Decolonization of Africa and Asia: Causes, Phases and Key Milestones

1. Causes of Decolonization

The decolonization of Africa and Asia was a rapid process that began at the end of World War II.

a. Factors

i. Nationalist Movements

During the interwar period, nationalist movements began to form in the colonized countries, encouraged by the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. They started to denounce colonial oppression and claim the right to independence. Charismatic leaders emerged, such as Nehru, Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh and Nasser.

ii. Weakness of the Metropolises

During the two World Wars, colonized peoples stopped seeing their colonizers as superior. The prestige of the metropolises declined and the myth that the great powers were invincible disappeared. These events encouraged feelings of independence, strengthened by the spread of the ideals of freedom and democracy promoted by the Allies.

iii. Favorable International Context

The two great powers that emerged victorious after World War II both supported decolonization. The United States set an example by granting independence to the Philippines in 1946, while the USSR supported all independence movements. Both countries also wanted to extend their ideological and economic influence over the newly independent nations. The UN Charter of 1945 proclaimed the equality of all peoples. Public opinion and the intellectual world also favored this trend. Finally, various churches, including the Catholic Church, spoke out against colonialism.

b. Different Paths

i. Peaceful Path

The United Kingdom chose the path of negotiation when granting independence. It could not, however, avoid conflict in the separation between India and Pakistan. The British spirit of negotiation allowed the creation of cooperation organizations among former colonies, such as the Commonwealth of Nations.

ii. Violent Path

France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal had to face armed uprisings that ended in the independence of their colonies.

2. Phases of the Process

a. Initial Phase

i. India

The "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire developed, from 1920 onward, two parties or independence movements in the Congress: the Indian National Congress, led by Gandhi and Nehru, and the Muslim League, led by Ali Jinnah. In 1947 Great Britain granted independence to India, which was divided into two countries, each led by one of the aforementioned parties: India and Pakistan.

ii. Indochina and Indonesia

Both colonies were occupied by Japan during World War II. France and the Netherlands temporarily lost control. When the war ended, they sought to recover their control, but by then nationalist guerrilla groups had already organized. The Netherlands recognized the independence of Indonesia in 1949, while France did not leave Indochina until 1954, after being militarily defeated.

iii. Middle East

Iran and Iraq were under British influence; Syria and Lebanon were French mandates; Jordan and Palestine were British mandates. In 1946 all these territories gained independence, except Palestine, which was divided by the UN in 1948 into two territories: a Palestinian one and a Hebrew one, where the Jews proclaimed the State of Israel.

b. Expansion

After the French defeat in Vietnam, the independence movement spread across North Africa: Egypt and Libya in 1945 (Libya in 1951 as a recognized state), Tunisia and Morocco in 1956, and the northern protectorate of Morocco, under Spanish mandate, joined Morocco in 1958.

The case of Algeria was the most traumatic. In 1954 the National Liberation Front (FLN) appeared, starting a bloody war against the French. In 1962 France recognized the independence of Algeria.

In Central Africa, independence processes were negotiated: Ghana in 1957, Nigeria in 1960, Sierra Leone and Tanzania in 1961, Uganda in 1962, and Kenya in 1963.

The Belgian colonies, Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, achieved independence in 1960 after violent confrontations that lasted until the 1990s. Spain recognized the independence of Equatorial Guinea in 1968.

c. Late Phase

The white settlers of South Africa in 1961 and Southern Rhodesia in 1965 unilaterally declared their independence from the United Kingdom, imposing white, racist governments. Rhodesia was renamed Zambia in 1964. In 1980 the Black majority of the country took power and changed the name of the country to Zimbabwe. In South Africa the supremacist regime remained in place until 1994.

Portugal, after a colonial war, recognized the independence of Guinea-Bissau in 1974 and of Angola and Mozambique in 1975.