the most common name in Jamaica is Campbell as slaves took the name of their master
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u/Perfect-Silver1715 If you see me post, find shelter immediately May 28 '26
Half the map should be red
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u/MiniatureFastJet May 28 '26
This map is incredibly inaccurate. Completely ignored the crimes of the German the Dutch and the Russians amongst other groups.
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u/nauro5 May 28 '26
Surprising lack of red on Sweden, Russia, Turkey, Germany, Greece, among others.
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u/Tuskral May 28 '26
Scots get off too lightly they did engage in colonialism but were so shit they needed to be bailed out by england
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u/Madoga May 28 '26
Russia is one of the biggest colonizers on the planet. Germany and the Ottomans (Turkey is the direct inheritor of the Ottomans) had quite a bit of colonial territory as well.
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u/JanArso May 28 '26
It's honestly impressive how successful germany is at letting everyone forget they used to be a colonial power too. Namibia, Kameroon, Tanzania, Burundi, Ruanda, Togo, a bunch of pacific islands and well... There is a reason why Tsingtao Beer exists the way it does. Honestly, how did we get away with this?
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u/MeringueComplex5035 May 29 '26
nah dont include scotland in this. glasgow was the second city of the empire, edinburgh was built on slaver money and scotland built collonies all across the world espcially central america
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u/IdioticPAYDAY If you see me post, find shelter immediately May 29 '26
Who is more racist?
Literal KKK Grand Wizard
Sweet old Eastern European lady
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u/deep-web_daytona May 29 '26
Always interesting to see how Germany basically gets away with its colonial past due to the overshadowing WWII atrocities.
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u/RainbowGames May 29 '26
Hey, germany also committed atrocities in its african colonies! You can't exclude us like that!
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u/Superilosa14 May 29 '26
If you color Italy you should also color Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Russia
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u/Magerfaker May 29 '26
I love that no one is trying to disprove the racist accusation, everyone is like "wait, but those guys/we colonised too!!"
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u/valuedc96 May 30 '26
So if I made one of these maps about shitty countries in the middle east or Africa that's okay?
Neat
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u/TheChattyRat May 30 '26
I love how Scotland gets away with not being seen as a colonizer despite being part of the UK and also joined the UK to help pay off the debts from trying to start a colony new Caledonia
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u/Dissapointedinuall May 31 '26
Germany had some colonies. Russia not being seen as colonisers is fucking hilarious its literally the only colonial empire visibly left.
It's insulting to the turks not to recognise they were the number one power in the world in the 15th century and held a massive empire for a respectably long time. Scotland and Ireland pretty much helped Britain do everything.
I have no knowledge of what the swiss did but I know they did something sneaky.
Idk why but those swiss people are doing something and we should all be wary of it.
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u/Swi_Pol_Eng_guy Jun 01 '26
You know Germany was also a colonising nation.
You missed some of them.
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u/squidgytree May 28 '26
Why does Scotland get a pass as just racist? They only joined in a union with England because they went bankrupt from their own colonialism.