Colonies

Nearly all Earth’s land area has been allocated to a collection of around 200 sovereign states, but some territories remain that have not achieved self-determination and statehood. A colony is a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent. In some cases, a sovereign state runs only the colony’s military and foreign policy. In others, it also controls the colony’s internal affairs.

Current Colonies

The United Nations identifies 17 places in the world that it calls “non–self-governing territories”. Of the 17, Western Sahara discussed earlier in this chapter is by far the most extensive (266,000 square kilometers [103,000 square miles]) and most populous (around 540,000). The two next most populous are French Polynesia and New Caledonia, both controlled by France, with around 275,000 inhabitants each (Figure 8-28). All but Western Sahara are islands.

Remaining Colonies

The United Nations identifies 17 remaining colonies, primarily islands.

French Polynesia

The colonial capital Papeete is on Tahiti, one of 118 islands in the colony.

The least-populated colony is Pitcairn Island, a 36-square-kilometer (14-square-mile) possession of the United Kingdom. The island in the South Pacific was settled in 1790 by British mutineers from the ship Bounty, commanded by Captain William Bligh. Its 50 islanders survive by selling fish as well as postage stamps to collectors.

The U.N. list does not include territories that are uninhabited, such as Baker and Midway islands, controlled by the United States. The U.N. also does not list inhabited territories that it considers to have considerable autonomy in self-governing. For example, the U.N. does not classify these territories as colonies:

• Puerto Rico. A commonwealth of the United States. Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States, but they do not participate in U.S. elections or have a voting member of Congress.

• Greenland. An autonomous unit within the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland runs its internal affairs, but Denmark controls foreign affairs and defense.

• Hong Kong and Macao. Attached to the mainland of China as special administrative regions within the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong was a colony of the United Kingdom until it reverted to China in 1997, and a year later Portugal returned its colony of Macao. The two have some autonomy in economic matters, but China controls foreign affairs and defense.

Pause & Reflect 8.2.5

Do you agree that Puerto Rico should not be classified as a colony? What are two ways in which Puerto Rico’s government could change to resolve the ambiguity of its status?

Colonialism

At one time, colonies were widespread over Earth’s surface. European states came to control much of the world through colonialism, which is an effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on that territory (Figure 8-29). Historically, European states established colonies elsewhere in the world for three basic reasons:

• To promote Christianity.

• To extract useful resources and to serve as captive markets for their products.

• To establish relative power through the number of colonies claimed.

Colonial Possessions, 1914

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, European states held colonies in much of the world.

The colonial era began in the 1400s, when European explorers sailed westward for Asia but encountered and settled in the Western Hemisphere instead. Eventually, the European states lost most of their Western Hemisphere colonies: Independence was declared by the United States in 1776 and by most Latin American states between 1800 and 1824.

European states then turned their attention to Africa and Asia. At the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, European states decided that they could convert most of Africa into their colonies, and they defined areas within Africa that each would control.

The United Kingdom planted colonies on every continent, including much of eastern and southern Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Canada. With by far the largest colonial empire, the British proclaimed that the “Sun never set” on their empire.

British Empire

British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem after successfully capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire in 1917.

France had the second-largest overseas territory, primarily in West Africa and Southeast Asia. France attempted to assimilate its colonies into French culture and educate an elite group to provide local administrative leadership. After independence, most of these leaders retained close ties with France.

Most African and Asian colonies became independent after World War II. Only 15 African and Asian states were members of the United Nations when it was established in 1945, compared to 106 since 2011. The boundaries of the new states frequently coincide with former colonial provinces, although not always.

Japan was the principal colonial power in Asia during the first half of the twentieth century. It controlled Korea, Taiwan, several smaller Pacific Ocean islands, and a portion of China. Colonial control ended in 1945 with Japan's defeat in World War II.