Chronology of Western colonialism

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This is a non-exhaustive chronology of colonialism-related events, which may reflect political events, cultural events, and important global events that have influenced colonization and decolonization. See also Timeline of imperialism.

Contents

Before the 15th century

15th to 18th centuries

19th century to World War I

Interwar period

World War II, and Cold War until the Détente

1963 to the fall of the Berlin Wall

1990s onwards

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Empire</span> Territory ruled by the United Kingdom

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 percent of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35.5 million km2 (13.7 million sq mi), 24 per cent of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colony</span> Territory governed by another country

A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their metropole. This separated rule was often organized into colonial empires, with their metropoles at their centers, making colonies neither annexed or even integrated territories, nor client states. Particularly new imperialism and its colonialism advanced this separated rule and its lasting coloniality. Colonies were most often set up and colonized for exploitation and possibly settlement by colonists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonialism</span> Control by foreign groups

Colonialism is the advancement of control over and exploitation of land and people by separation, through another and often foreign group. Colonizers monopolize political power and hold conquered societies and their people to be inferior to their conquerors in legal, administrative, social, cultural, or biological terms. While frequently advanced as an imperialist regime, colonialism can also take the form of settler colonialism, whereby colonial settlers invade and occupy territory to permanently replace an existing society with that of the colonizers, possibly towards a genocide of native populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperialism</span> Extension of rule over foreign nations

Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power and soft power. Imperialism focuses on establishing or maintaining hegemony and a more or less formal empire. While related to the concept of colonialism, imperialism is a distinct concept that can apply to other forms of expansion and many forms of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Caribbean</span>

The history of the Caribbean reveals the region's significant role in the colonial struggles of the European powers since the 15th century. In the modern era, it remains strategically and economically important. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean and claimed the region for Spain. The following year, the first Spanish settlements were established in the Caribbean. Although the Spanish conquests of the Aztec empire and the Inca empire in the early sixteenth century made Mexico and Peru more desirable places for Spanish exploration and settlement, the Caribbean remained strategically important.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French colonial empire</span> Overseas territories controlled by France (1534–1980)

The French colonial empire comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates, and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French colonial empire", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the "Second French colonial empire", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. On the eve of World War I, France's colonial empire was the second-largest in the world after the British Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scramble for Africa</span> 1870s/80s-1914 colonisation of Africa by Europeans

The Scramble for Africa was the conquest and colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by the Second Industrial Revolution during the late 19th century and early 20th century in the era of "New Imperialism": Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decolonization</span> Undoing political, economic and cultural legacies of colonisation

Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence movements in the colonies and the collapse of global colonial empires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decolonisation of Africa</span> Independence of African colonies from European powers

The decolonisation of Africa was a series of political developments in Africa that spanned from the mid-1950s to 1975, during the Cold War. Colonial governments gave way to sovereign states in a process often marred by violence, political turmoil, widespread unrest, and organised revolts. Major events in the decolonisation of Africa included the Mau Mau rebellion, the Algerian War, the Congo Crisis, the Angolan War of Independence, the Zanzibar Revolution, and the events leading to the Nigerian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonial empire</span> Overseas possessions of a nation-state

A colonial empire is a state engaging in colonization, possibly establishing or maintaing colonies, infused with some form of coloniality and colonialism. Such states can expand contiguous as well as overseas. Colonial empires may set up colonies as settler colonies.

The African independence movements took place in the 20th century, when a wave of struggles for independence in European-ruled African territories were witnessed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of colonialism</span>

The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Han Chinese, and Arabs.

The military history of Morocco covers a vast time period and complex events. It interacts with multiple military events in a vast area containing North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

The decolonisation of Asia was the gradual growth of independence movements in Asia, leading ultimately to the retreat of foreign powers and the creation of several nation-states in the region.

The military history of North America can be viewed in a number of phases.

This Timeline of European imperialism covers episodes of imperialism outside of Europe by western nations since 1400; for other countries, see Imperialism § Imperialism by country.

References

  1. ↑ Haywood, John (2014-07-10). The Celts: Bronze Age to New Age. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-87017-3.
  2. ↑ "Mirror of the Cruel and Horrible Spanish Tyranny Perpetrated in the Netherlands, by the Tyrant, the Duke of Alba, and Other Commanders of King Philip II". World Digital Library . 1620. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  3. ↑ Sven Lindqvist, Exterminate all the brutes, 1992
  4. ↑ Voyage au Congo suivi du Retour du Tchad Archived March 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , in Lire , July–August 1995 (in French)
  5. ↑ Raízes de Gilberto Freyre by Thomas E. Skidmore in Journal of Latin American Studies (2002), 34: 1-20 Cambridge University Press
  6. ↑ Hoshiar Singh, Pankaj Singh; Singh Hoshiar (2011). Indian Administration. Pearson Education India. p. 10. ISBN   978-81-317-6119-9 . Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Writer Without Borders" Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine July 14, 2006 In These Times (in English)
  8. ↑ Gustavo Gutiérrez gana premio Príncipe de Asturias Archived 2007-05-03 at the Wayback Machine , Agencia Peru , 30 April 2003 (in Spanish)

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