Colonialism is the policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories,[1] generally with the aim of economic dominance.[2] In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their religion, language, economics, and other cultural practices on indigenous peoples. The foreign administrators rule the territory in pursuit of their interests, seeking to benefit from the colonised region's people and resources.[3]
Colonialism is strongly associated with the European colonial period starting with the 15th century when some European states established colonising empires. At first, European colonising countries followed policies of mercantilism, aiming to strengthen the home-country economy, so agreements usually restricted the colonies to trading only with the metropole (mother country). By the mid-19th century, however, the British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and adopted the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs. Christian missionaries were active in practically all of the European-controlled colonies because the metropoles were Christian. Historian Philip Hoffman calculated that by 1800, before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans already controlled at least 35% of the globe, and by 1914, they had gained control of 84% of the globe.[4]
In the aftermath of World War II colonial powers were forced to retreat between 1945–1975, when nearly all colonies gained independence, entering into changed colonial, so-called postcolonial and neocolonialist relations. Postcolonialism and neocolonialism has continued or shifted relations and ideologies of colonialism, justifying its continuation with concepts such as development and new frontiers, as in exploring outer space for colonization.[5]
Contents
- 1 Definitions
- 2 Types of colonialism
- 3 Socio-cultural evolution
- 4 History
- 5 List of colonies
- 5.1 British colonies and protectorates
- 5.2 French colonies
- 5.3 Russian colonies and protectorates
- 5.4 German colonies
- 5.5 Italian colonies and protectorates
- 5.6 Dutch colonies and Overseas Territories
- 5.7 Portuguese colonies
- 5.8 Spanish colonies
- 5.9 Austro-Hungarian colonies
- 5.10 Danish colonies
- 5.11 Belgian colonies
- 5.12 Swedish colonies
- 5.13 Norwegian Overseas Territories
- 5.14 Ottoman colonies and Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire[33][34]
- 5.15 Colonization attempts by Poland[35][36]
- 5.16 Other non-European colonialist countries
- 5.16.1 Australian Overseas Territories
- 5.16.2 New Zealand dependencies
- 5.16.3 Japanese colonies and protectorates
- 5.16.4 Chinese colonies and protectorates
- 5.1
Colonialism is strongly associated with the European colonial period starting with the 15th century when some European states established colonising empires. At first, European colonising countries followed policies of mercantilism, aiming to strengthen the home-country economy, so agreements usually restricted the colonies to trading only with the metropole (mother country). By the mid-19th century, however, the British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and adopted the principle of free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs. Christian missionaries were active in practically all of the European-controlled colonies because the metropoles were Christian. Historian Philip Hoffman calculated that by 1800, before the Industrial Revolution, Europeans already controlled at least 35% of the globe, and by 1914, they had gained control of 84% of the globe.[4]
In the aftermath of World War II colonial powers were forced to retreat between 1945–1975, when nearly all colonies gained independence, entering into changed colonial, so-called postcolonial and neocolonialist relations. Postcolonialism and neocolonialism has continued or shifted relations and ideologies of colonialism, justifying its continuation with concepts such as development and new frontiers, as in exploring outer space for colonization.[5]
Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as "the policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker peoples or areas".[6] Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary defines colonialism as "the system or policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories".[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".[7] Etymologically, the word "colony" comes from the Latin colōnia—"a place for agriculture".
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy uses the term "to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia". It discusses the distinction between colonialism, imperialism and conquest and states that "[t]he difficulty of defining colonialism stems from the fact that the term is often used as a synonym for imperialism. Both colonialism and imperialism were forms of conquest that were expected to benefit Europe economically and strategically," and continues "given the difficulty of consistently distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism broadly to refer to the project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended with the national liberation movements of the 1960s".[8]
In his preface to Jürgen 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."[9] In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can 'colonialism' be defined independently from 'colony?'"[10] 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 colonised 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 colonised population, the colonisers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.[11]
Types of colonialism
Dutch family in Java, 1927Historians often distinguish between various overlapping forms of colonialism, which are classified[by whom?] into four types: settler colonialism, exploitation colonialism, surrogate colonialism, and internal colonialism.[12]
- Settler colonialism involves large-scale immigration, often motivated by religious, political, or economic reasons. It aims largely to replace any existing population. Here, a large number of people emigrate to the colony for the purpose of staying and cultivating the land.[12] Australia, Canada, the United States, and Israel, all exemplify settler-colonial societies.[13][14][15]
- Exploitation colonialism involves fewer colonists and focuses on the exploitation of natural resources or population as labour, typically to the benefit of the metropole. This category includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration. Prior to the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labour was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the Americas, first by the Portuguese, and later by the Spanish, Dutch, French and British.[citation needed]
- Surrogate colonialism involves a settlement project supported by a colonial power, in which most of the settlers do not come from a same ethnic group as the ruling power.
- Internal colonialism is a notion of uneven structural power between areas of a state. The source of exploitation comes from within the state. This is demonstrated in the way control and exploitation may pass from whites from the colonising country to a white immigrant population within a newly independent country.[16]
- National colonialism is a process involving elements of both settler and internal colonialism, in which nation-building and colonization are symbiotically connected, with the colonial regime seeking to remake the colonized peoples into their own cultural and political image. The goal is to integrate them into the state, but only as reflections of the state’s preferred culture. The Republic of China in Taiwan is the archetypal example of a national-colonialist society.[17]
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).[18][19]
History
Map of colonial and land-based empires throughout the world in 1800 CE.
Map of colonial and land-based empires throughout the world in 1914 CE.
Map
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy uses the term "to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia". It discusses the distinction between colonialism, imperialism and conquest and states that "[t]he difficulty of defining colonialism stems from the fact that the term is often used as a synonym for imperialism. Both colonialism and imperialism were forms of conquest that were expected to benefit Europe economically and strategically," and continues "given the difficulty of consistently distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism broadly to refer to the project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended with the national liberation movements of the 1960s".[8]
In his preface to Jürgen 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."[9] In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can 'colonialism' be defined independently from 'colony?'"[10] 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 colonised 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 colonised population, the colonisers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.[11]
Types of colonialism
Map of colonial and land-based empires throughout the world in 1800 CE.
Map of colonial and land-based empires throughout the world in 1914 CE.
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).[18][19]
Map of colonial and land-based empires throughout the world in 1800 CE.
Map of colonial and land-based empires throughout the world in 1914 CE.
Map of colonial empires (and Soviet Union) throughout the world in 1936 CE.
Map of colonial empires at the end of the Second World War, 1945 CE.
- African independence movements
- Age of Discovery
- Anti-imperialism
- Chartered companies
- Chinese imperialism
- Christianity and colonialism
- Civilising mission
- Colonial Empire
- Colonialism and the Olympic Games
- Coloniality of power
- Colonial wars
- Decoloniality
- Direct colonial rule
- Empire of Liberty
- European colonization of Africa
- European colonization of the Americas
- European colonization of Micronesia
- European colonisation of Southeast Asia
- French law on colonialism
- German eastward expansion
- Global Empire
- Historiography of the British Empire
- Impact of Western European colonialism and colonisation
- International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)
- Muslim conquests
- Orientalism
- Pluricontinental
- Protectorate
- Soviet Empire
- Stranger King (Concept)
- Western imperialism in Asia
Notes
- ^ a b Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1989, p. 291.
- ^ Rodney, Walter (2018). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. ISBN 978-1-78873-119-5. OCLC 1048081465.
- ^ Veracini, Lorenzo (2010). Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 5. ISBN 978-0-230-22097-3.
- ^ Philip T. Hoffman (2015). Why Did Europe Conquer the World?. Princeton University Press. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-1-4008-6584-0.
- ^ Gabrielle Cornish (22 July 2019). "How imperialism shaped the race to the moon". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
- ^ "Colonialism". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
- ^ "Colonialism". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- ^ Margaret Kohn (29 August 2017). "Colonialism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- ^ Tignor, Roger (2005). Preface to Colonialism: a theoretical overview. Markus Weiner Publishers. p. x. ISBN 978-1-55876-340-1. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- ^ Osterhammel, Jürgen (2005). Colonialism: a theoretical overview. trans. Shelley Frisch. Markus Weiner Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-55876-340-1. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- ^ Osterhammel, Jürgen (2005). Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. trans. Shelley Frisch. Markus Weiner Publishers. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-55876-340-1. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- ^ a b Healy, Roisin; Dal Lago, Enrico (2014). The Shadow of Colonialism on Europe's Modern Past. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-137-45075-3.
- ^ Barker, Adam J. (2009). "The Contemporary Reality of Canadian Imperialism: Settler Colonialism and the Hybrid Colonial State". American Indian Quarterly. 33 (3): 325–351. doi:10.1353/aiq.0.0054. JSTOR 40388468. S2CID 162692337.
Anglo-Burmese
