Prior to the arrival of European explorers in the Americas in 1492, it is estimated that the population of the continent was around sixty million people. Over the next two centuries, most scholars agree that the indigenous population fell to just ten percent of its pre-colonization level, primarily due to the Old World diseases (namely smallpox) brought to the New World by Europeans and African slaves, as well as through violence and famine.

Distribution

It is thought that the most densely populated region of the Americas was in the fertile Mexican valley, home to over one third of the entire continent, including several Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Aztec empire. While the mid-estimate shows a population of over 21 million before European arrival, one estimate suggests that there were just 730,000 people of indigenous descent in Mexico in 1620, just one hundred years after Cortes' arrival. Estimates also suggest that the Andes, home to the Incas, was the second most-populous region in the Americas, while North America (in this case, the region north of the Rio Grande river) may have been the most sparsely populated region. There is some contention as to the size of the pre-Columbian populations in the Caribbean, as the mass genocides, forced relocation, and pandemics that followed in the early stages of Spanish colonization make it difficult to predict these numbers.

Varying estimates Estimating the indigenous populations of the Americas has proven to be a challenge and point of contention for modern historians. Totals from reputable sources range from 8.4 million people to 112.55 million, and while both of these totals were published in the 1930s and 1960s respectively, their continued citation proves the ambiguity surrounding this topic. European settlers' records from the 15th to 17th centuries have also created challenges, due to their unrealistic population predictions and inaccurate methodologies (for example, many early settlers only counted the number of warriors in each civilization). Nonetheless, most modern historians use figures close to those given in the "Middle estimate" shown here, with similar distributions by region.

In the past four centuries, the population of the United States has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 331 million people in 2020. The pre-colonization populations of the indigenous peoples of the Americas have proven difficult for historians to estimate, as their numbers decreased rapidly following the introduction of European diseases (namely smallpox, plague and influenza). Native Americans were also omitted from most censuses conducted before the twentieth century, therefore the actual population of what we now know as the United States would have been much higher than the official census data from before 1800, but it is unclear by how much. Population growth in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century has primarily been attributed to migration from the British Isles and the Transatlantic slave trade; however it is also difficult to assert the ethnic-makeup of the population in these years as accurate migration records were not kept until after the 1820s, at which point the importation of slaves had also been illegalized. Nineteenth century In the year 1800, it is estimated that the population across the present-day United States was around six million people, with the population in the 16 admitted states numbering at 5.3 million. Migration to the United States began to happen on a large scale in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first major waves coming from Ireland, Britain and Germany. In some aspects, this wave of mass migration balanced out the demographic impacts of the American Civil War, which was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620 thousand fatalities between 1861 and 1865. The civil war also resulted in the emancipation of around four million slaves across the south; many of whose ancestors would take part in the Great Northern Migration in the early 1900s, which saw around six million black Americans migrate away from the south in one of the largest demographic shifts in U.S. history. By the end of the nineteenth century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily throughout the past 120 years, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. In the past century, the U.S. established itself as a global superpower, with the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) and most powerful military. Involvement in foreign wars has resulted in over 620,000 further U.S. fatalities since the Civil War, and migration fell drastically during the World Wars and Great Depression; however the population continuously grew in these years as the total fertility rate remained above two births per woman, and life expectancy increased (except during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918).

Since the Second World War, Latin America has replaced Europe as the most common point of origin for migrants, with Hispanic populations growing rapidly across the south and border states. Because of this, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, which has been the most dominant ethnicity in the U.S. since records began, has dropped more rapidly in recent decades. Ethnic minorities also have a much higher birth rate than non-Hispanic whites, further contributing to this decline, and the share of non-Hispanic whites is expected to fall below fifty percent of the U.S. population by the mid-2000s. In 2020, the United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India), and the population is expected to reach four hundred million in the 2050s.

Graph and download economic data for Population Estimate, Total, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native Alone (5-year estimate) in Colonial Heights City, VA (B03002015E051570) from 2009 to 2023 about Colonial Heights City, VA; Richmond; AK; American Indian; VA; latino; hispanic; estimate; persons; 5-year; population; and USA.

The European colonization of the Americas and Oceania introduced new diseases to biologically defenseless societies, and this resulted in a significant population decline among the indigenous populations in the early years of settlement. In the first two centuries of the Americas' colonization alone, the indigenous population dropped to just 10 percent of its pre-colonial level, with smallpox considered to have been the most destructive. Additionally, the indigenous populations of the Caribbean and Tasmania were virtually all wiped out. Growth through migration It was only through European settlement and the importation of African slaves that the population of the Americas began growing in the 18th century, while European and (to a lesser extent) Asian migration to both continents then saw this increase further between 1820 and 1950. However, growth peaked in Latin America and the Caribbean during the late-1900s, due to their relatively later demographic development. International comparison Compared to the rest of the world, annual average growth rates in these colonized and settled regions were much higher, due to high rates of migration and the fact that their starting populations were much smaller. While much of Africa and Asia was also colonized by Europeans, it was less likely to be settled in the same manner, and these populations were also familiar with the diseases carried by Europeans. The most significant demographic developments for these continents was the onset of their demographic transitions, which coincided with the periods of population growth.

Genetic diversity of present American populations results from very complex demographic events involving different types and degrees of admixture. Through the analysis of lineage markers such as mtDNA and Y chromosome it is possible to recover the original Native American haplotypes, which remained identical since the admixture events due to the absence of recombination. However, the decrease in the effective population sizes and the consequent genetic drift effects suffered by these populations during the European colonization resulted in the loss or under-representation of a substantial fraction of the Native American lineages. In this study, we aim to clarify how the diversity and distribution of uniparental lineages vary with the different demographic characteristics (size, degree of isolation) and the different levels of admixture of extant Native groups in Colombia. We present new data resulting from the analyses of mtDNA whole control region, Y chromosome SNP haplogroups and STR haplotypes, and autosomal ancestry informative insertion-deletion polymorphisms in Colombian individuals from different ethnic and linguistic groups. The results demonstrate that populations presenting a high proportion of non-Native American ancestry have preserved nevertheless a substantial diversity of Native American lineages, for both mtDNA and Y chromosome. We suggest that, by maintaining the effective population sizes high, admixture allowed for a decrease in the effects of genetic drift due to Native population size reduction and thus resulting in an effective preservation of the Native American non-recombining lineages.

Native Americans derive from a small number of Asian founders who likely arrived to the Americas via Beringia. However, additional details about the intial colonization of the Americas remain unclear. To investigate the pioneering phase in the Americas we analyzed a total of 623 complete mtDNAs from the Americas and Asia, including 20 new complete mtDNAs from the Americas and seven from Asia. This sequence data was used to direct high-resolution genotyping from 20 American and 26 Asian populations. Here we describe more genetic diversity within the founder population than was previously reported. The newly resolved phylogenetic structure suggests that ancestors of Native Americans paused when they reached Beringia, during which time New World founder lineages differentiated from their Asian sister-clades. This pause in movement was followed by a swift migration southward that distributed the founder types all the way to South America. The data also suggest more recent bi-directional gene flow between Siberia and the North American Arctic.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the population of Colonial Heights by race. It includes the population of Colonial Heights across racial categories (excluding ethnicity) as identified by the Census Bureau. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of Colonial Heights across relevant racial categories.

Key observations

The percent distribution of Colonial Heights population by race (across all racial categories recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau): 69.38% are white, 18.04% are Black or African American, 0.84% are American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.43% are Asian, 3.50% are some other race and 4.81% are multiracial.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Racial categories include:

• White
• Black or African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
• Some other race
• Two or more races (multiracial)

Variables / Data Columns

• Race: This column displays the racial categories (excluding ethnicity) for the Colonial Heights
• Population: The population of the racial category (excluding ethnicity) in the Colonial Heights is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the percentage distribution of each race as a proportion of Colonial Heights total population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Colonial Heights Population by Race & Ethnicity. You can refer the same here

It is presumed that the first humans migrated from Siberia to North America approximately twelve thousand years ago, where they then moved southwards to warmer lands. It was not until many centuries later that humans returned to the north and began to settle regions that are now part of Canada. Despite a few short-lived Viking settlements on Newfoundland around the turn of the first millennium CE, the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), became the first European to explore the coast of North America in the late 1400s. The French and British crowns both made claims to areas of Canada throughout the sixteenth century, but real colonization and settlement did not begin until the early seventeenth century. Over the next 150 years, France and Britain competed to take control of the booming fur and fishing trade, and to expand their overseas empires. In the Seven Year's War, Britain eventually defeated the French colonists in North America, through superior numbers and a stronger agriculture resources in the southern colonies, and the outcome of the war saw France cede practically all of it's colonies in North America to the British.

Increased migration and declining native populations

The early 1800s saw a large influx of migrants into Canada, with the Irish Potato Famine bringing the first wave of mass-migration to the country, with further migration coming from Scandinavia and Northern Europe. It is estimated that the region received just shy of one million migrants from the British Isles alone, between 1815 and 1850, which helped the population grow to 2.5 million in the mid-1800s and 5.5 million in 1900. It is also estimated that infectious diseases killed around 25 to 33 percent of all Europeans who migrated to Canada before 1891, and around a third of the Canadian population is estimated to have emigrated southwards to the United States in the 1871-1896 period. From the time of European colonization until the mid-nineteenth century, the native population of Canada dropped from roughly 500,000 (some estimates put it as high as two million) to just over 100,000; this was due to a mixture of disease, starvation and warfare, instigated by European migration to the region. The native population was generally segregated and oppressed until the second half of the 1900s; Native Canadians were given the vote in 1960, and, despite their complicated and difficult history, the Canadian government has made significant progress in trying to include indigenous cultures in the country's national identity in recent years. As of 2020, Indigenous Canadians make up more than five percent of the total Canadian population, and a higher birth rate means that this share of the population is expected to grow in the coming decades.

Independence and modern Canada

Canadian independence was finally acknowledged in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster, putting it on equal terms with the United Kingdom within the Commonwealth; virtually granting independence and sovereignty until the Canada Act of 1982 formalized it. Over the past century, Canada has had a relatively stable political system and economy (although it was hit particularly badly by the Wall Street Crash of 1929). Canada entered the First World War with Britain, and as an independent Allied Power in the Second World War; Canadian forces played pivotal roles in a number of campaigns, notably Canada's Hundred Days in WWI, and the country lost more than 100,000 men across both conflicts. The economy boomed in the aftermath of the Second World War, and a stream of socially democratic programs such as universal health care and the Canadian pension plan were introduced, which contributed to a rise in the standard of living. The post war period also saw various territories deciding to join Canada, with Newfoundland joining in 1949, and Nunavut in 1999. Today Canada is among the most highly ranked in countries in terms of civil liberties, quality of life and economic growth. It promotes and welcomes immigrants from all over the world and, as a result, it has one of the most ethnically diverse and multicultural populations of any country in the world. As of 2020, Canada's population stands at around 38 million people, and continues to grow due to high migration levels and life expectancy, and a steady birth rate.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the population of Colonial Beach by race. It includes the population of Colonial Beach across racial categories (excluding ethnicity) as identified by the Census Bureau. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of Colonial Beach across relevant racial categories.

Key observations

The percent distribution of Colonial Beach population by race (across all racial categories recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau): 81.54% are white, 9.01% are Black or African American, 0.69% are American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.16% are Asian, 1.10% are some other race and 4.49% are multiracial.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2018-2022 5-Year Estimates.

Racial categories include:

• White
• Black or African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
• Some other race
• Two or more races (multiracial)

Variables / Data Columns

• Race: This column displays the racial categories (excluding ethnicity) for the Colonial Beach
• Population: The population of the racial category (excluding ethnicity) in the Colonial Beach is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the percentage distribution of each race as a proportion of Colonial Beach total population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Colonial Beach Population by Race & Ethnicity. You can refer the same here

The centralization of conflict resolution and the administration of justice, two crucial elements of state formation, are often ignored by the state-building literature. This article studies the monopolization of justice administration, using the historical example of the General Indian Court (GIC) of colonial Mexico. The author argues that this court's development and decision-making process can show us how the rule of law develops in highly authoritarian contexts. Centralized courts could be used strategically to solve an agency problem, limiting local elites' power and monitoring state agents. To curb these actors' power, the Spanish Crown allowed the indigenous population to raise claims and access property rights. But this access remained limited and subject to the Crown’s strategic considerations. The author’s theory predicts that a favorable ruling for the indigenous population was more likely in cases that threatened to increase the local elites’ power. This article shows the conditions under which the rule of law can emerge in a context where a powerful ruler is interested in imposing limits on local powers—and on their potential predation of the general population. It also highlights the endogenous factors behind the creation of colonial institutions and the importance of judicial systems in colonial governance.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the Non-Hispanic population of Colonial Heights by race. It includes the distribution of the Non-Hispanic population of Colonial Heights across various race categories as identified by the Census Bureau. The dataset can be utilized to understand the Non-Hispanic population distribution of Colonial Heights across relevant racial categories.

Key observations

Of the Non-Hispanic population in Colonial Heights, the largest racial group is White alone with a population of 12,198 (72.53% of the total Non-Hispanic population).

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Racial categories include:

• White
• Black or African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
• Some other race
• Two or more races (multiracial)

Variables / Data Columns

• Race: This column displays the racial categories (for Non-Hispanic) for the Colonial Heights
• Population: The population of the racial category (for Non-Hispanic) in the Colonial Heights is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the percentage distribution of each race as a proportion of Colonial Heights total Non-Hispanic population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Colonial Heights Population by Race & Ethnicity. You can refer the same here

Mayan and Andean medicine included empirical perspectives and botanical cures that were transmitted in the urban spaces of colonial Spanish America, spaces themselves built over former Amerindian cities. Mayan and Andean peoples, whose histories included development of both urban and rural aspects of civilization, brought their medical knowledge to the Hispanic cities of the colonial Americas. In these cities, despite the disapproval and persecution of the Inquisition, Native American medicine gradually became part of the dominant culture. As this article will demonstrate, Mayan and Andean medical knowledge was absorbed by the “new cities” that Imperial Spain constructed in the colonial Americas, church disapproval notwithstanding. Cities and urban space became prime conduits for the circulation and incorporation of Native American medical knowledge among the newer Hispanic and mestizo population in the colonial Americas.

The history of modern Brazil begins in the year 1500 when Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived with a small fleet and claimed the land for the Portuguese Empire. With the Treaty of Torsedillas in 1494, Spain and Portugal agreed to split the New World peacefully, thus allowing Portugal to take control of the area with little competition from other European powers. As the Portuguese did not arrive with large numbers, and the indigenous population was overwhelmed with disease, large numbers of African slaves were transported across the Atlantic and forced to harvest or mine Brazil's wealth of natural resources. These slaves were forced to work in sugar, coffee and rubber plantations and gold and diamond mines, which helped fund Portuguese expansion across the globe. In modern history, transatlantic slavery brought more Africans to Brazil than any other country in the world. This combination of European, African and indigenous peoples set the foundation for what has become one of the most ethnically diverse countries across the globe.

Independence and Monarchy By the early eighteenth century, Portugal had established control over most of modern-day Brazil, and the population more than doubled in each half of the 1800s. The capital of the Portuguese empire was moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1808 (as Napoleon's forces moved closer towards Lisbon), making this the only time in European history where a capital was moved to another continent. The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was established in 1815, and when the Portuguese monarchy and capital returned to Lisbon in 1821, the King's son, Dom Pedro, remained in Brazil as regent. The following year, Dom Pedro declared Brazil's independence, and within three years, most other major powers (including Portugal) recognized the Empire of Brazil as an independent monarchy and formed economic relations with it; this was a much more peaceful transition to independence than many of the ex-Spanish colonies in the Americas. Under the reign of Dom Pedro II, Brazil's political stability remained relatively intact, and the economy grew through its exportation of raw materials and economic alliances with Portugal and Britain. Despite pressure from political opponents, Pedro II abolished slavery in 1850 (as part of a trade agreement with Britain), and Brazil remained a powerful, stable and progressive nation under Pedro II's leadership, in stark contrast to its South American neighbors. The booming economy also attracted millions of migrants from Europe and Asia around the turn of the twentieth century, which has had a profound impact on Brazil's demography and culture to this day.

The New Republic

Despite his popularity, King Pedro II was overthrown in a military coup in 1889, ending his 58 year reign and initiating six decades of political instability and economic difficulties. A series of military coups, failed attempts to restore stability, and the decline of Brazil's overseas influence contributed greatly to a weakened economy in the early 1900s. The 1930s saw the emergence of Getúlio Vargas, who ruled as a fascist dictator for two decades. Despite a growing economy and Brazil's alliance with the Allied Powers in the Second World War, the end of fascism in Europe weakened Vargas' position in Brazil, and he was eventually overthrown by the military, who then re-introduced democracy to Brazil in 1945. Vargas was then elected to power in 1951, and remained popular among the general public, however political opposition to his beliefs and methods led to his suicide in 1954. Further political instability ensued and a brutal, yet prosperous, military dictatorship took control in the 1960s and 1970s, but Brazil gradually returned to a democratic nation in the 1980s. Brazil's economic and political stability fluctuated over the subsequent four decades, and a corruption scandal in the 2010s saw the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Despite all of this economic instability and political turmoil, Brazil is one of the world's largest economies and is sometimes seen as a potential superpower. The World Bank classifies it as a upper-middle income country and it has the largest share of global wealth in Latin America. It is the largest Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking), and sixth most populous country in the world, with a population of more than 210 million people.

Since Darwin's time, waterbirds have been considered an important vector for the dispersal of continental aquatic invertebrates. Bird movements have facilitated the worldwide invasion of the American brine shrimp Artemia franciscana, transporting cysts (diapausing eggs), and favouring rapid range expansions from introduction sites. Here we address the impact of bird migratory flyways on the population genetic structure and phylogeography of A. franciscana in its native range in the Americas. We examined the sequence variation for two mitochondrial gene fragments (COI and 16S for a subset of the data) in a large set of population samples representing the entire native range of A. franciscana. Furthermore, we performed Mantel tests and redundancy analyses (RDA) to test the role of flyways, geography and human introductions on the phylogeography and population genetic structure at a continental scale. A. franciscana mitochondrial DNA was very diverse, with two main clades, largely corresponding to Pacific and Atlantic populations, mirroring American bird flyways. There was a high degree of regional endemism, with populations subdivided into at least 12 divergent, geographically restricted and largely allopatric mitochondrial lineages, and high levels of population structure ( Φ ST of 0.92), indicating low ongoing gene flow. We found evidence of human-mediated introductions in nine out of 39 populations analysed. Once these populations were removed, Mantel tests revealed a strong association between genetic variation and geographic distance (i.e., isolation-by-distance pattern). RDA showed that shared bird flyways explained around 20% of the variance in genetic distance between populations and this was highly significant, once geographic distance was controlled for. The variance explained increased to 30% when the factor human introduction was included in the model. Our findings suggest that bird-mediated transport of brine shrimp propagules does not result in substantial ongoing gene flow; instead, it had a significant historical role on the current species phylogeography, facilitating the colonisation of new aquatic environments as they become available along their main migratory flyways.

BackgroundDiscussion surrounding the settlement of the New World has recently gained momentum with advances in molecular biology, archaeology and bioanthropology. Recent evidence from these diverse fields is found to support different colonization scenarios. The currently available genetic evidence suggests a “single migration” model, in which both early and later Native American groups derive from one expansion event into the continent. In contrast, the pronounced anatomical differences between early and late Native American populations have led others to propose more complex scenarios, involving separate colonization events of the New World and a distinct origin for these groups.Methodology/Principal FindingsUsing large samples of Early American crania, we: 1) calculated the rate of morphological differentiation between Early and Late American samples under three different time divergence assumptions, and compared our findings to the predicted morphological differentiation under neutral conditions in each case; and 2) further tested three dispersal scenarios for the colonization of the New World by comparing the morphological distances among early and late Amerindians, East Asians, Australo-Melanesians and early modern humans from Asia to geographical distances associated with each dispersion model. Results indicate that the assumption of a last shared common ancestor outside the continent better explains the observed morphological differences between early and late American groups. This result is corroborated by our finding that a model comprising two Asian waves of migration coming through Bering into the Americas fits the cranial anatomical evidence best, especially when the effects of diversifying selection to climate are taken into account.ConclusionsWe conclude that the morphological diversity documented through time in the New World is best accounted for by a model postulating two waves of human expansion into the continent originating in East Asia and entering through Beringia.

In 1880, European territories in Africa were largely concentrated along the coast, and the vast majority of the continent was officially independent from foreign control. By 1914, however, only the regions of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) and Liberia (under the unofficial protection of the U.S.) had not been claimed by a European power. In what became known as the "Scramble for Africa" in the 1880s, the new nations of Germany and Italy sought to establish overseas empires and compete with other European powers; a number of whom had lost the majority of their colonies in the Americas, or run out of room to expand in the Asia-Pacific, and were also keen on African colonization. New possibilities and opportunities Inward expansion in the continent was facilitated by improvements in transport technology (particularly the use of steamships) and the development of anti-malarial medicines. This led to the discovery and exploitation of Africa's vast, untapped natural resources, as well as the establishment of militant trading companies who enforced these activities. Through a series of bilateral treaties and the Conference of Berlin 1884-5, European powers largely agreed upon defined boundaries between their respective territories; this allowed them to focus on securing their commercial aspirations and the suppression of native populations, without the same level of European competition they faced when colonizing the Americas. Britain and France ultimately controlled the largest territories; Britain's goal was to control one continuous territory that stretched the length of the continent, from Egypt to South Africa (which they eventually achieved following the First World War), while France's aim was for one continuous territory stretching across Africa, which would give them control of the Nile, Niger and Saharan trade routes. The newly constructed Suez Canal in Egypt was arguably the most coveted possession, as it greatly reduced the time needed for trade from Asia to reach Europe; it was eventually administered by Britain. Legacy European colonization in Africa is largely remembered for the widespread atrocities inflicted upon the African people, and the exploitation of its resources. The most well-known of these were committed in the Congo Free State (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). Belgian King Leopold II privately owned this territory and claimed to be conducting humanitarian work in the region; however, this was a ploy to raise capital for commercial ventures, and a front for the forced labor of the Congolese natives. These forced laborers (many of which were children) were seen as expendable, and were mutilated or murdered for failure to meet quotas; severed hands even became trophies or determined the wage bonuses of European soldiers. Despite condemnation from the international community at the time, there is evidence of their continuation after the Belgian state took control of the region in 1908, and of widespread atrocities committed by all European powers in their respective territories. Additionally, due to European influence, Africa became a major theater in both World Wars; Africans suffered disproportionately in terms of military and civilian losses, while colonial mismanagement also led to famines that killed millions. The lack of accurate census data throughout this period has made it impossible for historians to determine the full extent of the atrocities inflicted upon Africa from the 1880s until independence, although most estimates of the death tolls are several tens of millions, with up to ten million deaths in the Congo Free State alone. Today, even in the post-independence era, Western influence remains a contentious subject on the continent, with some former-French colonies expelling Western businesses and militaries from their countries during recent coups, while the foreign extraction of raw materials from countries such as the DRC come have a destabilizing effect on local populations.

Genetics data have provided unprecedented insights into evolutionary aspects of colonization by non-native populations. Yet, our understanding of how artificial (human-mediated) and natural dispersal pathways of non-native individuals influence genetic metrics, evolution of genetic structure, and admixture remains elusive. We capitalize on the widespread colonization of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in South America, mediated by both dispersal pathways, to address these issues using data from a panel of polymorphic SNPs. First, genetic diversity and the number of effective breeders (Nb) were higher among artificial than natural populations. Contemporary gene flow was common between adjacent artificial and natural as well as adjacent natural populations but uncommon between geographically distant populations. Second, genetic structure revealed four distinct clusters throughout the Chinook salmon distributional range with varying levels of genetic connectivity. Isolation-by-distance resulted from weak differentiation between adjacent artificial and natural as well as natural populations and with strong differentiation between distant populations experiencing strong genetic drift. Third, genetic mixture analyses revealed the presence of at least six donor geographic regions from North America, some of which likely hybridized as a result of multiple introductions. Relative propagule pressure or the proportion of Chinook salmon propagules introduced from various geographic regions according to government records significantly influenced genetic mixtures for two of three artificial populations. Our findings support a model of colonization in which high-diversity artificial populations established first; some of these populations exhibited significant admixture resulting from propagule pressure. Low-diversity natural populations were likely subsequently founded from a reduced number of individuals.

In the spring of 2010, CyArk collaborated with the National Park Service and Los Compadres, now known as Mission Heritage Partners, to digitally preserve San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. CyArk partnered with Critigen, a geospatial consulting company which used laser scanning and digital photography to document the missions. The 3D data was used by site managers for the continued preservation of the missions as well as the creation of interactive educational materials. The documentation was also used to inform the sites' application for inscription to the UNESCO World Heritage List, to which it was successfully inscribed in 2015. Located along the San Antonio River in Texas, the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park encompasses five Spanish Colonial sites: Mission Concepci, Mission Espada, Mission San Jos, Mission San Juan, and the Espada Aqueduct. These outposts were originally built to expand and defend the Spanish frontier and spread Christianity to local Native American populations, but also acted as centers of agricultural production, weaving, iron working, and carpentry. Today, the San Antonio Missions represent the largest collection of Spanish Colonial missions in the United States. External Project Link: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/NQJydYx20sqaIg Additional Info Link: https://cyark.org/projects/san-antonio-missions

Humans have been living on the continent of Australia (name derived from "Terra Australis"; Latin for "the southern land") for approximately 65,000 years, however population growth was relatively slow until the nineteenth century. Europeans had made some contact with Australia as early as 1606, however there was no significant attempt at settlement until the late eighteenth century. By 1800, the population of Australia was approximately 350,000 people, and the majority of these were Indigenous Australians. As colonization progressed the number of ethnic Europeans increased while the Australian Aboriginal population was decimated through conflict, smallpox and other diseases, with some communities being exterminated completely, such as Aboriginal Tasmanians. Mass migration from Britain and China After the loss of its American colonies in the 1780s, the British Empire looked to other parts of the globe to expand its sphere of influence. In Australia, the first colonies were established in Sydney, Tasmania and Western Australia. Many of these were penal colonies which became home to approximately 164,000 British and Irish convicts who were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. As the decades progressed, expansion into the interior intensified, and the entire country was claimed by Britain in 1826. Inland colonization led to further conflict between European settlers and indigenous Australians, which cost the lives of thousands of natives. Inward expansion also saw the discovery of many natural resources, and most notably led to the gold rushes of the 1850s, which attracted substantial numbers of Chinese migrants to Australia. This mass migration from non-European countries eventually led to some restrictive policies being introduced, culminating with the White Australia Policy of 1901, which cemented ethnic-European dominance in Australian politics and society. These policies were not retracted until the second half of the 1900s. Independent Australia Australia changed its status to a British dominion in 1901, and eventually became independent in 1931. Despite this, Australia has remained a part of the British Commonwealth, and Australian forces (ANZAC) fought with the British and their Allies in both World Wars, and were instrumental in campaigns such as Gallipoli in WWI, and the South West Pacific Theater in WWII. The aftermath of both wars had a significant impact on the Australian population, with approximately 90 thousand deaths in both world wars combined, as well as 15 thousand deaths as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic following WWI, although Australia experienced a significant baby boom following the Second World War. In the past fifty years, Australia has promoted immigration from all over the world, and now has one of the strongest economies and highest living standards in the world, with a population that has grown to over 25 million people in 2020.

In the century between Napoleon's defeat and the outbreak of the First World War (known as the "Pax Britannica"), the British Empire grew to become the largest and most powerful empire in the world. At its peak in the 1910s and 1920s, it encompassed almost one quarter of both the world's population and its land surface, and was known as "the empire on which the sun never sets". The empire's influence could be felt across the globe, as Britain could use its position to affect trade and economies in all areas of the world, including many regions that were not part of the formal empire (for example, Britain was able to affect trading policy in China for over a century, due to its control of Hong Kong and the neighboring colonies of India and Burma). Some historians argue that because of its economic, military, political and cultural influence, nineteenth century Britain was the closest thing to a hegemonic superpower that the world ever had, and possibly ever will have. "Rule Britannia" Due to the technological and logistical restrictions of the past, we will never know the exact borders of the British Empire each year, nor the full extent of its power. However, by using historical sources in conjunction with modern political borders, we can gain new perspectives and insights on just how large and influential the British Empire actually was. If we transpose a map of all former British colonies, dominions, mandates, protectorates and territories, as well as secure territories of the East India Trading Company (EIC) (who acted as the precursor to the British Empire) onto a current map of the world, we can see that Britain had a significant presence in at least 94 present-day countries (approximately 48 percent). This included large territories such as Australia, the Indian subcontinent, most of North America and roughly one third of the African continent, as well as a strategic network of small enclaves (such as Gibraltar and Hong Kong) and islands around the globe that helped Britain to maintain and protect its trade routes. The sun sets... Although the data in this graph does not show the annual population or size of the British Empire, it does give some context to how Britain has impacted and controlled the development of the world over the past four centuries. From 1600 until 1920, Britain's Empire expanded from a small colony in Newfoundland, a failing conquest in Ireland, and early ventures by the EIC in India, to Britain having some level of formal control in almost half of all present-day countries. The English language is an official language in all inhabited continents, its political and bureaucratic systems are used all over the globe, and empirical expansion helped Christianity to become the most practiced major religion worldwide. In the second half of the twentieth century, imperial and colonial empires were eventually replaced by global enterprises. The United States and Soviet Union emerged from the Second World War as the new global superpowers, and the independence movements in longstanding colonies, particularly Britain, France and Portugal, gradually succeeded. The British Empire finally ended in 1997 when it seceded control of Hong Kong to China, after more than 150 years in charge. Today, the United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries, and it is responsible for three crown dependencies and fourteen overseas territories, although the legacy of the British Empire can still be seen, and it's impact will be felt for centuries to come.