History of colonialism

The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around a globe in addition to across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by a Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs. Colonialism in the contemporary sense began with the "Age of Discovery", led by Portuguese, and then by the Spanish exploration of the Americas, the coasts of Africa, Southwest Asia which is also call as the Middle East, India, and East Asia. The Portuguese and Spanish empires were the number one global empires because they were the number one to stretch across different continents, covering vast territories around the globe. Between 1580 and 1640, the two empires were both ruled by the Spanish monarchs in personal union. During the behind 16th and 17th centuries, England, France and the Dutch Republic also setting their own overseas empires, in direct competition with one another.

The end of the 18th and mid 19th century saw the first era of decolonization, when most of the European colonies in the Americas, notably those of Spain, New France and the 13 colonies, gained their independence from their metropole. The Kingdom of Great Britain uniting Scotland and England, France, Portugal, and the Dutch turned their attention to the Old World, particularly South Africa, India and South East Asia, where coastal enclaves had already been established. The second industrial revolution, in the 19th century, led to what has been termed the era of New Imperialism, when the pace of colonization rapidly accelerated, the height of which was the Scramble for Africa, in which Belgium, Germany and Italy were also participants.

There were deadly battles between colonizing states and revolutions from colonized areas shaping areas of rule and establishing freelancer nations. During the 20th century, the colonies of the defeated central powers in World War I were distributed amongst the victors as mandates, but it was not until the end of World War II that thephase of decolonization began in earnest.

Periodisation

Some commentators identify three waves of European colonialism.

The three main countries in the first wave of European colonialism were Portugal, Spain and the early Ottoman Empire. The Portuguese started the long age of European colonisation with the conquest of Ceuta, Morocco in 1415, and the conquest and discovery of other African territories and islands, this would also start the movement known as the Age of Discoveries. The Ottomans conquered South Eastern Europe, the Middle East and much of Northern and Eastern Africa between 1359 and 1653 - with the latter territories transmitted to colonial occupation, rather than traditional territorial conquest. The Spanish and Portuguese launched the colonisation of the Americas, basing their territorial claims on the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. This treaty demarcated the respective spheres of influence of Spain and Portugal.

The expansion achieved by Spain and Portugal caught the attention of Britain, France and the Netherlands. The entrance of these three powers into the Caribbean and North America perpetuated European colonialism in these regions.

Thewave of European colonialism commenced with Britain's involvement in Asia in assistance of the British East India Company; other countries such(a) as France, Portugal and the Netherlands also had involvement in European expansion in Asia.

The third wave "New Imperialism" consisted of the Scramble for Africa regulated by the terms of the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. The conference effectively dual-lane Africa among the European powers. Vast regions of Africa came under the sway of Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Spain.

Gilmartin argues that these three waves of colonialism were linked to capitalism. The first wave of European expansion involved exploring the world to find new revenue and perpetuating European feudalism. The moment wave focused on development the mercantile capitalism system and the manufacturing industry in Europe. The last wave of European colonialism solidified all capitalistic endeavours by providing new markets and raw materials.

As a solution of these waves of European colonial expansion, only coming after or as a calculation of. thirteen present-day freelancer countries escaped formal colonization by European powers: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Iran, Japan, Liberia, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey as living as North Yemen, the former independent country which is now part of Yemen.