ABSTRACT

The great voyages of exploration at the end of the fifteenth century, round the coast of Africa and out into the Atlantic, were made possible by new methods of shipbuilding and of navigation, pioneered by the Portuguese. The expansion of European Christian power over the world went together with the warring of Christians against each other, in the name of their faith. The movement from colony to independence was made in practice by war in British and Spanish America and in South Africa, but by consent in Portuguese America, Australia and New Zealand. The American nation was the first, and remained the most powerful, of the new nations. The small Central American republics were a happy hunting-ground for foreign business interests and for both indigenous and foreign military adventurers. Australians felt no strong need to separate themselves from Britain, and were content to follow Britain’s lead in foreign policy in return for Britain’s military protection.