2 Minnie Throop England 



instead of retaining its identity, it falls outside of the hard and 

 fast lines of the definition. Finally, there are outlying posses- 

 sions under the same administration as the mother country, yet 

 which it seems best to consider as colonies. For example, Al- 

 geria is treated as part of France, and for administrative pur- 

 poses the Canary Islands are regarded as part of Spain, yet they 

 are essentially colonial in character. 



There are at the present time fifteen countries which possess 

 colonies. The eight which control the largest territories are — 

 naming them in order — the United Kingdom, France, China, 

 Germany, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United 

 States. 



The figures involved in discussing colonial areas and popula- 

 tions are so large that they convey little of their real meaning. 

 The United Kingdom ranks first as a colonizing power both in 

 the number of square miles occupied and the number of people 

 governed, and France takes second place. Germany entered the 

 race late but has succeeded in securing control of more than a 

 million square miles, a territory five times as large as the German 

 Empire. The sole Belgian possession, Congo Free State, repre- 

 sents a vast territory in Central Africa which, because of its 

 unique position of responsibility to one man 2 instead of to a 

 nation and because of the avidity with which it has been exploited, 

 has been kept in the forefront of popular discussion. Russia's 

 fondness for acquiring territory is well known, yet since its 

 expansion is chiefly adjacent and rapid absorption follows, Rus- 

 sia has, strictly speaking, only two dependencies to be considered, 

 Bokhara and Khiva. China's hold over her possessions is more 

 or less nominal. They comprise Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, 

 and Chinese Turkestan. 3 Japan stands near the foot of the list 

 in extent of colonial territory, yet her evident imperialistic am- 

 bitions have given her a prominent position among colonizing 

 nations, and incidentally put a check upon the attempted dismem- 



2 The death of King Leopold II removes this distinction. 



3 The province of Chinese Turkestan is officially called Sin-chiang or the 

 New Dominion. Deasy, In Thibet and Chinese Turkestan, 328; see also 

 Statesman's Year-Book. 



178 



