The article considers the colonialism and Empire in «History of the two Indies» written by Abbe Raynal. Nowadays the «Empire» concept is being reconsidered from the historical term into an analytical model. Therefore it is important to know what meaning was put into this concept by the contemporaries of the initial phase of construction of the European colonial empires. Using the analysis of Abbe Raynal's «History of the two Indies» authors present the model of Empire, as it was saw by the figures of Enlightenment. The colonial policies via such topics as law, ethics, trade, exchange, among others are presented. The authors show the structural features of the Raynal's work, main components of the criticism of the Empire and the colonial policy. The article notes that the radical criticism of the Empire coexisted with the concept of the «enlightened colonialism». That colonialism included the idea of a gradual liberation of all slaves. The authors conclude that the model of Empire as presented by Abbe Raynal anticipated many elements of analytical models currently suggested.