The Global Impact of Post-Colonial Independence

The Era of Decolonization: A Global Shift

The era of decolonization was one of the two great historical feats of the 20th century. Old European powers were forced to acknowledge new nations and states in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Twenty years after World War II, the great colonial empires disappeared. Many of these countries, born from the emancipation process, today occupy most of the global population's territory. However, they had to face several problems:

• The inequality and poverty of their people led them to seek help from their former metropolises.
• The need and pressure from two isolated blocks led to the birth of the so-called Third World and the Non-Aligned Movement.

The socioeconomic distances between the new nations and the rich and developed metropolises, far from shortening, widened.

India's Path to Independence

After China, India was the most populated country on Earth. The Indian peninsula strategically occupied major trade routes. From the 17th century, the British East India Company established itself in some Indian cities. In 1858, India became a colony governed by a Viceroy, and its vast extension was called the 'Jewel in the Crown.'

The British colonial administration exploited the antagonism between Hindus and Muslims, relying on the Muslim minority to govern the colony. Over one-third of the 20th century, the large majority of the population consisted of peasants who worked the land under a true feudal system. Industrialization was sparse, although by 1918, the first unions and socialist parties were founded. A mass of small merchants lived in the cities, working in administration or for local governments. Most members of the indigenous upper classes were educated in many schools and universities in Britain. This sector of the petty bourgeoisie initiated the first nationalist demands.

Black Africa: Colonial Exploitation and Legacy

The Berlin Conference in 1885 aimed to reduce tensions between expansionist powers, justifying colonial and imperialist politics or the regular conquest of new territories. By the early 20th century, the sharing of Africa was complete. There were various models of colonial domination:

• France applied a type of administration identical in all its possessions, with very centralized structures.
• The Belgian, Italian, and Portuguese colonial models approximated the French.
• Saxon and Germanic countries designed various models of administration that allowed more local power.
• British territories established a different regime for each type of colony. The margins expanded as it was a self-governing colony or if it was given out. In colonies with weak European presence, other solutions were sought, such as the Sierra Leone protectorate or where in Nigeria, or domain type powers were agreed upon with local indigenous people.
• The Spanish exercised sovereignty over small territories in sub-Saharan Africa in 1904, which were qualified as commercial exploitation colonies and were administered by a governor-general appointed by the Spanish government.

From the first decades of the 19th century, as European powers expanded, they organized their African colonies stably. The colonial administration frequently directed indigenous tribal elite members who were educated and promoted as intermediate poles, leading to total dependence on the continent's natural resources, echoing metropolitan interests. There was also an attempt to 'civilize' Africans mainly through religious missions, but indigenous people enjoyed no real political rights or freedom.