Empire Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Transition from empire=== In time, an empire may change from one political entity to another. For example, the Holy Roman Empire, a German re-constitution of the [[Roman Empire]], metamorphosed into various political structures (i.e., federalism), and eventually, under [[Habsburg]] rule, re-constituted itself in 1804 as the [[Austrian Empire]], an empire of much different politics and scope, which in turn became the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] in 1867. The Roman Empire, perennially reborn, also lived on as the [[Byzantine Empire]] (Eastern Roman Empire) – temporarily splitting into the [[Latin Empire]], the [[Empire of Nicaea]] and the [[Empire of Trebizond]] before its remaining territory and centre became part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. A similarly persistent concept of empire saw the [[Mongol Empire]] become the Khanate of the [[Golden Horde]], the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] [[Empire of China]], and the [[Ilkhanate]] before resurrection as the [[Timurid Empire]] and as the [[Mughal Empire]]. After 1945 the [[Empire of Japan]] retained its Emperor but lost its colonial possessions and became the State of [[Japan]]. Despite the semantic reference to imperial power, [[Japan]] is a ''[[de jure]]'' [[constitutional monarchy]], with a homogeneous population of 127 million people that is 98.5 percent ethnic Japanese, making it one of the largest nation-states.<ref>George Hicks, ''Japan's hidden apartheid: the Korean Minority and the Japanese'', (Aldershot, England; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1998), 3.</ref> An autocratic empire can become a [[republic]] (e.g., the Central African Empire in 1979), or it can become a republic with its imperial dominions reduced to a core territory (e.g., [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]] shorn of the German colonial empire (1918–1919), or the Ottoman Empire (1918–1923)). The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after 1918 provides an example of a multi-ethnic [[superstate]] broken into constituent nation-oriented states: the republics, kingdoms, and provinces of [[Austria]], [[Hungary]], [[Transylvania]], [[Croatia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Ruthenia]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], ''et al''. In the aftermath of [[World War I]] the [[Russian Empire]] also broke up and became reduced to the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR) before re-forming as the USSR (1922–1991) – sometimes seen as the core of a [[Soviet Empire]]. The latter also disintegrated in 1989-91. After the Second World War (1939–1945), the deconstruction of colonial empires quickened and became commonly known as [[decolonisation]]. The British Empire evolved into a loose, multinational [[Commonwealth of Nations]], while the [[French colonial empire]] metamorphosed to a [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie|Francophone commonwealth]]. The same process happened to the [[Portuguese Empire]], which evolved into a [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries|Lusophone commonwealth]], and to the former territories of the extinct [[Spanish Empire]], which alongside the Lusophone countries of [[Portugal]] and [[Brazil]], created an [[Organization of Ibero-American States|Ibero-American commonwealth]]. France returned the French territory of [[Kwang-Chou-Wan]] to China in 1946. The British gave [[Hong Kong]] back to China in 1997 after 150 years of rule. The Portuguese territory of [[Macau]] reverted to China in 1999. Macau and Hong Kong did not become part of the provincial structure of China; they have autonomous systems of government as [[Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China]]. France still governs [[Overseas France|overseas territories]] ([[French Guiana]], [[Martinique]], [[Réunion]], [[French Polynesia]], [[New Caledonia]], [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint Martin]], [[Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon]], [[Guadeloupe]], [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]] (TAAF), [[Wallis and Futuna]], [[Saint Barthélemy]], and [[Mayotte]]), and exerts hegemony in [[Francafrique]] ("French Africa"; 29 francophone countries such as [[Chad]], [[Rwanda]], etc.). Fourteen [[British Overseas Territories]] remain under British sovereignty. Fifteen countries of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] share their head of state, King [[Charles III]], as [[Commonwealth realms]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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