Decolonization

Decolonization is about ending colonialism, which is when powerful countries take control of other lands far away and rule over them. It started a long time ago, in 1775, when the American Revolution helped the United States break free from the British Empire.

Later, during the Napoleonic Wars, places like Haiti and parts of Spain and Portugal also fought for their freedom. After the First World War and the Second World War, many more countries around the world gained their independence.

Even after the Cold War, some areas like Palau became independent, and places such as Hong Kong and Macau changed how they were governed. Today, there are still a few places that are not fully independent, as listed by the United Nations.

Scope

Decolonization means ending colonialism, where powerful countries control other lands. According to David Strang, this happens when a new country becomes fully independent or joins an existing one.

The United Nations says that every group of people has the right to decide their own future, which is key to decolonization. A UN General Assembly Resolution in 1960 said that ruling other lands without their agreement is wrong. Even after some places became independent, Indigenous people still work for their rights under settler colonialism.

There have been big times of decolonization. These include the decolonization of Africa, the breakup of the Spanish Empire in the 1800s, and many empires ending after World War I and World War II. The Soviet Union also broke apart at the end of the Cold War.

Important books about decolonization include The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon and Decolonising the Mind by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Today, people still talk about decolonization, especially in the Americas and South Africa, using the term decoloniality.

By area

In the two hundred years following the American Revolutionary War in 1783, 165 colonies have gained independence from Western imperial powers. Several analyses point to different reasons for the spread of movements seeking independence. Some ideas suggest that more education in the colonies led to demands for self-government; other views see economic changes and shifts toward wage labor as important factors. Another argument is that earlier independence movements inspired later ones. Other explanations focus on how colonies became less profitable and more costly to maintain, or how colonial powers faced military challenges from local resistance. In the 19th century, colonial powers had strong support for holding colonies, but this changed in the 20th century as keeping colonies became seen as a burden.

Much of the thinking behind independence movements comes from ideas during the Age of Enlightenment. Theories about individual rights and liberalism were important in shaping new governments. More recent studies have pointed out that these ideas did not always include all people, especially Indigenous people.

American Revolution

Main article: American Revolution

Great Britain's Thirteen North American colonies were the first to declare independence, forming the United States of America in 1776, and defeating Britain in the Revolutionary War.

Haitian Revolution

Main article: Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution was a revolt in 1789 and a slave uprising in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. In 1804, Haiti secured independence from France as the Empire of Haiti, which later became a republic.

Spanish America

Main article: Spanish American wars of independence

The chaos of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe cut the direct links between Spain and its American colonies, allowing for the process of ending colonial rule to begin.

With the invasion of Spain by Napoleon in 1806, the American colonies declared autonomy and loyalty to King Ferdinand VII. The agreement was broken and each of the regions of the Spanish Empire had to decide whether to show allegiance to the Junta of Cadiz (the only territory in Spain free from Napoleon) or have a junta (assembly) of its own. The economic control from Spain was the main reason why many countries decided to become independent from Spain. In 1809, the independence wars of Latin America began with a revolt in La Paz, Bolivia. In 1807 and 1808, the Viceroyalty of the River Plate was invaded by the British. After their 2nd defeat, a Frenchman called Santiague de Liniers was proclaimed a new Viceroy by the local population and later accepted by Spain. In May 1810 in Buenos Aires, a Junta was created, but in Montevideo it was not recognized by the local government who followed the authority of the Junta of Cadiz. The rivalry between the two cities was the main reason for the distrust between them. During the next 15 years, the Spanish and Royalist on one side, and the rebels on the other fought in South America and Mexico. Numerous countries declared their independence. In 1824, the Spanish forces were defeated in the Battle of Ayacucho. The mainland was free, and in 1898, Spain lost Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Spanish–American War. Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the US, but Cuba became independent in 1902.

Portuguese America

Main article: Independence of Brazil

The Napoleonic Wars also led to the severing of the direct links between Portugal and its only American colony, Brazil. Days before Napoleon invaded Portugal, in 1807 the Portuguese royal court fled to Brazil. In 1820 there was a Constitutionalist Revolution in Portugal, which led to the return of the Portuguese court to Lisbon. This led to distrust between the Portuguese and the Brazilian colonists, and finally, in 1822, to the colony becoming independent as the Empire of Brazil, which later became a republic.

British Empire

Main article: British Empire

The emergence of political groups was especially characteristic of the British Empire. Driven by practical demands, the British made agreements with local leaders. Across the empire, the usual process was to hold a meeting in London to discuss moving toward self-government and then independence, submit a report to parliament, if approved submit a bill to Parliament at Westminster to end the responsibility of the United Kingdom (with a copy of the new constitution attached), and finally, if approved, issue an Order of Council setting the exact date of independence.

After World War I, several former German and Ottoman territories in the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific were governed by the UK as League of Nations mandates. Some were administered directly by the UK, and others by British dominions – Nauru and the Territory of New Guinea by Australia, South West Africa by the Union of South Africa, and Western Samoa by New Zealand.

Egypt became independent in 1922, although the UK kept some control over security, the Suez Canal, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 declared the British Empire dominions as equals, and the 1931 Statute of Westminster established full legislative independence for them. The equal dominions were six– Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa; Ireland had been brought into a union with Great Britain in 1801 creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, some of the Dominions were already independent in fact, and even in law and recognized as such by the international community. Thus, Canada was a founding member of the League of Nations in 1919 and served on the council from 1927 to 1930. That country also negotiated on its own and signed treaties and conventions from the early 1900s onward. Newfoundland gave up self-rule back to London in 1934. Iraq, a League of Nations mandate, became independent in 1932.

In response to a growing Indian independence movement, the UK made reforms to the British Raj, culminating in the Government of India Act 1935. These reforms included creating elected legislative councils in some of the provinces of British India. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, India's independence movement leader, led peaceful resistance to British rule. By becoming a symbol of both peace and opposition to British control, many Indians began to see the British as the cause of India's problems leading to a new sense of nationalism among its population. With this new wave of Indian nationalism, Gandhi was eventually able to gather support to push back the British and create an independent India in 1947.

Africa was only fully drawn into the system of colonies at the end of the 19th century. In the north-east the continued independence of the Ethiopian Empire remained a hope to those wanting independence. However, with the wars against colonial rule of the 1900s just over, new forms of African nationalism began to grow in the early 20th century with the emergence of Pan-Africanism, as advocated by the Jamaican journalist Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) whose widely distributed newspapers called for an end to European control, as well as republicanism in Egypt. Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) who was inspired by the works of Garvey led the Gold Coast (Ghana) to independence from colonial rule.

Independence for the colonies in Africa began with the independence of Sudan in 1956, and the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1957. All of the British colonies on mainland Africa became independent by 1966, although Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965 was not recognized by the UK or internationally.

Some of the British colonies in Asia were directly administered by British officials, while others were ruled by local monarchs as protectorates or in subsidiary alliance with the UK.

In 1947, British India was partitioned into the independent dominions of the Union of India and Pakistan. Hundreds of princely states, states ruled by monarchs in a treaty of alliance with Britain, were integrated into India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan fought several wars over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. French India was integrated into India between 1950 and 1954, and India annexed Portuguese India in 1961, and the Kingdom of Sikkim merged with India by popular vote in 1975.

Violence, civil warfare, and partition

Significant violence was involved in several cases of ending colonial rule of the British Empire; partition was a frequent solution. In 1783, the North American colonies were divided between the independent United States, and British North America, which later became Canada.

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India against British East India Company. It was not a movement for independence, however, and only a small part of India was involved. In the aftermath, the British pulled back from modernizing reforms of Indian society, and the level of organized violence under the British Raj was relatively small. Most of that was started by British administrators, as in the Amritsar massacre of 1919, or the police attacks on the Salt March of 1930. Large-scale violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims and between Muslims and Sikhs after the British left in 1947 in the newly independent dominions of India and Pakistan. Much later, in 1970, further violence broke out within Pakistan in the eastern part of East Bengal, which became independent as Bangladesh in 1971.

Cyprus, which came under full British control in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, was culturally divided between the majority Greek element (which demanded "enosis" or union with Greece) and the minority Turks. London for decades assumed it needed the island to defend the Suez Canal; but after the Suez crisis of 1956, that became a minor factor, and Greek violence became a more serious issue. Cyprus became an independent country in 1960, but ethnic violence escalated until 1974 when Turkey invaded and divided the island. Each side rewrote its own history, blaming the other.

Palestine became a British mandate from the League of Nations after World War I, initially including Transjordan. During that war, the British gained support from Arabs and Jews by making promises to both (see McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and Balfour Declaration). Decades of ethno—religious tension reached a climax with the UN Partition Plan and the ensuing war. The British eventually pulled out, and the former Mandate territory was divided between Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

French Empire

Further information: French colonial empire

After World War I, the people in colonies were disappointed at France's failure to recognize the efforts provided by the colonies (resources, but more importantly colonial troops). Although in Paris the Great Mosque of Paris was built as recognition of these efforts, the French state had no intention to allow self-rule, let alone grant independence to the people in colonies. Thus, nationalism in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to Abd el-Krim's Rif War (1921–1925) in Morocco and to the creation of Messali Hadj's Star of North Africa in Algeria in 1925. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II.

After World War I, France administered the former Ottoman territories of Syria and Lebanon, and the former German colonies of Togoland and Cameroon, as League of Nations mandates. Lebanon declared its independence in 1943, and Syria in 1945.

In some instances, efforts to end colonial rule ran counter to other concerns, such as the rapid increase of unfair treatment in Algeria in the course of the nation's resistance to French rule.

Although France was ultimately a winner of World War II, Nazi Germany's occupation of France and its North African colonies during the war had disrupted colonial control. On 27 October 1946, France adopted a new constitution creating the Fourth Republic, and substituted the French Union for the colonial empire. However power over the colonies remained concentrated in France, and the power of local assemblies outside France was extremely limited. On the night of 29 March 1947, a Madagascar nationalist uprising led the French government headed by Paul Ramadier (Socialist) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, 11,000–40,000 Malagasy died.

After the end of World War II, the Viet Minh launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnamese independence in September, although Allied troops reoccupied the territory afterwards. In late 1946, the Viet Minh attacked French troops in Hanoi, leading to the Indochina War (1946–54). France later recognized the independence of the State of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Laos, and the Kingdom of Cambodia, while also recognizing the unity of Vietnam (whose territories has been split into three separate regions under French colonial rule) and supported the anti-communist faction in this country against the communists who fought in the name of ending colonial rule in 1949. The war thus became part of the world-wide Cold War. Cambodia and Laos became fully independent in late 1953, Vietnam became fully independent on 4 June 1954, and the Geneva Accords of 21 July 1954 left Vietnam divided into the North and South with the fact that France recognized communists gaining the North. After North Vietnamese military victory in April 1975, Vietnam would be de jure united under a government on 2 July 1976.

In 1956, Morocco and Tunisia gained their independence from France. In 1960, eight independent countries emerged from French West Africa, and five from French Equatorial Africa. The Algerian War of Independence raged from 1954 to 1962. To this day, the Algerian war – officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s – remains a difficult memory for both France and Algeria.

In the 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought workers from the colonies, explaining today's diverse population.

After 1918

Further information: New Imperialism

United States

Main articles: American imperialism and Timeline of United States military operations

A union of former colonies itself, the United States approached control of other lands differently from the other Powers. Much of its energy and rapidly expanding population was directed westward across the North American continent against English and French claims, the Spanish Empire and Mexico. The Native Americans were sent to reservations, often unwillingly. With support from Britain, its Monroe Doctrine reserved the Americas as its area of interest, stopping other states (particularly Spain) from recolonizing the newly independent countries of Latin America. However, France, taking advantage of the American government's attention during the Civil War, intervened in Mexico and set up a French-protected monarchy. Spain took the step to occupy the Dominican Republic and restore colonial rule. The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 forced both France and Spain to leave those two countries. America's only African colony, Liberia, was formed privately and achieved independence early; Washington unofficially protected it. By 1900, the U.S. advocated an Open Door Policy and opposed the direct division of China.

After 1898 direct control expanded in Latin America. The United States bought Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 and annexed Hawaii in 1898. Following the Spanish–American War in 1898, the US added most of Spain's remaining colonies: Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam. Deciding not to take Cuba outright, the U.S. established it as a dependent state with obligations including the permanent lease of Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. Navy. The attempt of the first governor to void the island's constitution and remain in power past the end of his term caused a rebellion that caused a reoccupation between 1906 and 1909, but this was again followed by letting go. Similarly, the McKinley administration, despite fighting the Philippine–American War against a native republic, set out that the Territory of the Philippine Islands was eventually granted independence. In 1917, the U.S. bought the Danish West Indies (later renamed the US Virgin Islands) from Denmark and Puerto Ricans became full U.S. citizens that same year. The US government declared Puerto Rico the territory was no longer a colony and stopped sending information about it to the United Nations Decolonization Committee. As a result, the UN General Assembly removed Puerto Rico from the U.N. list of non-self-governing territories. Four referendums showed little support for independence, but much interest in becoming a state like Hawaii and Alaska received in 1959.

The Monroe Doctrine was expanded by the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904, providing that the United States had a right and duty to interfere "in clear cases of such wrongdoing or weakness" that a nation in the Western Hemisphere became open to European control. In practice, this meant that the United States was led to act as a collections agent for European creditors by managing customs duties in the Dominican Republic (1905–1941), Haiti (1915–1934), and elsewhere. The intrusion and poor relations this created were somewhat checked by the Clark Memorandum and given up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor Policy".

The Fourteen Points were conditions set by President Woodrow Wilson to the European powers at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I. In allowing allies France and Britain the former colonial possessions of the German and Ottoman Empires, the US demanded of them submission to the League of Nations mandate, in calling for V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable government whose title is to be determined. See also point XII.

After World War II, the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars into the Marshall Plan, and other grants and loans to Europe and Asia to rebuild the world economy. At the same time American military bases were set up around the world and direct and indirect interventions continued in Korea, Indochina, Latin America (among others, the 1965 occupation of the Dominican Republic), Africa, and the Middle East to stop Communist movements and uprisings. Since the end of the Soviet Union, the United States has been far less active in the Americas, but invaded Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 attacks in 2001, setting up army and air bases in Central Asia.

Japan

Before World War I, Japan had gained several big colonial lands in East Asia such as Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). Japan joined the allies in World War I, and after the war got the South Seas Mandate, the former German colony in Micronesia, as a League of Nations Mandate. Pursuing a colonial policy like those of European powers, Japan settled many ethnic Japanese in its colonies while suppressing local ethnic groups by making them learn and use the Japanese language in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to stop the use of Korean, Hokkien, and Hakka among local people, were seen to be used. Japan also set up the Imperial Universities in Korea (Keijō Imperial University) and Taiwan (Taihoku Imperial University) to force education.

In 1931, Japan took Manchuria from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under Puyi, the last Manchu emperor of China. In 1933 Japan took the Chinese province of Rehe, and added it to its Manchurian lands. The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, and Japan took much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at Nanjing. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 1931–1945 war with Japan.

In December 1941, the empire of Japan joined World War II by attacking the European and U.S. colonies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including French Indochina, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia, Portuguese Timor, and others. Following its giving up to the Allies in 1945, Japan lost all its colonies with a number of them being given back to the original Western powers. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945, and shortly after took and kept the southern Kuril Islands, which Japan still claims.

After 1945

Planning for decolonization

Decolonization was often not carefully planned, instead happening as a reaction to politics in the colonies, politics at home, and growing pressure from around the world. Right after the war there was a wave of ending colonial rule throughout Asia. This was followed by the Middle East, and in the 1960s sub-Saharan Africa. These waves saw most big colonies become independent, with many smaller colonies remaining. Many of the smallest colonies would not become independent, instead joining with nearby countries or becoming full parts of their ruling country.

U.S. and Philippines

In the United States, the two big political groups were divided on taking the Philippines, which became a big campaign issue in 1900. The Republicans, who liked taking it forever, won the election, but after a while, Republicans turned their attention to the Caribbean, focusing on building the Panama Canal. President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused on Mexico and Caribbean nations. By the 1920s, the peaceful efforts by the Filipino leaders to seek independence were convincing. When the Democrats returned to power in 1933, they worked with the Filipinos to plan a smooth change to independence. It was set for 1946 by Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934. In 1935, the Philippines moved out of being a territory, controlled by an appointed governor, to the semi-independent status of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Its constitution was written, which was approved by Washington and went into effect, with an elected governor Manuel L. Quezon and legislature. Foreign Affairs stayed under American control. The Philippines built a new army, under general Douglas MacArthur, who left his U.S. Army job to lead the new army reporting to Quezon. The Japanese attack 1942 to 1945 stopped things but did not change the plan. It happened on time in 1946 as Manuel Roxas became president.

Portugal

As a result of its early discoveries, Portugal had a big and long-lasting colonial empire which had started in 1415 with the conquest of Ceuta and ended only in 1999 with the giving up of Portuguese Macau to China. In 1822, Portugal lost control of Brazil, its biggest colony.

From 1933 to 1974, Portugal was an authoritarian state (ruled by António de Oliveira Salazar). The government was strongly set on keeping the country's colonies at all costs and to strongly stop any uprisings. In 1961, India took Goa and by the same year groups wanting independence had started forming in Portugal. Revolts (before the Portuguese Colonial War) spread to Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique. Lisbon made its efforts in the war bigger: for example, it added more local people to the colonial army and built special villages. Portugal sent another 300,000 European settlers into Angola and Mozambique before 1974. That year, a left-wing change in government inside Portugal took over the current rule and encouraged groups wanting change to try to take control in the colonies. The result was a very long and hard multi-group Civil War in Angola, and smaller fights in Mozambique.

Belgium

Belgium's empire started with taking the Congo in 1908 in answer to world pressure to end the terrible attacks that had happened under King Leopold's private Congo Free State. It added Rwanda and Burundi as League of Nations mandates from the former German Empire in 1919. The colonies stayed separate during the war, while Belgium was taken over by the Germans. There was no real planning for independence, and very little training or education given. The Belgian Congo was especially wealthy, and many Belgian business people pushed hard to keep control. Local fights grew stronger and finally, the Belgian king suddenly said in 1959 that independence was coming – and it was quickly set up in 1960, for a country split on social and economic lines.

Netherlands

The Netherlands had spent centuries building its empire. By 1940 it included mostly the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Its big oil fields gave about 14 percent of the Dutch national product and paid for a lot of Dutch government workers and business people in Batavia (now Jakarta) and other big cities. The Netherlands was taken over and almost lost everything by the Nazis during the war, and Japan took the Dutch ships in taking the East Indies. In 1945 the Netherlands could not get these islands back on its own; it did so by depending on British military help and American money. By the time Dutch soldiers came back, an independent government under Sukarno was in power, first set up by the Empire of Japan. The Dutch at home and abroad mostly agreed that Dutch power depended on an expensive war to get the islands back. Compromises were made, but were not trusted by either side. When the Indonesian Republic stopped a big communist fight, the United States saw that it needed the government of nationalists as an ally in the Cold War. Having the Dutch still in control was a problem for American Cold War goals, so Washington forced the Dutch to give full independence. A few years later, Sukarno took all Dutch East Indies property and sent out all ethnic Dutch—over 300,000—as well as several hundred thousand ethnic Indonesians who supported the Dutch. After this, the Netherlands did very well in the 1950s and 1960s but people were very unhappy with the United States for letting them down. The Dutch government finally gave up on claims to Indonesia in 1949, after pressure from America. The Netherlands also had one other big colony, Dutch Guiana in South America, which became independent as Suriname in 1975.

United Nations trust territories

Main article: United Nations trust territories

When the United Nations started in 1945, it set up trust territories. These included the League of Nations mandate territories which had not become independent by 1945, together with the former Italian Somaliland. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was moved from Japanese to US control. By 1990 all but one of the trust territories had become independent, either as new countries or by joining another country; the Northern Mariana Islands chose to become a part of the United States.

The emergence of the Third World (1945–present)

New countries that had just become independent joined together to fight continuing economic control by their old rulers. The Non-Aligned Movement started around the leaders of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, Sukarno, the president of Indonesia, Josip Broz Tito the Communist leader of Yugoslavia, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, head of Egypt. In 1955 these leaders met at the Bandung Conference together with Sukarno, the leader of Indonesia, and Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China. In 1960, the UN General Assembly voted on the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The next year, the first Non-Aligned Movement meeting was in Belgrade (1961), and was followed in 1964 by the making of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which tried to make a New International Economic Order (NIEO). The NIEO was against the 1944 Bretton Woods system, which had helped the leading countries that made it, and stayed in place until 1971 after the United States stopped turning dollars into gold. The main ideas of the NIEO are:

1. The right of every country to be equal, with no outside control of their internal matters, their part in solving world problems and the right to choose their own economic and social systems;
2. Full control by each country over its natural resources and other economic actions needed for growth, as well as rules for big businesses from other countries;
3. Fair and equal trade between rich countries and poor countries, with rich countries paying a fair price for raw materials and other goods from poor countries;
4. More help from other countries, both money and chances to learn new skills and get new technology, to help poor countries grow.

UNCTAD however was not very successful in making the NIEO, and differences between rich countries and poor countries grew through the 1960s to today. The 1973 oil crisis which followed the Yom Kippur War (October 1973) was started by the OPEC which said it would not sell oil to the US and Western countries, making the price of oil go up by four times, for five months, starting on 17 October 1973, and ending on 18 March 1974. OPEC countries then agreed, on 7 January 1975, to raise oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC countries – including many who had recently taken control of their oil industries – called for a New International Economic Order to be started by groups of countries that sell raw materials. At the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they asked for steady and fair prices for goods, an international food and agriculture program, technology to move from rich countries to poor countries, and changes to the economic system. But rich countries quickly started looking for other sources of oil, with oil companies putting most of their research money in the US and European countries or others, countries that were politically safe. OPEC lost more and more control over world oil prices.

The second oil crisis happened after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Then, the 1982 Latin American debt crisis started in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which could not pay back their loans, putting the world economic system in danger.

The 1990s were marked by the use of Washington consensus on free market ideas and "structural change" and "quick change therapies" for countries that used to be ruled by Communists.

Decolonization of Africa

Main article: Decolonisation of Africa

The ending of colonial rule in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa happened in the mid-to-late 1950s, very quickly, with little planning. There were many fights and organized protests, most notably in French Algeria, Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo and British Kenya.

In 1945, Africa had four independent countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa.

After Italy's loss in World War II, France and the UK took control of the former Italian colonies. Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951. Eritrea was added to Ethiopia in 1952. Italian Somaliland was ruled by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960.

By 1977, European colonial rule in mainland Africa had ended. Most of Africa's island countries had also become independent, although Réunion and Mayotte are still part of France. However the black majorities in Rhodesia and South Africa did not have the right to vote until 1979 in Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe-Rhodesia that year and Zimbabwe the next, and until 1994 in South Africa. Namibia, Africa's last UN Trust Territory, became independent of South Africa in 1990.

Most independent African countries are inside the old colonial borders. However Morocco added French Morocco with Spanish Morocco, and Somalia formed from the joining of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. Eritrea joined with Ethiopia in 1952, but became independent in 1993.

Most African countries became independent as republics. Morocco, Lesotho, and Eswatini stay monarchies under leaders whose families ruled before colonial times. Burundi, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia became independent as monarchies, but all four countries' leaders were later removed, and they became republics.

African countries work together in different groups of states. The African Union has all 55 African states. There are also smaller groups of states, including the East African Community, Southern African Development Community, and Economic Community of West African States, some of which share members.

•  United Kingdom: Sudan (1956); Ghana (1957); Nigeria (1960); Sierra Leone and Tanganyika (1961); Uganda (1962); Kenya and Sultanate of Zanzibar (1963); Malawi and Zambia (1964); Gambia and Rhodesia (1965); Botswana and Lesotho (1966); Mauritius and Swaziland (1968); Seychelles (1976)
•  France: Morocco and Tunisia (1956); Guinea (1958); Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Madagascar, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Mauritania (1960); Algeria (1962); Comoros (1975); Djibouti (1977)
•  Spain: Equatorial Guinea (1968)
•  Portugal: Guinea-Bissau (1974); Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola (1975)
•  Belgium: Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960); Burundi and Rwanda (1962)

Decolonization in the Americas after 1945

•  United Kingdom: Newfoundland (formerly an independent dominion but under direct British rule since 1934) (1949, union with Canada); Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (1962); Barbados and Guyana (1966); Bahamas (1973); Grenada (1974); Trinidad and Tobago (1976, removal of Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, transition to republic); Dominica (1978); Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1979); Antigua and Barbuda and Belize (1981); Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983); Barbados (2021, removal of Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, transition to republic).
•  Netherlands: Netherlands Antilles, Suriname (1954, both becoming constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), 1975 (independence of Suriname)
•  Denmark: Greenland (1979, became an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark).

Decolonization of Asia

Main article: Decolonisation of Asia

Japan expanded its control of Chinese lands during the 1930s, and took over Southeast Asia during World War II. After the war, the Japanese colonial empire ended, and groups wanting independence fought back against European countries and the United States trying to take control again.

The Republic of China took back lands in Manchuria and eastern China, as well as Taiwan. Only Hong Kong and Macau stayed under other control until both places were given to the People's Republic of China by the UK and Portugal in 1997 and 1999.

The Allied powers split Korea into two areas, which became North Korea and South Korea. The Philippines became independent from the U.S. in 1946.

The Netherlands recognized Indonesia's independence in 1949, after a four-year fight for independence. Indonesia took Netherlands New Guinea in 1963, and Portuguese Timor in 1975. In 2002, former Portuguese Timor became independent as East Timor.

The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of World War II, and their colonial or administrative areas. The year of ending colonial rule is given in order.

•  United Kingdom: Transjordan (1946), British India and Pakistan (1947); British Mandate of Palestine, Burma and Ceylon (1948); British Malaya (1957); Kuwait (1961); Kingdom of Sarawak, North Borneo and Singapore (1963); Maldives (1965); Aden (1967); Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (1971); Brunei (1984); Hong Kong (1997)
•  France: French India (1954) and Indochina comprising Vietnam (1954), Cambodia (1953) and Laos (1953)
•  Portugal: Portuguese India (1961); East Timor (1975); Macau (1999)
•  United States: Philippines (1946)
•  Netherlands: Indonesia (1949)

Decolonization in Europe

Italy took the Dodecanese islands in 1912, but after World War II they were given back to Greece. British control ended in Cyprus in 1960, and Malta in 1964, and both islands became independent countries.

Referring to the Revolutions of 1989, the historian Robert Daniels stated: "A special part that the anti-Communist changes shared with some of their earlier ones was ending colonial rule."

During the Russo-Ukrainian war, Ukraine passed a law in 2023 that banned Russian place names. This law has been called "a right way for the ending colonial rule processes in Ukraine and good tools." Experts on Russian studies have talked more about Russian control and the wish to end it in their work.

Decolonization of Oceania

Main article: Decolonisation of Oceania

The ending of colonial rule in Oceania happened after World War II when countries in Oceania moved from European control to full independence.

•  United Kingdom: Tonga and Fiji (1970); Solomon Islands and Tuvalu (1978); Kiribati (1979)
•  United Kingdom and  France: Vanuatu (1980)
•  Australia: Nauru (1968); Papua New Guinea (1975)
•  New Zealand: Samoa (1962)
•  United States: Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia (1986); Palau (1994)

Aspects

Typical challenges of decolonization include state-building, nation-building, and economic development.

State-building

Main article: State-building

After independence, new states needed to build strong governments, laws, schools, and other important systems. The support they received from their former rulers and other countries varied a lot. Most new countries became either republics or constitutional monarchies, and they had to create their own constitutions and voting systems.

Nation-building

Main article: Nation-building

Nation-building is about helping people feel proud and loyal to their new country instead of the old rulers or local groups. This can include creating symbols like flags and anthems, writing histories, and choosing official languages. It often builds on work started during the fight for independence.

Language policy

From the view of language policy (or language politics), replacing the ruler’s language with local languages is important. This happened more in Eurasia than in other places.

Cinematography

Writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o has talked about colonization and decolonization in movies. Filmmaker Haile Gerima talked about how colonizing ideas affected him as a child.

In Asia, kung fu cinema became popular in the late 1960s and 1970s. These films often showed local heroes fighting against foreign rulers and their local supporters.

Repatriation

In many places, decolonization meant that most colonial settlers left. But in places like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States, settlers stayed even after independence. This means that colonial rule did not truly end.

Economic development

Main article: Economic development

New countries had to build their own money, banks, and businesses. Many were places where raw materials were taken, so they started programs to grow their own industries. Some took control of industries and land.

Some countries kept strong economic ties with their former rulers. For example, 14 countries in West and Central Africa use the CFA franc, backed by France.

After independence, many countries joined groups to help each other, like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Effects on the colonizers

John Kenneth Galbraith said that decolonization happened partly for economic reasons. He explained that wealthy countries found other ways to grow besides controlling colonies. For example, letting go of the Philippines did not hurt the United States much because of special trade rules. The United Kingdom felt little impact from losing India and Pakistan. Similarly, the Netherlands made up for losing Indonesia through growth at home. Overall, ending colonies removed responsibilities for the rulers while still allowing them to benefit from the former colonies.

Assassinated anti-colonialist leaders

A list of leaders who worked against colonial rule but were sadly killed includes:

Current colonies

The United Nations defines certain territories as places where people have not yet fully governed themselves — these are linked to the idea of colonialism. After World War II ended in 1945, many areas in Asia and Africa gained independence from European powers. However, as of 2020, 17 territories were still listed under this category by the United Nations.

Some places, like the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, have debates about who should control them. In 2019, an international court said the United Kingdom should give the islands back to Mauritius, but the UK disagrees. The United Nations continues to push for all colonies to gain full independence.

Effects of decolonization

A study from 2019 showed that when colonies were allowed more control before becoming independent, the level of democracy in those places rose quickly. But there were no big changes in fighting, money coming in, or how the economy grew before and after they became independent.

When France and Britain lost their colonies, some writers said these countries became less powerful in the world.

Criticism

Some people think that decolonization should mean more than just freedom for colonized lands. They believe it should also include changes in the economy, culture, and minds of people who lived under colonial rule. However, this wider meaning of decolonization has been debated and criticized.

Political thinker Kevin Duong suggested that decolonization might have been a big act of taking away rights. He explained that many leaders fighting against colonial rule wanted the right to vote in the governments of the empires that controlled them, rather than full independence. Even after becoming independent countries, these new nations still had less influence in the decisions of the larger governments that once ruled over them.