Colonialism (2)

It was not until the 17th century that Britain, France and the Netherlands successfully established overseas empires outside Europe, in direct competition with Spain and Portugal and with each other. In the 19th century the British Empire grew to become the largest empire yet seen. However, the first era of DEcolonization began at the end of the 18th century, when most of the European colonies in the Americas gained their independence from their respective metropoles. The industrialization of the 19th century led to what has been termed the era of New Imperialism, when the pace of colonization rapidly accelerated, the height of which was the Scramble for Africa. At the end of Worldl War I, the overseas colonies of the losers of the war were distributed amongst the victors as mandates. It was at the end of World War II thatt the second phase of DEcolonization began in earnest.