<Li> the Kingdom of France with its colonial empire </Li> <Li> the Portuguese Empire of the Kingdom of Portugal (personal union with Spain 1580--1640) </Li> <Li> the Spanish Empire of Habsburg Spain (after 1700 Bourbon Spain) </Li> <Li> the British Empire of the English and Scottish Union of the Crowns (after 1707 the Kingdom of Great Britain) </Li>

After a succession of monarchs what country was led to the status of a great european power