>>GB did all it's acquiring in the last few centuries but not the 20th, but we never managed to conquer a whole continent, similarly France, Portugal, Spain. All these have practically had to give up all these possessions.
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>That's a matter of perspective. The British Empire may not have subjected a whole continent, but what is a continent? More of a geographic definition, in my view. India, Australia, Canada...these were no small islands snapped up for their harbor facilities.

Yes but these colonies, territories etc. ended up being relinquished, albeit changed and with maybe a different population. The USA has never given back the "territories" to the native Americans. True, there was no requirement by the vast majority of American citizens to do this, and given that the orig. popn. was probably only a few million (before the annihilations began) the native voice would have been very quiet. What we ended up with was a continent under the "Pax Americanum"

As to the defo of a continenet. It matters not - suffice to say it's a vast land mass, with all its riches and minerals that you now have. Then wasn't the inclusion of Hawaii achieved through some coercion and force. (BTW how come the British Union Flag is in the Hawaian state symbol?)
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>>Americans spread out from the original eastern seaboard states and took all the land. But it was never called the American Empire, conveniently the USA. If you think it was all fair, equitable and dandy then read "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee". Whatever happened to the Iroquois, Mohicans, etc. even in the very early days of settlement? But of course, it wasn't the USA back then, more a British colony.
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>I never said it was fair or equitable. It was conquest, pure and simple, with parallels throughout history. For example, the Northern Crusades in Europe. In both situations, the conquerers had no interest in exerting political control over other "units". The conquered were either assimilated, expelled, or exterminated. As brutal as that sounds, it is distinct from empire-building. IMHO.

Not all the Brit Empire was acquired through brute strength.

One time most of the known world was "Rome", cf one country, under one govt., from sea to sea, each city with its own equiv. of a drive-in (the ampitheatre). Nuff said? :-)