List of former European colonies

This is a list of former European colonies.

The European countries which had the most colonies throughout history were: United Kingdom (130), France (90), Portugal (52), Spain (44), Netherlands (29), Germany (20), Russia (17), Denmark (9), Sweden (8), Italy (7), Norway (6), Belgium (3), and Courland (2).

Name	Capital or main city	From	To	Ruling power
Danish West Indies	Charlotte Amalie	1672	1814	Denmark–Norway
		1814	1917	Denmark
South Greenland	Godthåb	1782	1814	Denmark–Norway
		1814	1950	Denmark
North Greenland	Godhavn	1782	1814	Denmark–Norway
		1814	1950	Denmark
Colony of Greenland	Godthåb	1950	1953
County of Greenland		1953	1979
Greenland	Nuuk	1979	present

Name	Capital or main city	From	To	Ruling power
New France	Quebec	1534	1763	France
Canada		1535
Acadia	Port-Royal	1604	1713
Saint-Domingue	Port-au-Prince	1659	1792
		1792	1803
Illinois	St. Louis	1675	1769
		1801	1803
Louisiana	New Orleans	1682	1762
		1801	1803
Île-Royale	Louisbourg	1713	1763

• British America (New Britain)
  • Canada
    • Island of St. John
    • Lower Canada
      • Province of Quebec
    • Upper Canada
    • Newfoundland Colony
  • "Thirteen Colonies" (The United States of America)
    • New England Colonies:
      • Province of Massachusetts Bay
      • Province of New Hampshire
      • Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
      • Connecticut Colony
    • Province of New York
    • Province of New Jersey
    • Province of Pennsylvania
    • Delaware Colony
    • Province of Maryland
    • Colony of Virginia
    • Province of North Carolina
    • Province of South Carolina
    • Province of Georgia
  • Other North American colonies
    • Province of East Florida
    • Province of West Florida
• British Honduras
• Bay Islands

• Greenland

• New Netherland (Nieuw-Amsterdam / New York)

• Greenland

• Russian Alaska

• Nova Scotia

• Mexico (1521)
• Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535–1821)
  • Las Californias
  • Nuevo Reino de León
  • Nuevo Santander
  • Nueva Vizcaya
  • Santa Fe de Nuevo México
  • Nueva Extremadura
  • Nueva Galicia
  • Captaincy General of Cuba
  • Puerto Rico
  • Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
  • Captaincy General of Guatemala
  • Costa Rica
  • El Salvador
  • East Florida and West Florida

• New Sweden

• St Thomas

• New Courland (Tobago)

• Saint John
• Saint Thomas
• Saint Croix

• Saint Barthélemy
• Saint Martin
• Saint Christopher (St Kitts)
• Saint Croix
• Tortuga (off coast of Haiti)

• New Walcheren (Tobago)

• Belize
• Jamaica
• Spanish West Indies
  • The Bahamas
  • Cuba
  • Hispaniola
  • Puerto Rico
  • Trinidad

• Saint-Barthélemy

• Cooper Island
• Saint-Barthélemy (1814–1878)

• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Jamaica
• Leeward Islands
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Dominica
  • Saint Christopher (St Kitts)-Nevis
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Windward Islands
  • Grenada
  • Saint Lucia
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

• Welserland (Venezuela)

• Brazil (Rio de Janeiro briefly, and São Luís briefly)

(see France Antarctique and France Équinoxiale)

• Iles Malouines (Falkland Islands)

• Berbice (Guyana)
• Demerara
  • Dutch colonisation of the Guianas, overview
• Surinam (Suriname)
• Essequibo
• New Holland (Brazil – Half the captaincies)

• Brazil
• Cisplatina (Uruguay)
• Sacramento
• Misiones Orientales

• Kingdom of Tierra Firme (1498–1537)
• Governorate of New Andalusia (1501–1513)
• Governorate of Castilla de Oro (1514–1539)
• Governorate of New Castile (1529–1542)
• Governorate of New Toledo (1529–1542)
• Governorate of New León (1529–1539)
• Governorate of New Andalusia (1534–1617)
• Viceroyalty of Peru (1542–1824)
  • New Kingdom of Granada (1538–1717) (1723–1739)
  • Real Audiencia of Panamá (1538–1717) (1723–1739)
  • Captaincy General of Chile (1541–1818)
  • Real Audiencia of Lima (1542–1821)
  • Governorate of the Río de la Plata (1549–1776)
  • Real Audiencia of Charcas (1559–1776)
  • Real Audiencia of Quito (1563–1717) (1723–1739)
  • Real Audiencia of Concepción (1565–1575)
  • Governorate of Guayrá (1617–1776)
  • Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires (1661–1671)
  • Real Audiencia of Cuzco (1787–1825)
• Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1723) (1739–1810) (1815–1822)
  • Real Audiencia of Panamá (1717–1723) (1739–1752)
  • Real Audiencia of Quito (1717–1723) (1739–1822)
  • Captaincy General of Venezuela (1777–1824)
• Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1776–1814)
  • Governorate of Paraguay (1776–1782)
  • Real Audiencia of Charcas (1776–1821)
• Upper Peru (1821–1825)

• British Guiana
  • Berbice, Essequibo, Demerara
• Surinam

• Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
• Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi)

• Arguin (in Mauritania)
• Brandenburger Gold Coast (coastal settlements in Ghana)

• St. Andrews Island (in the Gambia)

• Danish Gold Coast (coastal settlements in Ghana)

• German East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania)
• German South-West Africa (Namibia)
• Kamerun (split between Cameroon and Nigeria)
• Togoland (split between Togo and Ghana)
• Wituland (Lamu Island, owned by Kenya)

• Tripoli

• Italian East Africa
  • Italian Eritrea
  • Italian Somaliland (now Somalia)
• Italian Libya

• Arguin Island (in Mauritania)
• Dutch Cape Colony
• Dutch Gold Coast (settlements along coast of Ghana, including El Mina)
• Dutch Loango-Angola (Luanda, Sonyo and Cabinda)
• Gorée (Senegal)
• Moçambique (Delagoa Bay)
• São Tomé
• South Africa
• Mauritius

• Ajuda (Whydah, in Benin)
• Portuguese Angola
• Annobón
• Cabinda
• Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)
• Ceuta
• Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá
• Gorée (in Senegal)
• Malindi
• Mombasa
• Algarve Ultramar (Morocco)
  • Agadir
  • Alcacer Ceguer
  • Arzila
  • Azamor
  • Mazagan
  • Mogador
  • Safim
• Nigeria (Lagos area)
• Mozambique
• Portuguese Gold Coast (settlements along coast of Ghana)
• Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau)
• Quíloa
• São Tomé and Príncipe
• Tangier
• Zanzibar
• Ziguinchor

• Bona
• Bougie
• Jerba
• Fernando Po and Annobon (insular Equatorial Guinea)
• Oran
• Port Guinea
• Río Muni (mainland Equatorial Guinea)
• Spanish Protectorate in Morocco
• Spanish West Africa
  • Río de Oro
  • Saguia el-Hamra
  • Tarfaya Strip
  • Ifni

• Swedish Gold Coast (coastal settlements in Ghana)

• Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (Sudan)
• Basutoland (Lesotho)
• Balleland (Benin)
• Bechuanaland (Botswana)
• British East Africa (Kenya)
• British Somaliland (Somaliland)
• British Togoland (eastern Ghana)
• British Cameroon (split between Nigeria and Cameroon)
• British Mauritius
• British Egypt
  • Khedivate of Egypt
  • Sultanate of Egypt
  • Kingdom of Egypt
• Gambia Colony and Protectorate
• Gold Coast (Ghana)
• Colonial Nigeria
  • Niger Coast Protectorate
  • Northern Nigeria Protectorate
  • Southern Nigeria Protectorate
  • Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria
• Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
• Nyasaland (Malawi)
• Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate
• Union of South Africa
  • British Cape Colony
  • Natal Colony
  • Orange River Colony
  • Transvaal Colony
• South West Africa (Namibia)
  • Walvis Bay
• Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
• Swaziland (Eswatini)
• Tanganyika Territory (mainland Tanzania)
• Uganda Protectorate
• Sultanate of Zanzibar (insular Tanzania)

• Syria
• Lebanon

• Jemen, Al Mukha (Mocca)
• Mesopotamia (Iraq, Al Basrah)

• French Comoros
• Isle de France (now Mauritius)
• French Madagascar
• French Seychelles

• Dutch Mauritius (now Mauritius)

• Laccadive Islands (Lakshadweep)
• Malé (Maldives)
• Socotra

• Banquibazar & Cabelon
• Nicobar Islands

• Mauritius
• Seychelles
• Maldives

• Frederik Oerne Islands (Nicobar Islands)
• Serampore
• Tranquebar

• French India
  • Pondicherry
  • Karikal
  • Yanaon
  • Mahé
  • Chandernagore

• Dutch Bengal
• Dutch Ceylon
• Dutch India (Dutch Bengal, Suratte, Malabar, Coromandel)

• Parangipettai

• Territories of the EIC till 1858
• Territories of the British Raj after 1858

• East Asia
• Indochina
  • Cambodia
  • Laos
  • Vietnam
    • Annam
    • Cochinchina
    • Tonkin

• Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
• Dutch New Guinea (Western Part of Papua, Indonesia)
• Malacca
• Dutch Formosa

• Flores
• Macau
• Malacca
• Moluccas
  • Ambon
  • Ternate
  • Tidore
• Portuguese Timor (Timor-Leste)
• Solor

• Spanish East Indies
  • Philippines
  • Marianas Islands
    • Guam
    • Northern Marianas Islands
  • Caroline Islands
• Marshall Islands

• British Burma
• Australia
  • New South Wales
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Swan River Colony/Western Australia
  • Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
  • Victoria
• British Solomon Islands
• British Western Pacific Territories
• Christmas Island
• Cocos Islands
• Colonial Fiji
• Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati & Tuvalu)
• Kingdom of Rarotonga (Cook Islands)
• New Zealand
  • Auckland Islands
• Niue
• Norfolk Island
• Territory of Papua and New Guinea
• Territory of New Guinea
• Western Samoa
• Phoenix Islands (part of Kiribati)
• Solomon Islands
• Territory of Papua
• Tokelau
• Tonga
• Southeast Asia
  • Malaysia
  • British Malaya
    • Federated Malay States
    • Straits Settlements
    • Unfederated Malay States
  • British Borneo
    • North Borneo
    • Kingdom of Sarawak
• Brunei
• Singapore
• China
  • Hong Kong

• Iceland

• Albania
• Dodecanese

• Iceland
• Faroe Islands
• Isle of Man, Northern Isles, Hebrides

• Cyprus
• Ionian islands (now part of Greece)
• Ireland
• Malta
• Menorca (now part of Spain)
• Heligoland (now part of Germany)