Which states increased their influence and control over their pre-existing colonies, and which saw their influence decrease?

Some states gained control and some states saw their influence decrease. In Jamaica, the people's revolted and Jamaica lost much control. In Jamaica in the 19th century, the African slaves had no representation. Due to this, the economy was down. There were high prices, leading to starvation. The ratio of blacks to whites was 32:1 by the time of the presidential election. A petition was sent to the queen of England to ask for relief from the heavy taxation their government was opposing on them. The response, blaming the Jamaican blacks for their situation, caused a revolt against the Jamaican crown. The rebellions started with the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865. 

The next example was a failure of rebellion. The British had a colony in South Africa; wanting to keep Africans under firmer control, on December 11, 1879, the British announced that the Zulu were going into British territory, so the British attacked. All the Zulu raised up to defend their territory. Attacking the British in turn, the Zulu defeated the British in the first battle; however, in the end, in the battle of Orke's, the British won. The Zulu suffered enormous casualties. The British  sent reinforcements down to the Zulu land and the British defeated the Zulus and divided up their kingdom.
Of course, there are numerous other examples of states gaining or losing control of colonies.  As shown throughout history, there was much back and forth between states and colonies.

                                                          The Zulu battling the British.

 In 1536, Spanish colonists founded a settlement in the area now known as Paraguay, merging with the Guarani people in the area. Following, in the 17th century, Jesuit missionaries settled in southern Paraguay. They were centers of religious conversion, trade, and agricultural production. In attempts to overthrow the Jesuit settlement, the Spanish and Portuguese launched an attack. They drove the Jesuits out in 1767. A decade later, a new viceroyalty was formed. The viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata fell within their jurisdiction.  Rio de la Plata’s capital, Buenos Aires, was the center of all economic activity in the region. Therefore, the leaders of Paraguay began to resent the fact that they had no representation. Not only Paraguay was upset; in 1810, Argentina declared independence from Spain. Paraguay did not want to comply with the Argentineans declaration of independence, so, in 1811, the Argentinian army attacked Paraguay in an attempt to force it to comply. In the same year, Paraguay’s militia defeated the Argentine army. After this, the Spanish governor was afraid the Argentinians would attack again. Asking for military assistance from the Spanish, Paraguayans overthrew the governor on May 14, 1811.

Videos:

              Zulu against British-

                             

               Jamaican-

                              
               
                     

Works Cited:

Cavanaugh, Jake. The Cause of the Morant Bay Rebellion:1865. N.p., n.d. Web. 11  Mar., 2014.
Anglo-Zulu Wars: 1879-1896. South African History Online: towards a people's history. Electronic.
      11 Mar., 2014.