Colonization and Colonialism, History of

Abstract

(a) Introduction: Problems of definition and the semantic field. No general theory, but definition of terminology: colonization, neutral: migration to establish a settlement, often agrarian; colonialism, derogative, but neutralized: the control of one people by another, culturally different one, which exploits the differences of economic, political and cultural development between the two. Why people and not nation or state. Strictly descriptive use of difference and of development. The semantic field: empire; imperialism; colonial expansion; decolonization; neocolonialism; dependency; semicolonies; secondary colonialism; internal colonialism. (b) The history and geography of colonization and colonialism. (i) Colonization and colonialism in world history: China, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans; medieval predecessors of European colonial expansion. (ii) The Portuguese empire of trade in Asia and its Dutch and English successors. The conquest of Java and India. (iii) The Spanish and Portuguese empires in America. American silver, the world trade system and the impact on European economies. (iv) Plantation America and African slaves. (v) British North America—a ‘new Europe.’ (vi) British India and the British empire of the nineteenth century. (vii) The age of imperialism. (viii) Continental expansion of Russia, the USA, and others. (c) Typology of colonization and colonialism. Typical sequences of colonial expansion: preventive occupation; contraproductive indigenous resistance; national prestige vs. cost-benefit analysis. Typical motives of individuals: quest for profit and status and transformation of this motive; secularization of missionary zeal; social Darwinism and the master race attitude. Three types of colonies: Trade and military bases; colonies of settlement; colonies of exploitation. Indigenous collaboration necessary and legitimate; revisionist historical analysis of the colonial situation. (d) Decolonization. Six waves: the Americas; the British dominions; South and South East Asia after World War II; Africa in the 1960s; the Portuguese colonies in the 1970s; internal decolonization in South Africa, Russia, and Israel in the 1990s. A dialectical process; triangle of political factors. (e) The consequences of colonialism and the postcolonial world. (i) Impact on the whole world, but rather limited upon Europe; no sufficient precondition of industrialization. (ii) Transformation of ecological systems in the colonies. (iii) The colonial economy and its postcolonial consequences. (iv) The postcolonial states, their external and internal weakness; new forms of political organization. (v) The impact of Western culture; Western culture as common heritage of mankind.