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HISTORY OF COLONIAL EUROPE 1

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HISTORY OF COLONIAL EUROPE

  • 16th Century (1550) - first 2 players (Spain & Portugal)
    Spain - Latin America
    Portugal - African, East & South Asian coast

  • 17th Century (1650) - France, Britain & Netherlands join. Russian conquest of Siberia.
    Spain - Latin America
    Portugal - African, East & South Asian coast
    France - North America, West African coast
    Britain & Netherlands - scattered territories
    Russia - Siberia

  • 18th Century (1754) - further territory aquisition by previous countries

  • 19th Century (1822)
    South America independant (Spain & Portugal gone)
    British - Canada & Australia, most of South Asia, a lot of India
    Russia - further territory aquisitions

  • 19th Century (1885)
    USA, only African coast colonized. Beginning of African conquest.

  • 20th Century (1914)
    Europe - Most of Africa colonized

  • 20TH Century (1938)
    Africa - many colonies gain independence

  • 20th Century (1960-74)
    Major decolonization

Essentially: Western Europe (1.6%) colonized the rest
Not Colonized by Europe: Thailand (Brit/French buffer state); Ethiopia (Deafeated Italy); Japan (becomes imperialst itself, has enlightenment); Korean Peninsula; Iran/Persia (Russian/Brit buffer) - partitioned into spheres of influence, but independant; major parts of China; Ottoman Empire (colonizer); Liberia (established by former US slaves); Arabian Peninsula (Europe didn’t want to interfere with the holy cities), Afghanistan (2 19th Century wars - won by Britian, yet colonization was failed)

Chapter 1 - intro
Chapter 2 - why France, Britian, etc. were so powerful in 1750
Chapter 3 - the 70s year war (America, Canada, Americas…)
Chapter 4 - Asia
Chapter 5 - Africa
Chapter 6 - (most important) how European empires function
Chapter 7 - 20th Century

! Definitions !
(What is colonization? Kinds of colonizations we wont focus on. There are NO clear cut definitions of colonialism)

Metropol - center of a colonial empire (Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, etc.)

Not all ‘expansion’ is colonization:

  • exodus (not centralized, not controled by metropol)
  • immigration (even more individual than an exodus, integration into different societies)

Border colonization - expansion of your border (exploiting new regions adjesent to your country) (we wont examine this kind of colonization)

(Proper) Colonization (we won’t discuss very much):

  • Naval network (Portugal)
  • Overseas settlement (British North America, Australia)

What is a ‘colony’?

  • A new political organization (entity) created by invasion (either conquest/war or settlement/migration). Nevertheless a new political organization HAS to be established.
  • The alien rulers are nevertheless reliant on a geographically remote ‘mother country’, or imperial state claiming exclusive rights of possession of the colony (the metropol).

The three elements of a colony:

  1. invasion (war / settlement)
  2. remote mother country (colonizer)
  3. exclusive rights of posession

! Colonialism is a relationship of domination between an indigenious (or forcibly imported) majority and a minority of foreign invaders. Decisions are made in accordance with the needs of a distant metropolis. Solutions valuing compromise or the needs of the native population are ignored in favour of embracing the superiority of the colonizer.

colonization goes hand in hand with colony/colonialism, but they’re different!

  • colonies without colonization: military conquest
  • colonization without colonies: border colonialism
  • internal colonialism: Brazilian hinterlands
  • subcolonial relations: between 2 colonies of an empire

There is a variety of colonies in how they’re administerd (politcal and legal sphere) and how they’re arranged (economic, populational and social sphere)

! The kinds of empires:

  • formal empires (many peripheries, one center): Portugal, Spain, Dutch Republic, Britain
  • semi-empires (colonial powers, not quite empires): Belgium, Spain post 1920
  • informal empires (pursues interest, beyond acquisition of territory, spheres of influence and affect, etc.): China, 19th Century Britian in Latin America, USA

! Imperialism: all activities contributing to the furthering and maintaining of an empire

  • more comprehensive than colonialism
  • colonialism is a manifestation of imperialism
  • no absolute difference between the two

Main difference between empire and colonial empire: relationship between settlers/rulers and indigenious people/colonized
Empires (not colonial empires): Roman, Ottoman, Mongol, etc.
colonial empire - settlers rule native peoples. Roman/Mongol empires allowed leaders to be indigienous
Mongolians ended up converting to Buddhism/Islam

Russian & USSR - closer to border colonialism, yet Russian expansion into Siberia is very similar to ‘orientalism’, yet the USSR embraced its multiculturalism, in reaction to past tzarism, embraced federalism, gave control to its varied ethnic groups

! The division of people via ethnic lines is a core idea of colonial/orient thinking

Palestine / Israel - colonialism, but there’s no foreign metropolite (unique case)
China in Africa - not history, and more economic and soft than previous colonial endeavours

All of this is colonization, but European colonization is different! Of larger scale, of a unique nature. They span oceans and continents, establish themselves with force, etc., etc.

European colonization is a very different from border colonialism.

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