Unlike European Colonisation after 1492,  and American invasion (both North and South), Russian expansion over during roughly the same period needs to be understood in different terms. Russia was an ancient feudal society right through until the 1917 revolution. The character of her expansion and colonisation reflected this fact. In this blog, I compare Russia’s imperial expansion mainly with the USA, the only other land colonisation of the period.

Over 450 years from 1500 to 1945, the major European powers competed with one another over colonies. There were no established global rules until the 20th century. One of the purposes of the monopoly companies was to take colonies from other European powers, it is in this sense that European colonisation was a competitive process. The religious wars and conflicts between states within Europe were replicated across the globe. The Spanish and Portuguese were first off the block in the 15th century, invading and colonising the Americas.