![Italia (Romia Imperio)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Italia_%28Romia_Imperio%29.svg)
A metropole (from the Greek ''
metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big ci ...
'' for "mother city") is the homeland, central territory or the
state exercising
power over a
colonial empire.
From the 19th century, the
English term ''metropole'' was mainly used in the scope of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
French,
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, and
Ottoman empires to designate those empires' European territories, as opposed to their colonial or overseas territories.
Roman Empire
The metropole of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
was
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. As the original homeland of the Romans, it maintained a special status which made it "not a
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
, but the ''
Domina'' (ruler) of the provinces". Italy was federated by the Romans in the third century BC. Unlike the overseas and ultramontane territories conquered by the Romans, Italy, due to the presence of Rome in the peninsula, was not reduced to province status. Originally, Rome divided the Italics into three groups:
Roman citizens
Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...
, ''Latini'' (semi-citizens and semi-confederates), and
socii
The ''socii'' ( in English) or '' foederati'' ( in English) were confederates of Rome and formed one of the three legal denominations in Roman Italy (''Italia'') along with the Roman citizens (''Cives'') and the '' Latini''. The ''Latini'', who ...
(confederates). After 88 BC, all Italics were made Roman citizens. Italy continued to have this privileged status until 212 AD, when citizenship was extended to all the inhabitants of the Empire. From
Caesar Augustus (27 BC) to
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
(192 AD), all Roman Emperors were Italics (Claudius, Trajan, and Hadrian, although born outside of Italy, were of Italian descent). The term ''Ius Italicum'' identified the Roman Italian privileges, especially when it came to taxation, which could be extended to certain communities outside of Italy under certain conditions.
British Empire
The metropole of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
was the island of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
; i.e. the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
itself. The term is sometimes used even more specifically to refer to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
as the metropole of the Empire, insofar as the politicians and businessmen of London exerted the greatest influence throughout the Empire in both diplomatic, economic and military forms. By contrast, the term periphery referred to the rest of the Empire.
The
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
of British metropole–periphery relations has traditionally been defined in terms of their distinct separation, with a pronouncedly one-way, metropole-directed chain of command, communication, and control proceeding outward from the centre; the metropole informed the periphery, but the periphery did not directly inform the metropole. Hence, the British Empire was constituted by the formal control of territories, by direct rule of foreign lands, which were ruled by the metropole.
More recent work, starting with that of
John "Jack" Gallagher and
Ronald Robinson
Ronald "Robbie" Edward Robinson, FBA (3 September 1920 – 19 June 1999) was a distinguished historian of the British Empire who between 1971 and 1987 held the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History at the University of Oxford.
After schoo ...
in the 1950s, has questioned the traditional definition, positing instead that the two were mutually constitutive and maintaining that, despite the apparent temporal inconsistencies inherent in their separate existences, each formed simultaneously in relation to the other. Gallagher and Robinson were
socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
, observing the rise of the economic power of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in the developing world at a time when the African colonies of the British Empire were being granted independence; both scholars held that British and American expansion of overseas influence were ultimately developed along similar lines.
According to the theories of Gallagher and Robinson, the usage of
soft power by the British, primarily through employment of British
capital and other forms of economic influence allowed for the establishment of favorable economic relationships and free trade for goods which were manufactured in Britain. In doing this, Britain was able to gain the benefits of Empire without spending money on costly military affairs. In this interpretation, the "
informal empire
The term ''informal empire'' describes the spheres of influence which a polity may develop that translate into a degree of influence over a region or country, which is not a formal colony, protectorate, tributary or vassal state of empire, as ...
" of the British was a defining part of the metropole just as much as the "formal empire".
Portuguese Empire
In the scope of the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
, the metropole was the European part of Portugal, which included
Continental Portugal (the mainland) and the adjacent islands (
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
and
Madeira).
It corresponded to the present territory of
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
.
Until the mid 19th century, the Portuguese European territory was referred to as "Portugal" or as the "Kingdom". However, these terms became inappropriate when the Portuguese overseas territories gained the status of overseas provinces in 1832, and came to be considered an integral part of the Kingdom of Portugal alongside its European provinces. The use of the term "Metrópole" emerged then as the official designation of the European part of Portugal. From then on, and until the independence of most of the remaining Portuguese overseas territories in 1975, Portugal included the Metrópole and the Overseas.
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France (French: France métropolitaine or la Métropole), also known as European France (French: Territoire européen de la France)
is the area of France which is geographically in Europe.
Metropolitan France comprises mainland France and Corsica, as well as nearby islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel (French: la Manche) and the Mediterranean Sea.
In contrast, overseas France is the collective name for all the French territories outside Europe.
See also
*
Metropolitan-hinterland thesis The metropolitan-hinterland thesis (or centre-periphery thesis) theory of social and economic development, developed by the Canadian historian Harold Innis examines how economically advanced societies, through trade and colonialism, distort and impe ...
*
Home islands
*
Mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
References
Sources
* {{cite book , last=Webster , first=Anthony , title=The Debate on the Rise of the British Empire , year=2006 , publisher=Manchester University Press , location=Manchester , isbn=978-0-7190-6793-8
Roman Empire
British Empire
Portuguese Empire
French colonial empire