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Colonialism: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Colonialism
Colonialism began not with a treaty, but with a disease that killed half the native population of Hispaniola in 1518. This biological catastrophe was the opening act of a global project that would eventually span 84% of Earth's land by the beginning of World War I. The story of colonialism is often told as a political or economic history, yet its true genesis lies in the collision of Old World pathogens with New World immunity. Smallpox, measles, and influenza were unknown in pre-Columbian America, and their arrival triggered a demographic collapse that facilitated European conquest. In the 1520s, smallpox ravaged Mexico, killing 150,000 people in Tenochtitlan alone, including the emperor. This was not merely a side effect of exploration; it was a weapon of war that allowed small groups of conquerors to subjugate vast empires. The Spanish Crown and Portuguese Empire, driven by the discovery of sea routes by Prince Henry the Navigator, established trading posts and conquered large extents of land, dividing the world between them in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The map of the world was redrawn not by the people living on it, but by the cartographers in Europe who decided which lands were blank spaces waiting to be filled. These maps were not objective records of geography; they were rhetorical tools that legitimized conquest by portraying indigenous lands as virgin wilderness, priming them for colonization. The act of mapping itself became an act of erasure, replacing indigenous place names with Western ones and creating hierarchies that placed the colonizer at the center of the world.
The Civilizing Mission And The Racial Hierarchy
The justification for colonial domination was rarely just greed; it was wrapped in a complex ideology of superiority that claimed a civilizing mission. European powers believed they had a duty to cultivate land and life, often rooted in a Christian mission to save souls. This belief system created a sharp differentiation between the colonizers and the colonized, establishing a coloniality that kept the subordinated socio-economically othered. The concept of race was weaponized to enforce this hierarchy, with scientists and naturalists producing pseudo-scientific studies to prove the inherent inferiority of non-European peoples. Biologists like Georges Cuvier studied Sarah Baartman, an African woman displayed in Europe, to argue that African anatomy resembled that of mandrills and baboons. These studies were used to legitimize the belief in a natural racial superiority of the mother country. This ideology extended to gender as well, with 19th-century scientists arguing that the female brain was smaller than the male's, thus inferring that women were less evolved. The colonial project sought to impose these European social and political belief systems on the colonized, reinforcing the idea that the colonizer was the only true human subject. This othering process created a dynamic where the colonized were seen as incapable of self-governance, justifying the monopoly of power by the metropole. The result was a system of intersectional violence and discrimination based on race, gender, class, and disability, which persists in modern biopolitics. The colonial state did not just conquer land; it conquered the very definition of humanity, creating a world where the colonized were legally inferior subjects rather than equal citizens.
Common questions
When did colonialism begin and what triggered its start?
Colonialism began in 1518 with a disease that killed half the native population of Hispaniola. This biological catastrophe served as the opening act of a global project that eventually spanned 84% of Earth's land by the beginning of World War I.
How did the Treaty of Tordesillas divide the world in 1494?
The Spanish Crown and Portuguese Empire divided the world between them in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. This agreement was driven by the discovery of sea routes by Prince Henry the Navigator and established trading posts and conquered land without the consent of the people living on it.
What was the scale of the slave trade between 1450 and 1870?
The European colonial system took approximately 11 million Africans to the Caribbean and to North and South America as slaves between 1450 and 1870. The Portuguese Empire brought 3,646,800 slaves to Brazil, while the British Empire transported 1,665,000 to the British Caribbean.
When did the Scramble for Africa result in European control of the continent?
By 1880, Africa was largely uncolonized, but by 1913, almost the entire continent was under European control. The territorial boundaries imposed by European colonisers defied existing boundaries of native populations that had previously interacted little with one another.
When did the United Nations issue the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples?
The United Nations issued the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960. This document affirmed the stance on independence, though colonial empires such as France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States abstained.
How many French colonists resettled in France following Algeria's independence in 1962?
900,000 French colonists, known as the Pied-Noirs, resettled in France following Algeria's independence in 1962. A significant number of these migrants were also of Algerian descent.
The economic engine of colonialism was built on the backs of enslaved people and indentured servants, creating a system of exploitation that enriched the metropole while devastating the colonies. European nations entered their imperial projects with the goal of enriching the European metropoles, and the exploitation of non-Europeans was considered acceptable. The European colonial system took approximately 11 million Africans to the Caribbean and to North and South America as slaves between 1450 and 1870. The Portuguese Empire brought 3,646,800 slaves to Brazil, while the British Empire transported 1,665,000 to the British Caribbean. This was not a peripheral activity but the central pillar of the colonial economy. The labor shortages that resulted from the abolition of slavery in the 1830s led to the development of indentured servitude, a system where workers contracted to pay for their voyage through their labor. Between 1830 and 1930, around 30 million indentured servants migrated from India, and 24 million returned to India. China sent more indentured servants to European colonies, and around the same proportion returned to China. These workers faced terrible conditions and burdensome debts, with no means of negotiating the debt once they arrived. The plantation economy was designed to extract resources and repatriate profits to the mother country, creating a pattern of underdevelopment in the colonies. The economic performance of former European colonies varies significantly, with some, like North America and Australia, becoming richer than the prosperous civilizations they replaced, such as the Mughals in India and the Incas in the Americas. This reversal of fortune is attributed to the political institutions established by the colonists, which determined the distribution of resources and the nature of economic growth.
The Scramble For Africa And The Partition Of Asia
The late 19th century saw a frenzied competition among European powers to claim territory, known as the Scramble for Africa, which resulted in the partition of the continent and the imposition of arbitrary borders. By 1880, Africa was largely uncolonized, but by 1913, almost the entire continent was under European control. The territorial boundaries imposed by European colonisers defied existing boundaries of native populations that had previously interacted little with one another. This arbitrary division ignored native political and cultural animosities, imposing peace upon people under military control. The Partition of British India in August 1947 led to the independence of India and the creation of Pakistan, causing much bloodshed and the migration of millions. Muslims from India and Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan migrated to the respective countries they sought independence for, creating a humanitarian crisis that continues to shape the region. The Japanese colonial empire, which began in the mid-19th century, also engaged in settler colonization, destroying the indigenous Ainu people in Hokkaido and moving onto the Ryukyu Islands. Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War to control Korea and the island of Formosa, now Taiwan, and later fought off the Russian Empire to control Port Arthur and South Sakhalin. The stated purpose of these colonial policies was to compensate for the lack of resources on the main islands of Japan by securing control over natural resources in Asia. The Scramble for Africa and the partition of Asia were not just about land; they were about the total reorganization of the world to serve the economic and strategic interests of the metropole. The colonial powers refined their methods of control, mixing aspects of exploitation colonialism and settler colonialism, thus exacerbating colonial violence.
The War Of The Colonizers And The Resistance
World War II marked a turning point in the history of colonialism, as the global conflict brought the European colonial empires into conflict with each other and sparked anticolonial uprisings. The war mobilization heightened colonial exploitation globally, sparking several anticolonial uprisings in response to forced conscription. Germany capitulated in large part due to the Allied sea blockade cutting off access to its overseas colonies, a disadvantage which German U-boats could not inflict on the Allies. The victorious Allies divided up the German colonial empire and much of the Ottoman Empire between themselves as League of Nations mandates. The war also saw the rise of anticolonial resistance movements that gained power and followers through a mix of legal and illegal methods. The Soviet Union positioned itself as an explicitly anti-imperialist power and played an important role in the success of anticolonial resistance movements in Asia and Africa. The Third Socialist International settled the question of colonialism and the decision was made to instruct socialists to ally with anticolonial nationalist forces in the colonized world regardless of their position on Marxism. Despite the rise in anticolonial sentiment, colonial powers still retained and expanded their grip on colonial territories. Any anticolonial opposition from colonized subjects, non-violent or otherwise, was met with brutal violence. The war also saw the expansion of settler colonialism in colonies such as Manchuria, Kenya, Mozambique, Palestine, Algeria, and Libya. The colonial violence of World War II was not limited to Europe; Italy expanded its colonial settlement program in Libya, and the Italian genocide between 1929 and 1934 killed up to 100,000 Libyans. The war exposed the fragility of the colonial project and set the stage for the rapid decolonization that followed.
The Great Unraveling And The New Order
In the aftermath of World War II, decolonization progressed rapidly, as the tumultuous upheaval of the war significantly weakened the major colonial powers. The United Nations issued the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960, affirming its stance, though colonial empires such as France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States abstained. The word neocolonialism originated from Jean-Paul Sartre in 1956, to refer to a variety of contexts since the decolonization that took place after World War II. Neocolonialism does not refer to a type of direct colonization but rather to colonialism or colonial-style exploitation by other means. Former or existing economic relationships, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, were used to maintain control of former colonies and dependencies after the colonial independence movements of the post-World War II period. The term became popular in ex-colonies in the late 20th century. The decolonization process led to the independence of colonies in waves, with a particular large wave of decolonizations happening in the aftermath of World War II between 1945 and 1975. The populations of some colonial territories, such as Canada, enjoyed relative peace and prosperity as part of a European power, at least among the majority. Minority populations such as First Nations peoples and French-Canadians experienced marginalization and resented colonial practices. The end of empire did not end the impact of colonialism; it merely changed its form. The legacy of colonialism persists in modern outcomes, as scholars have shown that variations in colonial institutions can account for variations in economic development, regime types, and state capacity.
The Return Of The Colonized And The Global Diaspora
The end of colonial rule triggered a massive reversal of migration patterns, as citizens of the former colonies moved back towards the imperial country. In a reversal of the migration patterns experienced during the modern colonial era, post-independence era migration followed a route back towards the imperial country. 900,000 French colonists, known as the Pied-Noirs, resettled in France following Algeria's independence in 1962. A significant number of these migrants were also of Algerian descent. 800,000 people of Portuguese origin migrated to Portugal after the independence of former colonies in Africa between 1974 and 1979. 300,000 settlers of Dutch origin migrated to the Netherlands from the Dutch West Indies after Dutch military control of the colony ended. After WWII 300,000 Dutchmen from the Dutch East Indies, of which the majority were people of Eurasian descent called Indo Europeans, repatriated to the Netherlands. A significant number later migrated to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Migration from former colonies has proven to be problematic for European countries, where the majority population may express hostility to ethnic minorities who have immigrated from former colonies. Cultural and religious conflict have often erupted in France in recent decades, between immigrants from the Maghreb countries of north Africa and the majority population of France. Nonetheless, immigration has changed the ethnic composition of France; by the 1980s, 25% of the total population of inner Paris and 14% of the metropolitan region were of foreign origin, mainly Algerian. The Commonwealth of Nations is an organization that promotes cooperation between and among Britain and its former colonies, and a similar organization exists for former colonies of France, the Francophonie. The legacy of colonialism is not just in the past; it is in the present, shaping the demographics and politics of the modern world.