.svg)
Ametropole (from Ancient Greek μητρόπολις (mētrópolis) 'mother city') is the homeland, central territory or thestate exercisingpower over acolonial empire.[1]From the 19th century, theEnglish termmetropole[2] was mainly used in the scope of theBritish,Spanish,French,Dutch,Portuguese,Japanese, andOttoman empires to designate those empires' home territories, as opposed to their colonial or overseas territories.
The metropole of theRoman Empire wasItaly. Originally, Rome divided the Italics into three groups:Roman citizens,Latini (semi-citizens and semi-confederates), andsocii (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. FromCaesar Augustus (27 BC) toSeptimius Severus (192 AD), all Roman Emperors were Italics (Claudius, Trajan, and Hadrian, although born outside of Italy, were of Italian descent). Italy was legally distinguished from the provinces and the termIus 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.[3][4][5][6] These privileges were ended by EmperorDiocletian, and from then on, Italy would lose tax exemptions and was subdivided intoprovinces.[3]
The metropole of theBritish Empire was the island ofGreat Britain; i.e. theUnited Kingdom itself. The term is sometimes used even more specifically to refer toLondon 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.[7]
Thehistoriography 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.[7]
More recent work, starting with that ofJohn "Jack" Gallagher andRonald Robinson 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.[7] Gallagher and Robinson weresocialists, observing the rise of the economic power of theUnited States 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.[8]
According to the theories of Gallagher and Robinson, the usage ofsoft power by the British, primarily through employment of Britishcapital 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" of the British was a defining part of the metropole just as much as the "formal empire".[9]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In the scope of thePortuguese Empire, the metropole was the European part of Portugal, which includedContinental Portugal (the mainland) and the adjacent islands (Azores andMadeira).[10] It corresponded to the present territory ofPortugal.
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 (French:France métropolitaine or la Métropole), also known as European France (Territoire européen de la France)[11] is the area of France which is geographically in Europe.
_(cropped).svg)
