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Colonialism

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This article is about territorial expansion. For the architectural style, see American colonial architecture.
For examples of colonialism that do not refer to modern Western colonialism beginning in the 1500s, see
Colony and Colonization.
For other uses, see Colonization (disambiguation).

The pith helmet (in this case, of the Second French Empire) is an icon of colonialism in tropical lands
Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition, and expansion of
colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships
between the colonial power and the colony and often between the colonists and the indigenous
population.
The European colonial period was the era from the 16th century to the mid-20th century when
several European powers (particularly, but not exclusively, Portugal, Spain, Britain, the
Netherlands, Russia, Italy and France) established colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At
first the countries followed mercantilist policies designed to strengthen the home economy at the
expense of rivals, so the colonies were usually allowed to trade only with the mother country. By
the mid-19th century, however, the powerful British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade
restrictions and introduced the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs.
Colonialism was always portrayed in the colonizing country (in public) as bringing benefits for
the colony. They included: increased standard of living, benefits of Christianity, improved health
and education, establishing law and order, etc. The sincerity with which and the extent to which
these benefits were provided are often at the very least questionable. Also, many now-
independent colonies have not yet recovered from the psychological trauma of colonialism.
Contents
[hide]
1 Definitions
2 Types of colonialism
3 Socio-cultural evolution
4 History
o 4.1 European empires in 1914
4.1.1 British colonies and protectorates
4.1.2 French colonies
4.1.3 Russian colonies and protectorates
4.1.4 German colonies
4.1.5 Italian colonies
4.1.6 Dutch colonies
4.1.7 Portuguese colonies
4.1.8 Spanish colonies
4.1.9 Austro-Hungarian colonies
4.1.10 Danish colonies
4.1.11 Belgian colonies
4.1.12 Numbers of European settlers in the colonies (15001914)
o 4.2 Other non-European colonialist countries in 1914
4.2.1 United States colonies and protectorates
4.2.2 Chinese colonies
4.2.3 Ottoman colonies
4.2.4 Japanese colonies
o 4.3 Neocolonialism
5 Colonialism and the history of thought
o 5.1 Universalism
o 5.2 Colonialism and geography
o 5.3 Colonialism and imperialism
o 5.4 Marxist view of colonialism
o 5.5 Liberalism, capitalism and colonialism
o 5.6 Scientific thought in colonialism, race and gender
o 5.7 Post-colonialism
6 Impact of colonialism and colonization
o 6.1 Trade and commerce
o 6.2 Slaves and indentured servants
o 6.3 Military innovation
o 6.4 The end of empire
o 6.5 Post-independence population movement
o 6.6 Impact on health
6.6.1 Countering disease
o 6.7 Colonial migrations
7 See also
o 7.1 See also
8 Notes
9 References
o 9.1 Primary sources
10 External links
Definitions

1541 founding of Santiago de Chile
Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as "the policy and practice of a power in
extending control over weaker people or areas."
[1]
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers four
definitions, including "something characteristic of a colony" and "control by one power over a
dependent area or people."
[2]

The 2006 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy "uses the term 'colonialism' to describe the
process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including
Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia." It discusses the distinction between
colonialism and imperialism and states that "given the difficulty of consistently distinguishing
between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism as a broad concept that refers to the
project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended
with the national liberation movements of the 1960s."
[3]

In his preface to Jrgen Osterhammel's Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview, Roger Tignor
says, "For Osterhammel, the essence of colonialism is the existence of colonies, which are by
definition governed differently from other territories such as protectorates or informal spheres of
influence."
[4]
In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can 'colonialism' be defined independently
from 'colony?'"
[5]
He settles on a three-sentence definition:
Colonialism is a relationship between an indigenous (or forcibly imported) majority and a
minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized
people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often
defined in a distant metropolis. Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population,
the colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.
[6]

Types of colonialism

Dutch family in Java, 1927
Historians often distinguish between two overlapping forms of colonialism:
Settler colonialism involves large-scale immigration, often motivated by religious, political, or
economic reasons.
Exploitation colonialism involves fewer colonists and focuses on access to resources for export,
typically to the metropole. This category includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where
colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration, but would rely on
indigenous resources for labour and material. Prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread
abolition, when indigenous labour was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the Americas,
first by the Portuguese Empire, and later by the Spanish, Dutch, French and British.
Plantation colonies would be considered exploitation colonialism; but colonizing powers would
utilize either type for different territories depending on various social and economic factors as
well as climate and geographic conditions.
Surrogate colonialism involves a settlement project supported by colonial power, in which most
of the settlers do not come from the mainstream of the ruling power.
Internal colonialism is a notion of uneven structural power between areas of a nation state. The
source of exploitation comes from within the state.
Socio-cultural evolution
As colonialism often played out in pre-populated areas, sociocultural evolution included the
formation of various ethnically hybrid populations. Colonialism gave rise to culturally and
ethnically mixed populations such as the mestizos of the Americas, as well as racially-divided
populations such as those found in French Algeria or in Southern Rhodesia. In fact, everywhere
where colonial powers established a consistent and continued presence, hybrid communities
existed.
Notable examples in Asia include the Anglo-Burmese, Anglo-Indian, Burgher, Eurasian
Singaporean, Filipino mestizo, Kristang and Macanese peoples. In the Dutch East Indies (later
Indonesia) the vast majority of "Dutch" settlers were in fact Eurasians known as Indo-Europeans,
formally belonging to the European legal class in the colony (see also Indos in Pre-Colonial
History and Indos in Colonial History).
[7][8]

History
Main articles: History of colonialism and Chronology of colonialism

Map of colonial empires throughout the world in 1800

Map of colonial empires throughout the world in 1914

Map of colonial empires at the end of the Second World War, 1945
Activity that could be called colonialism has a long history, starting with the pre-colonial African
empires which led to the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans who all built colonies in
antiquity. The word "metropole" comes from the Greek metropolis [Greek: ""]
"mother city". The word "colony" comes from the Latin colonia"a place for agriculture".
Between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Vietnamese established military colonies south of their
original territory and absorbed the territory, in a process known as nam tin.
[9]

Modern colonialism started with the Age of Discovery. Portugal and Spain discovered new lands
across the oceans and built trading posts or conquered large extensions of land. For some people,
it is this building of colonies across oceans that differentiates colonialism from other types of
expansionism. These new lands were divided between the Portuguese Empire and Spanish
Empire, first by the papal bull Inter caetera and then by the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty
of Zaragoza (1529).
This period is also associated with the Commercial Revolution. The late Middle Ages saw
reforms in accountancy and banking in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. These ideas were
adopted and adapted in western Europe to the high risks and rewards associated with colonial
ventures.
The 17th century saw the creation of the French colonial empire and the Dutch Empire, as well
as the English overseas possessions, which later became the British Empire. It also saw the
establishment of a Danish colonial empire and some Swedish overseas colonies.
The spread of colonial empires was reduced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by the
American Revolutionary War and the Latin American wars of independence. However, many
new colonies were established after this time, including the German colonial empire and Belgian
colonial empire. In the late 19th century, many European powers were involved in the Scramble
for Africa.
The Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire and Austrian Empire existed at the same time as the above
empires, but did not expand over oceans. Rather, these empires expanded through the more
traditional route of conquest of neighbouring territories. There was, though, some Russian
colonization of the Americas across the Bering Strait. The Empire of Japan modelled itself on
European colonial empires. The United States of America gained overseas territories after the
Spanish-American War for which the term "American Empire" was coined.
After the First World War, the victorious allies divided up the German colonial empire and much
of the Ottoman Empire between themselves as League of Nations mandates. These territories
were divided into three classes according to how quickly it was deemed that they would be ready
for independence.
[10]

The colonial system was the major cause of the Second World War. The war in the Pacific was
caused by Japan's efforts to create a colonial empire that conflicted with the existing empires
held by the British, French, Dutch and the United States. The war in Europe and North Africa
was caused by Germany and Italy's efforts to create colonial empires that conflicted with the
existing British, French and Russian colonial empires in these areas.
After World War II, decolonization progressed rapidly. This was caused for a number of reasons.
First, the Japanese victories in the Pacific War showed Indians, Chinese and other subject
peoples that a non-European could defeat the white settlers. Second, many of these people
acquired weapons and training in the war among the colonial powers.
Dozens of independence movements and global political solidarity projects such as the Non-
Aligned Movement were instrumental in the decolonization efforts of former colonies. These
included significant wars of liberation fought in Malaysia, Vietnam, Algeria, and Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe). Eventually, the European powers - pressured by the United States -- resigned
themselves to decolonization.
In 1962 the United Nations set up a Special Committee on Decolonization, often called the
Committee of 24, to encourage this process.
European empires in 1914
The major European empires consisted of the following colonies at the start of World War I
(former colonies of the Spanish Empire became independent before 1914 and are not listed;
former colonies of other European empires that previously became independent, such as the
former French colony Haiti, are not listed).

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