Took possession of land or territory and added it to one's own country, usually by force or authority.
From Latin 'annexus,' past participle of 'annectere' (ad- meaning 'to' + nectere meaning 'to bind'). The word originally meant simply 'to bind together' but evolved toward the political meaning.
The word 'annex' is controversial in modern geopolitics—when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, most nations called it 'illegal' because international law now says you can't just take territory, even though historically, annexation was how borders were constantly redrawn.
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