{{Short description|Undoing political, economic and cultural legacies of colonisation}}
 
{{About|the undoing of colonialism|medical interventions|Decolonization (medicine)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}

'''Decolonization''' is the ending of [[colonialism]], the latter being the process whereby [[Imperialism|imperial]] nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas.<ref>Note however discussion of (for example) the Russian and Nazi empires below.</ref> The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on [[Separatism|independence movements]] in the [[Colony|colonies]] and the collapse of global [[colonial empire]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book| title = International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences |last = Hack |first = Karl |publisher = Macmillan Reference |year = 2008 |isbn = 978-0-02-865965-7 |location = Detroit |pages = 255–257}}</ref><ref>
John Lynch, ed. ''Latin American Revolutions, 1808–1826: Old and New World Origins'' (1995).
</ref> 

As a movement to establish independence for colonized territories from their respective [[Metropole|metropoles]], decolonization began in 1775 with the [[American Revolution]] in North America against the [[British Empire]]. The [[Napoleonic Wars]] in the 19th century saw the [[French colonial empire]], the [[Spanish Empire]], and [[Portugal]] face decolonization with the [[Haitian Revolution]], the [[Spanish American wars of independence]], and the [[independence of Brazil]] from Portugal. A major wave of decolonization occurred in the [[New Imperialism|aftermath]] of the [[First World War]], including in the [[US imperialism|United States]] and the [[Empire of Japan]]. Another wave of decolonization occurred after the [[Second World War]], and many countries gained their independence in the following years. The last wave of decolonization occurred after the [[Cold War]] with the [[Transition period and cessation of the existence of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]], the [[Compact of Free Association#Associated states|independence of Palau]], and the [[Handover of Hong Kong|handovers of Hong Kong]] [[Handover of Macau|and Macau]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/566301.stm Macau and the end of empire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016010255/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/566301.stm |date=2015-10-16 }}, 18 December 1999. ''[[BBC News]]''</ref> Seventeen territories remain under the [[United Nations]] classification of [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|non-self-governing territories]].
==Scope==
According to David Strang, decolonization is achieved through the attainment of sovereign statehood with ''de jure'' recognition by the international community or through full incorporation into an existing sovereign state.<ref name="Strang90">{{Cite journal |last=Strang |first=David |date=1990 |title=From Dependency to Sovereignty: An Event History Analysis of Decolonization 1870–1987 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=55 |issue=6 |pages=846–860 |doi=10.2307/2095750 |jstor=2095750 |issn=0003-1224}}</ref>

The [[United Nations]] (UN) states that the [[Human rights|fundamental right]] to [[self-determination]] is the core requirement for decolonization, and that this right can be exercised with or without political independence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|title=Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century|website=United Nations University|language=en|access-date=2019-10-18|quote="The decolonization agenda championed by the United Nations is not based exclusively on independence. There are three other ways in which an NSGT can exercise self-determination and reach a full measure of self-government (all of them equally legitimate): integration within the administering power, free association with the administering power, or some other mutually agreed upon option for self-rule. [...] It is the exercise of the human right of self-determination, rather than independence per se, that the United Nations has continued to push for."|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717205732/https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html}}</ref> A [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples|UN General Assembly Resolution in 1960]] characterised colonial foreign rule as a violation of human rights.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Getachew |first=Adom |title=Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17915-5 |pages=14, 73–74 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv3znwvg |jstor=j.ctv3znwvg}}</ref><ref name="UN">{{cite web |author=Adopted by General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) |date=14 December 1960 |title=Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-granting-independence-colonial-countries-and-peoples |publisher=The United Nations and Decolonisation}}</ref> In states that have won independence, [[Indigenous decolonization|Indigenous people]] living under [[settler colonialism]] continue to make demands for decolonization and self-determination.<ref>{{Cite thesis|first=Audrey Jane|last=Roy|title=Sovereignty and Decolonization: Realizing Indigenous Self-Determination at the United Nations and in Canada|publisher=University of Victoria|year=2001|access-date=2019-10-19|url=https://iportal.usask.ca/index.php?sid=601141574&id=30516&t=details}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ortiz |first=Roxanne Dunbar |url=http://archive.org/details/indiansofamerica00orti |title=Indians of the Americas: human rights and self determination |date=1984 |publisher=New York : Praeger Publishers, Inc. |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-03-000917-4 |page=278 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shrinkhal |first=Rashwet |date=March 2021 |title="Indigenous sovereignty" and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal |journal=AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=71–82 |doi=10.1177/1177180121994681 |s2cid=232264306 |issn=1177-1801 |quote=For them, indigenous sovereignty is linked with identity and right to [[self determination]]. Self determination should be understood as power of peoples to control their own destiny. Therefore for indigenous peoples, right to self determination is instrumental in the protection of their human rights and struggle for self-governance.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allard-Tremblay |first1=Yann |last2=Coburn |first2=Elaine |date=May 2023 |title=The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing |journal=Political Studies |language=en |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=359–378 |doi=10.1177/00323217211018127 |s2cid=236234578 |issn=0032-3217|doi-access=free }}</ref>
[[File:Barbarie_–_Civilisation_(René_Georges_Hermann-Paul,_1899).webp|thumb|French anti-colonialist cartoon published in 1899 in ''[[Le Cri de Paris]]''. It denounces Western hypocrisy, which views indigenous revolt as an act of barbarism and colonial violence as an act of civilization.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014 |title=Who is the barbarian? |url=https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/civilization_and_barbarism/cb_essay05.html |access-date=2026-08-29 |website=MIT Visualizing Cultures}}</ref>]]
Although discussions of [[hegemony]] and power, central to the concept of decolonization, can be found as early as the writings of [[Thucydides]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lebow |first1=Richard Ned |last2=Kelly |first2=Robert |date=2001 |title=Thucydides and Hegemony: Athens and the United States |journal=Review of International Studies |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=593–609 |doi=10.1017/S0260210501005939 |jstor=20097762 |ssrn=2384772 |issn=0260-2105}}</ref> there have been several particularly active periods of decolonization in modern times. These include the [[Decolonisation of Africa|decolonization of Africa]], the [[Spanish American wars of independence|breakup of the Spanish Empire]] in the 19th century; of the [[German Empire|German]], [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], and [[Russian Empire]]s following [[World War I]]; of the [[British Empire|British]], [[French colonial empire|French]], [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]], [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]], [[Belgian colonial empire|Belgian]], [[Italian Empire|Italian]], and [[Japanese colonial empire|Japanese Empires]] following [[World War II]]; and of the [[Soviet Union]] at the end of the [[Cold War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Strayer |first1=Robert W. |title=Decolonization, Democratization, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective |journal=Journal of World History |date=2001 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=375–406 |doi=10.1353/jwh.2001.0042 |s2cid=154594627 }}</ref>

Early studies of decolonisation appeared in the 1960s and 1970s. An important book from this period was ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]'' (1961) by Martiniquan author [[Frantz Fanon]], which established many aspects of decolonisation that would be considered in later works. Subsequent studies of decolonisation addressed economic disparities as a legacy of colonialism as well as the annihilation of people's cultures. [[Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o]] explored the cultural and linguistic legacies of colonialism in the influential book ''[[Decolonising the Mind]]'' (1986).<ref name=":6" />

"Decolonization" has also been used to refer to the [[Decolonization of knowledge|intellectual decolonization]] from the colonizers' ideas that made the colonized feel inferior.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Crafting Qualitative Research: Working in the Postpositivist Traditions|last=Prasad|first=Pushkala|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47369-5|location=London|oclc=904046323}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/sabrin_mohammed_201305_phd.pdf|title=Exploring the intellectual foundations of Egyptian national education|last=Sabrin|first=Mohammed|date=2013|hdl=10724/28885}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options|last=Mignolo|first=Walter D.|date=2011|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-5060-6|location=Durham|oclc=700406652}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref> Issues of decolonization persist and are raised contemporarily. In the [[Americas]] and [[South Africa]], such issues are increasingly discussed under the term [[decoloniality]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://globalsocialtheory.org/topics/decoloniality/|title=Decoloniality|website=Global Security Theory |language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/africas-student-movements-history-sheds-light-on-modern-activism-111003|title=Africa's student movements: history sheds light on modern activism|last1=Hodgkinson|first1=Dan|last2=Melchiorre|first2=Luke|website=The Conversation|date=18 February 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref>

== By area ==
In the two hundred years following the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1783, 165 colonies have gained independence from Western imperial powers.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Strang |first1=David |title=Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500-1987 |journal=International Studies Quarterly |date=December 1991 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=429–454 |doi=10.2307/2600949 |jstor=2600949 }}</ref> Several analyses point to different reasons for the spread of anti-colonial political movements. Institutional arguments suggest that increasing levels of education in the colonies led to calls for popular sovereignty; [[Marxism|Marxist]] analyses view decolonization as a result of economic shifts toward wage labor and an enlarged [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois class]]; yet another argument sees decolonization as a diffusion process wherein earlier revolutionary movements inspired later ones.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Strang90"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strang |first=David |date=1991 |title=Global Patterns of Decolonization, 1500–1987 |journal=International Studies Quarterly |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=429–454 |doi=10.2307/2600949 |jstor=2600949 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Boswell |first=Terry |date=1989 |title=Colonial Empires and the Capitalist World-Economy: A Time Series Analysis of Colonization, 1640–1960 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=180–196 |doi=10.2307/2095789 |jstor=2095789 }}</ref> Other explanations emphasize how the lower profitability of colonization and the costs associated with empire prompted decolonization.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gartzke |first1=Erik |last2=Rohner |first2=Dominic |date=2011 |title=The Political Economy of Imperialism, Decolonization and Development |journal=British Journal of Political Science |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=525–556 |doi=10.1017/S0007123410000232 |jstor=41241795 |s2cid=231796247 |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/55599/1/S0007123410000232a-Gartzke.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Spruyt |first1=Hendrik |title=Ending Empire: Contested Sovereignty and Territorial Partition |date=2018 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-1787-1 }}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref> Some explanations emphasize how colonial powers struggled militarily against insurgents in the colonies due to a shift from 19th century conditions of "strong political will, a permissive international environment, access to local collaborators, and flexibility to pick their battles" to 20th century conditions of "apathetic publics, hostile superpowers, vanishing collaborators, and constrained options".<ref name=":8">{{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=Paul K. |title='Retribution Must Succeed Rebellion': The Colonial Origins of Counterinsurgency Failure |journal=International Organization |date=April 2013 |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=253–286 |doi=10.1017/S0020818313000027 |s2cid=154683722 }}</ref> In other words, colonial powers had more support from their own region in pursuing colonies in the 19th century than they did in the 20th century, where holding on to such colonies was often understood to be a burden.<ref name=":8" />

A great deal of scholarship attributes the ideological origins of national independence movements to the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Enlightenment social and political theories such as individualism and [[liberalism]] were central to the debates about national constitutions for newly independent countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=John D. |last2=Kaplan |first2=Martha |date=2001 |title=Nation and decolonization: Toward a new anthropology of nationalism |journal=Anthropological Theory |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=419–437 |doi=10.1177/14634990122228818 |s2cid=143978771 }}</ref> Contemporary [[Decoloniality|decolonial scholarship]] has critiqued the emancipatory potential of Enlightenment thought, highlighting its [[Decolonization of knowledge|erasure of Indigenous epistemologies]] and failure to provide [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|subaltern]] and [[Indigenous peoples|Indigenous people]] with liberty, equality, and dignity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clement |first=Vincent |date=2019 |title=Beyond the sham of the emancipatory Enlightenment: Rethinking the relationship of Indigenous epistemologies, knowledges, and geography through decolonizing paths |journal=Progress in Human Geography |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=276–294 |doi=10.1177/0309132517747315 |s2cid=148760397 }}</ref>

=== American Revolution ===
{{Main|American Revolution}}

Great Britain's [[Thirteen Colonies|Thirteen North American colonies]] were the first to [[United States Declaration of Independence|declare independence]], forming the [[United States|United States of America]] in 1776, and defeating Britain in the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref>Robert R. Palmer, ''The age of the Democratic Revolution: a political history of Europe and America, 1760–1800'' (1965){{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref>Richard B. Morris, ''The emerging nations and the American Revolution'' (1970).{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref>

=== Haitian Revolution ===
{{Main|Haitian Revolution}}

The [[Haitian Revolution]] was a revolt in 1789 and subsequent slave uprising in 1791 in the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]], on the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] island of [[Hispaniola]]. In 1804, [[Haiti]] secured independence from France as the [[First Empire of Haiti|Empire of Haiti]], which later became a republic.

=== Spanish America ===
{{Main|Spanish American wars of independence}}

[[File:Spanish_Empire_(diachronic).svg|thumb|alt=Map of Spanish Colonial Empire|Map of Spanish Colonial Empire]]

[[File:JuraIndependencia.jpg|thumb|alt=Portrait of the Chilean declaration of independence|The [[Chilean Declaration of Independence]] on 18 February 1818]]
The chaos of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in Europe cut the direct links between Spain and its American colonies, allowing for the process of decolonization to begin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bousquet |first1=Nicole |title=The Decolonization of Spanish America in the Early Nineteenth Century: A World-Systems Approach |journal=Review |publisher=Fernand Braudel Center |date=1988 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=497–531 |jstor=40241109 }}</ref>

With the invasion of Spain by [[Napoleon]] in 1806, the American colonies declared autonomy and loyalty to King Ferdinand VII. The contract was broken and each of the regions of the Spanish Empire had to decide whether to show allegiance to the Junta of Cadiz (the only territory in Spain free from Napoleon) or have a junta (assembly) of its own. The economic monopoly of the metropolis was the main reason why many countries decided to become independent from Spain. In 1809, the independence wars of Latin America began with a revolt in La Paz, [[Bolivia]]. In 1807 and 1808, the [[Viceroyalty of the River Plate]] was invaded by the British. After their 2nd defeat, a Frenchman called Santiague de Liniers was proclaimed a new Viceroy by the local population and later accepted by Spain. In May 1810 in [[Buenos Aires]], a Junta was created, but in [[Montevideo]] it was not recognized by the local government who followed the authority of the Junta of Cadiz. The rivalry between the two cities was the main reason for the distrust between them. During the next 15 years, the Spanish and Royalist on one side, and the rebels on the other fought in South America and Mexico. Numerous countries declared their independence. In 1824, the Spanish forces were defeated in the [[Battle of Ayacucho]]. The mainland was free, and in 1898, Spain lost [[Cuba]] and [[Puerto Rico]] in the [[Spanish–American War]]. Puerto Rico became an [[unincorporated territory]] of the US, but Cuba became independent in 1902.

=== Portuguese America ===
{{Main|Independence of Brazil}}

[[File:Independencia brasil 001.jpg|thumb|[[Pedro I of Brazil|Prince Pedro]] proclaims himself Emperor of an independent Brazil on 7 September 1822.]]
The Napoleonic Wars also led to the severing of the direct links between Portugal and its only American colony, [[Brazil]]. Days before Napoleon invaded Portugal, in 1807 the Portuguese royal court [[Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil|fled to Brazil]]. In 1820 there was a [[Liberal Revolution of 1820|Constitutionalist Revolution]] in Portugal, which led to the return of the Portuguese court to Lisbon. This led to distrust between the Portuguese and the Brazilian colonists, and finally, in 1822, to the colony becoming independent as the [[Empire of Brazil]], which later became a republic.

=== British Empire ===
{{Main|British Empire}}

The emergence of Indigenous political parties was especially characteristic of the [[British Empire]], which was less ruthless than, for example, Belgium, in controlling political dissent{{cn|date=April 2026}}. Driven by pragmatic demands of budgets and manpower the British made deals with the local politicians. Across the empire, the general protocol was to convene a constitutional conference in London to discuss the transition to greater self-government and then independence, submit a report of the constitutional conference to parliament, if approved submit a bill to Parliament at Westminster to terminate the responsibility of the United Kingdom (with a copy of the new constitution annexed), and finally, if approved, issuance of an Order of Council fixing the exact date of independence.<ref>{{cite book |first=J. H. W. |last=Verzijl |year=1969 |title=International Law in Historical Perspective |volume=II |location=Leyden |publisher=A. W. Sijthoff |pages=76–68}}</ref>

After [[World War I]], several former German and Ottoman territories in the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific were governed by the UK as [[League of Nations mandate]]s. Some were administered directly by the UK, and others by British dominions – [[Nauru]] and the [[Territory of New Guinea]] by [[Australia]], [[South West Africa]] by the [[Union of South Africa]], and [[Western Samoa]] by [[Dominion of New Zealand|New Zealand]].

[[File:The peacemakers- George Gavan Duffy, Erskine Childers, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith in a group (28455606301).jpg|thumb|Members of the Irish delegation for the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] negotiations in December 1921]]
[[Sultanate of Egypt|Egypt]] became independent in 1922, although the UK retained security prerogatives, control of the [[Suez Canal]], and effective control of the [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan]]. The [[Balfour Declaration of 1926]] declared the British Empire [[dominion]]s as equals, and the 1931 [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] established full legislative independence for them. The equal dominions were six– [[Canada]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], Australia, the [[Irish Free State]], New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa; Ireland had been brought into a union with Great Britain in 1801 creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, some of the Dominions were already independent de facto, and even de jure and recognized as such by the international community. Thus, Canada was a founding member of the League of Nations in 1919 and served on the council from 1927 to 1930.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/league-of-nations |title=Canada and the League of Nations |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> That country also negotiated on its own and signed bilateral and multilateral treaties and conventions from the early 1900s onward. Newfoundland ceded self-rule back to London in 1934. [[Mandatory Iraq|Iraq]], a League of Nations mandate, became independent in 1932.

In response to a growing [[Indian independence movement]], the UK made successive reforms to the [[British Raj]], culminating in the [[Government of India Act 1935]]. These reforms included creating elected legislative councils in some of the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|provinces of British India]]. [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]], India's independence movement leader, led a peaceful resistance to British rule. By becoming a symbol of both peace and opposition to British imperialism, many Indians began to view the British as the cause of India's problems leading to a newfound sense of [[Indian independence movement|nationalism]] among its population. With this new wave of Indian nationalism, Gandhi was eventually able to garner the support needed to push back the British and create an independent India in 1947.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Lynn |first2=Thomas R. |last2=Martin |first3=Barbara H. |last3=Rosenwein |first4=R. Po-chia |last4=Hsia |author4-link=Ronnie Hsia |first5=Bonnie G. |last5=Smith |title=The Making of the West Peoples and Cultures |location=Boston |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |year=2008}}</ref>

[[File:British Empire in February 1952.png|thumb|British Empire in 1952]]
Africa was only fully drawn into the colonial system at the end of the 19th century. In the north-east the continued independence of the [[Ethiopian Empire]] remained a beacon of hope to pro-independence activists. However, with the anti-colonial wars of the 1900s (decade) barely over, new modernizing forms of Africa nationalism began to gain strength in the early 20th century with the emergence of Pan-Africanism, as advocated by the Jamaican journalist [[Marcus Garvey]] (1887–1940) whose widely distributed newspapers demanded swift abolition of European imperialism, as well as republicanism in Egypt. [[Kwame Nkrumah]] (1909–1972) who was inspired by the works of Garvey led the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] (Ghana) to independence from colonial rule.

Independence for the colonies in Africa began with the independence of [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan|Sudan]] in 1956, and the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] (Ghana) in 1957. All of the British colonies on mainland Africa became independent by 1966, although [[Rhodesia]]'s unilateral declaration of independence in 1965 was not recognized by the UK or internationally.

Some of the British colonies in Asia were directly administered by British officials, while others were ruled by local monarchs as [[protectorate]]s or in [[subsidiary alliance]] with the UK.

In 1947, [[British India]] was [[Partition of India|partitioned]] into the independent dominions of the [[Dominion of India|Union of India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]]. Hundreds of [[princely state]]s, states ruled by monarchs in a treaty of subsidiary alliance with Britain, were [[Political integration of India|integrated into India]] and Pakistan. India and Pakistan fought several wars over the former princely state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]. [[French India]] was integrated into India between 1950 and 1954, and India annexed [[Portuguese India]] in 1961, and the [[Kingdom of Sikkim]] merged with India by popular vote in 1975.

====Violence, civil warfare, and partition====
[[Image:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg|thumb|Surrender of [[Lord Cornwallis]] at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in 1781]]
Significant violence was involved in several prominent cases of decolonization of the British Empire; partition was a frequent solution. In 1783, the North American colonies were divided between the independent United States, and [[British North America]], which later became Canada.

The [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] was a major uprising in India against British [[East India Company]]. It was characterized by massacres of civilians on both sides. It was not a movement for independence, however, and only a small part of India was involved. In the aftermath, the British pulled back from modernizing reforms of Indian society, and the level of organised violence under the [[British Raj]] was relatively small. Most of that was initiated by repressive British administrators, as in the [[Amritsar#Jallianwala Bagh massacre|Amritsar massacre of 1919]], or the police assaults on the [[Salt March]] of 1930.<ref>On the nonviolent methodology see {{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/00856408508723067|title = Audiences, actors and congress dramas: Crowd events in Bombay city in 1930|journal = South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|volume = 8|issue = 1–2|pages = 71–86|year = 1985|last1 = Masselos|first1 = Jim}}</ref> Large-scale communal violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims and between Muslims and Sikhs after the British left in 1947 in the newly independent [[dominion]]s of India and Pakistan. Much later, in 1970, further communal violence broke out within Pakistan in the detached eastern part of East Bengal, which became independent as [[Bangladesh]] in 1971.

[[British Cyprus|Cyprus]], which came under full British control in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire, was culturally divided between the majority [[Greek Cypriots|Greek element]] (which demanded "[[enosis]]" or union with Greece) and the minority Turks. London for decades assumed it needed the island to defend the Suez Canal; but after the Suez crisis of 1956, that became a minor factor, and Greek violence became a more serious issue. [[Cyprus]] became an independent country in 1960, but ethnic violence escalated until 1974 when [[Turkey]] invaded and partitioned the island. Each side rewrote its own history, blaming the other.<ref>{{Cite journal | jstor=10.2979/his.2008.20.2.128| doi=10.2979/his.2008.20.2.128| title=Narrative, Memory and History Education in Divided Cyprus: ''A Comparison of Schoolbooks on the 'History of Cyprus'<nowiki/>''| journal=History and Memory| volume=20| issue=2| pages=128–148| year=2008| last1=Papadakis|first1=Yiannis | s2cid=159912409}}</ref>

[[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]] became a [[Mandate for Palestine|British mandate]] from the [[League of Nations]] after World War I, initially including [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]]. During that war, the British gained support from Arabs and Jews by making promises to both (see [[McMahon–Hussein Correspondence]] and [[Balfour Declaration]]). Decades of [[Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine|ethno—religious violence]] reached a climax with the [[UN Partition Plan]] and the [[1948 Palestine War|ensuing war]]. The British eventually pulled out, and the former Mandate territory was divided between [[Israel]], [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|Jordan]] and [[All-Palestine Protectorate|Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Laqueur|first1=Walter|author-link1=Walter Laqueur|last2=Schueftan|first2=Dan|author-link2=Daniel Schueftan|title=The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: 8th edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akGXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|year=2016|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-99241-8}}</ref>

===French Empire===
{{Further|French colonial empire}}

[[File:LaGuerreAMadagascar.jpg|thumb|upright|left|French poster about the "[[Franco-Hova Wars|Madagascar War]]"]]

After World War I, the colonized people were frustrated at France's failure to recognize the effort provided by the French colonies (resources, but more importantly colonial troops – the famous ''[[tirailleurs]]''). Although in [[Paris]] the [[Great Mosque of Paris]] was constructed as recognition of these efforts, the French state had no intention to allow [[self-rule]], let alone grant [[independence]] to the colonized people. Thus, [[nationalism]] in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to [[Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi|Abd el-Krim]]'s [[Rif War (1920)|Rif War]] (1921–1925) in [[History of Morocco|Morocco]] and to the creation of [[Messali Hadj]]'s [[Star of North Africa]] in [[Nationalism and resistance in Algeria|Algeria]] in 1925. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II.

After World War I, France administered the former Ottoman territories of [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]], and the former German colonies of [[French Togoland|Togoland]] and [[French Cameroons|Cameroon]], as League of Nations mandates. Lebanon declared its independence in 1943, and Syria in 1945.

In some instances, decolonization efforts ran counter to other concerns, such as the rapid increase of [[antisemitism]] in Algeria in the course of the nation's resistance to French rule.<ref>Heuman, J. (2023). The silent disappearance of Jews from Algeria: French anti-racism in the face of antisemitism in Algeria during the decolonization. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 22(2), 149-168.</ref>

Although France was ultimately a victor of World War II, Nazi Germany's occupation of France and its North African colonies during the war had disrupted colonial rule. On 27 October 1946, France adopted a new constitution creating the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]], and substituted the [[French Union]] for the colonial empire. However power over the colonies remained concentrated in France, and the power of local assemblies outside France was extremely limited. On the night of 29 March 1947, a [[Madagascar]] [[Madagascar revolt|nationalist uprising]] led the French government headed by [[Paul Ramadier]] ([[Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière|Socialist]]) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, 11,000–40,000 Malagasy died.<ref>{{Citation |last=Randrianja |first=Solofo |title=Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in Madagascar |date=2022-11-22 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |url=https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-675 |access-date=2024-11-30 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.675 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7}}</ref>
[[File:Dien Bien Phu 1954 French prisoners.jpg|thumb|Captured [[French Union]] soldiers from [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|Điện Biên Phủ]], escorted by Vietnamese communist troops, 1954]]
After the end of World War II, the Viet Minh launched the [[August Revolution]] and declared Vietnamese independence in September, although Allied troops reoccupied the territory afterwards. In late 1946, the Viet Minh [[Battle of Hanoi (1946)|attacked]] French troops in Hanoi, leading to the [[First Indochina War|Indochina War]] (1946–54). France later recognized the independence of the [[State of Vietnam]], the [[Kingdom of Laos]], and the [[Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)|Kingdom of Cambodia]], while also [[Élysée Accords|recognizing]] the unity of Vietnam (whose territories has been split into three separate regions under French colonial rule) and supported the anti-communist faction in this country against the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|communists]] who fought in the name of anti-colonialism in 1949. The war thus became part of the world-wide [[Cold War]]. Cambodia and Laos became fully independent in late 1953, Vietnam became fully independent on 4 June 1954, and the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accords]] of 21 July 1954 left Vietnam divided into the [[North Vietnam|North]] and [[South Vietnam|South]] with the fact that France recognized communists gaining the North. After North Vietnamese [[Fall of Saigon|military victory]] in April 1975, Vietnam would be ''de jure'' united under a communist government on 2 July 1976.

In 1956, [[History of Morocco|Morocco]] and [[History of Tunisia|Tunisia]] gained their independence from France. In 1960, eight independent countries emerged from [[French West Africa]], and five from [[French Equatorial Africa]]. The [[Algerian War of Independence]] raged from 1954 to 1962. To this day, the Algerian war – officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s – remains a trauma for both France and Algeria. Philosopher [[Paul Ricœur]] has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonisation of memory", starting with the recognition of the [[1961 Paris massacre]] during the Algerian war, and the decisive role of African and especially North African immigrant manpower in the ''[[Trente Glorieuses]]'' post–World War II economic growth period. In the 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought to recruit manpower from the colonies, explaining today's [[demographics of France|multiethnic population]].

===Ottoman Empire===
The Ottoman Empire saw its periphery also through the lens of a [[civilizing mission]].<ref name="q025">{{cite journal | last=Deringil | first=Selim | title="They Live in a State of Nomadism and Savagery": The Late Ottoman Empire and the Post-Colonial Debate | journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History | volume=45 | issue=2 | date=2003 | issn=0010-4175 | doi=10.1017/S001041750300015X | url=http://www.journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S001041750300015X | access-date=2026-07-24 | page=}}</ref><ref name="r101">{{cite journal | last=Makdisi | first=Ussama | title=Ottoman Orientalism | journal=The American Historical Review | volume=107 | issue=3 | date=2002 | issn=1937-5239 | doi=10.1086/ahr/107.3.768 | pages=768–796 | url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/107/3/768/18839 | access-date=2026-07-24}}</ref> The integration of some provinces such as [[Yemen Eyalet]] was contested.<ref name="b871">{{cite journal | last=Kühn | first=Thomas | title=Shaping and Reshaping Colonial Ottomanism: Contesting Boundaries of Difference and Integration in Ottoman Yemen, 1872-1919 | journal=Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East | volume=27 | issue=2 | date=2007 | issn=1089-201X | doi=10.1215/1089201x-2007-008 | pages=315–331 | url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article/27/2/315/59401/Shaping-and-Reshaping-Colonial-Ottomanism | access-date=2026-07-24}}</ref> Some authors view the [[dissolution of the Ottoman Empire]] as a form of decolonization.<ref name="g773">{{cite journal | last=Provence | first=Michael | title=OTTOMAN MODERNITY, COLONIALISM, AND INSURGENCY IN THE INTERWAR ARAB EAST | journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies | volume=43 | issue=2 | date=2011 | issn=0020-7438 | doi=10.1017/S0020743811000031 | pages=205–225 | url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020743811000031/type/journal_article | access-date=2026-07-24}}</ref><ref name="k717">{{cite journal | last=Bangstad | first=Sindre | title=The Aporias of Decolonial Anti-imperialism | journal=The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History | date=2026 | issn=0308-6534 | doi=10.1080/03086534.2026.2659150 | pages=1–11 | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03086534.2026.2659150 | access-date=2026-07-24}}</ref>

=== After 1918 ===
{{Further|New Imperialism|}}

==== United States ====
{{Main|American imperialism|Timeline of United States military operations}}

A union of former colonies itself, the United States approached imperialism differently from the other Powers. Much of its energy and rapidly expanding population was directed westward across the North American continent against English and French claims,  the [[Spanish Empire]] and Mexico. The [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were sent to [[Indian reservation|reservations]], often unwillingly. With support from Britain, its [[Monroe Doctrine]] reserved the Americas as its sphere of interest, prohibiting other states (particularly Spain) from recolonizing the newly independent polities of [[Latin America]]. However, France, taking advantage of the American government's distraction during the Civil War, intervened militarily in Mexico and set up a French-protected monarchy. Spain took the step to [[Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic|occupy the Dominican Republic and restore colonial rule]]. The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 forced both France and Spain to accede to American demands to evacuate those two countries. America's only African colony, [[Liberia]], was formed privately and achieved independence early; Washington unofficially protected it. By 1900, the U.S. advocated an [[Open Door Policy]] and opposed the direct division of China.<ref>Thomas A, Bailey, ''A diplomatic history of the American people'' (1969) [https://archive.org/details/diplomatichistor00bail_0 online free]</ref>

[[File:Manuel L. Quezon (November 1942).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Manuel L. Quezón]], the first president of the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]] (from 1935 to 1944)]]
[[File:TTPI-locatormap.png|thumb|[[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] in [[Micronesia]] administered by the United States from 1947 to 1986]]
After 1898 direct intervention expanded in Latin America. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 and annexed Hawaii in 1898. Following the [[Spanish–American War]] in 1898, the US added most of Spain's remaining colonies: [[Puerto Rico]], [[Philippines]], and [[Guam]]. Deciding not to annex Cuba outright, the U.S. established it as a [[client state]] with obligations including the perpetual lease of [[Guantánamo Bay]] to the U.S. Navy. The attempt of the first governor to void the island's constitution and remain in power past the end of his term provoked a rebellion that provoked a reoccupation between 1906 and 1909, but this was again followed by devolution. Similarly, the [[McKinley administration]], despite prosecuting the [[Philippine–American War]] against a [[First Republic of the Philippines|native republic]], set out that the [[Territories of the United States#Former unincorporated territories of the United States (incomplete)|Territory of the Philippine Islands]] was eventually granted independence.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wong |first=Kwok Chu |title=The Jones Bills 1912–16: A Reappraisal of Filipino Views on Independence |journal=[[Journal of Southeast Asian Studies]] |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=252–269 |year=1982 |doi=10.1017/S0022463400008687|s2cid=162468431 }}</ref> In 1917, the U.S. purchased the [[Danish West Indies]] (later renamed the [[US Virgin Islands]]) from [[Denmark]] and Puerto Ricans became full U.S. citizens that same year.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Sanford |last1=Levinson |first2=Bartholomew H. |last2=Sparrow |year=2005 |title=The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion: 1803–1898 |location=New York |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |pages=166, 178 |quote=U.S. citizenship was extended to residents of Puerto Rico by virtue of the Jones Act, chap. 190, 39 Stat. 951 (1971) (codified at 48 U.S.C. § 731 (1987)) |isbn=978-0-7425-4983-8 }}</ref> The US government declared Puerto Rico the territory was no longer a colony and stopped transmitting information about it to the United Nations Decolonization Committee.<ref>{{cite web | title=Decolonization Committee Calls on United States to Expedite Process for Puerto Rich Self-determination | website=Welcome to the United Nations | date=2003-06-09 | url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2003/gacol3085.doc.htm | access-date=2021-01-17|quote=The United States had used its exempt status from the transmission of information under Article 73 e of the United Nations Charter as a loophole to commit human rights violations in Puerto Rico and its territories.}}</ref> As a result, the [[UN General Assembly Resolution 748|UN General Assembly]] removed Puerto Rico from the [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|U.N. list of non-self-governing territories]]. Four referendums showed little support for independence, but much interest in statehood such as Hawaii and Alaska received in 1959.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/08263663.2017.1323615|title = Puerto Rico, the 51st state: The implications of statehood on culture and language|journal = Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies |volume = 42|issue = 2|pages = 165–180|year = 2017|last1 = Torres|first1 = Kelly M.|s2cid = 157682270}}</ref>

The Monroe Doctrine was expanded by the [[Roosevelt Corollary]] in 1904, providing that the United States had a right and obligation to intervene "in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence" that a nation in the Western Hemisphere became vulnerable to European control. In practice, this meant that the United States was led to act as a collections agent for European creditors by administering customs duties in the [[Dominican Republic]] (1905–1941), [[Haiti]] (1915–1934), and elsewhere. The intrusiveness and bad relations this engendered were somewhat checked by the [[Clark Memorandum]] and renounced by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s "[[Good Neighbor Policy]]".

The [[Fourteen Points]] were preconditions addressed by President [[Woodrow Wilson]] to the European powers at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] following [[World War I]].  In allowing allies France and Britain the former colonial possessions of the German and Ottoman Empires, the US demanded of them submission to the [[League of Nations mandate]], in calling for ''V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty '''the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight''' with the equitable government whose title is to be determined.'' See also point XII.

After [[World War II]], the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars into the [[Marshall Plan]], and other grants and loans to Europe and Asia to rebuild the world economy. At the same time American military bases were established around the world and direct and indirect interventions continued in [[Korean War|Korea]], [[Vietnam War|Indochina]], Latin America (''inter alia'', the [[Dominican Civil War|1965 occupation of the Dominican Republic]]), Africa, and the Middle East to oppose Communist movements and insurgencies. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States has been far less active in the Americas, but invaded [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq War|Iraq]] following the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, establishing army and air bases in [[Central Asia]].

==== Japan ====
[[File:US Army in Korea under Japanese Rule.JPG|thumb|U.S. troops in [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]], September 1945]]
Before World War I, Japan had gained several substantial colonial possessions in East Asia such as Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). Japan joined the allies in World War I, and after the war acquired the [[South Seas Mandate]], the former German colony in Micronesia, as a [[League of Nations Mandate]]. Pursuing a colonial policy comparable to those of European powers, Japan settled significant populations of ethnic Japanese in its colonies while simultaneously suppressing Indigenous ethnic populations by enforcing the learning and use of the [[Japanese language]] in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate the use of [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Hokkien]], and [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]] among the Indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. Japan also set up the [[Imperial Universities]] in Korea ([[Keijō Imperial University]]) and Taiwan ([[National Taiwan University|Taihoku Imperial University]]) to compel education.

In 1931, Japan seized [[Manchuria]] from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under [[Puyi]], the last Manchu emperor of China. In 1933 Japan seized the Chinese province of [[Rehe Province|Rehe]], and incorporated it into its Manchurian possessions. The [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] started in 1937, and Japan occupied much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at [[Nanjing]]. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 1931–1945 war with Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/15/content_468908.htm|title=Remember role in ending fascist war|work=chinadaily.com.cn|access-date=2016-02-25}}</ref>

In December 1941, the empire of Japan joined [[World War II]] by invading the European and U.S. colonies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including [[French Indochina]], [[Hong Kong]], the Philippines, Burma, [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Indonesia]], [[Portuguese Timor]], and others. Following its surrender to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in 1945, Japan was deprived of all its colonies with a number of them being returned to the original colonizing Western powers. The [[Soviet Union]] [[Soviet–Japanese War (1945)|declared war on Japan in August 1945]], and shortly after occupied and annexed the southern [[Kuril Islands]], which Japan [[Kuril Islands dispute|still claims]].

=== After 1945 ===
==== Planning for decolonization ====
Decolonization was often not extensively planned, instead occurring as a response to politics in the colony, politics at home, and increasing international pressure. Immediately following the war there was a wave of decolonization throughout Asia. This was followed by the Middle East, and in the 1960s sub-Saharan Africa. These waves saw most large colonies become independent, with many remaining colonies being smaller islands. Many of the smallest colonies would not become independent, instead joining either with nearby colonies and countries or becoming full parts of their administering country.<ref name="Christopher2002">{{cite journal |author=A. J. Christopher |year=2002 |title=Decolonisation without independence |journal=GeoJournal |volume=56 |issue=3 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41147687 |pages=213–214}}</ref>

=====U.S. and Philippines=====
In the United States, the two major parties were divided on the acquisition of the Philippines, which became a major campaign issue in 1900. The Republicans, who favored permanent acquisition, won the election, but after a decade or so, Republicans turned their attention to the Caribbean, focusing on building the [[Panama Canal]]. President [[Woodrow Wilson]], a Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused his attention on Mexico and Caribbean nations. By the 1920s, the peaceful efforts by the Filipino leadership to pursue independence proved convincing. When the Democrats returned to power in 1933, they worked with the Filipinos to plan a smooth transition to independence. It was scheduled for 1946 by [[Tydings–McDuffie Act]] of 1934. In 1935, the Philippines transitioned out of territorial status, controlled by an appointed governor, to the semi-independent status of the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]]. Its constitutional convention wrote a new constitution, which was approved by Washington and went into effect, with an elected governor [[Manuel L. Quezon]] and legislature. Foreign Affairs remained under American control. The Philippines built up a new army, under general [[Douglas MacArthur]], who took leave from his U.S. Army position to take command of the new army reporting to Quezon. The Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 disrupted but did not delay the transition. It took place on schedule in 1946 as [[Manuel Roxas]] took office as president.<ref>H. W. Brands, ''Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines'' (1992) pp. 138–60. [https://archive.org/details/boundtoempireuni00bran online free]</ref>

=====Portugal=====
[[File:Sempreatentos...aoperigo!.jpg|thumb|right|210px|[[Portuguese Army]] special ''[[caçadores]]'' advancing in the African jungle in the early 1960s, during the [[Angolan War of Independence]]]]
[[File:Portuguese empire 1800.svg|thumb|The territory of the Portuguese empire in the 1800s]]
As a result of its pioneering [[Portuguese discoveries|discoveries]], [[Portugal]] had a large and particularly long-lasting colonial empire which had begun in 1415 with the [[conquest of Ceuta]] and ended only in 1999 with the handover of [[Portuguese Macau]] to China. In 1822, Portugal [[Independence of Brazil|lost control of Brazil]], its largest colony.

From 1933 to 1974, [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Portugal was an authoritarian state]] (ruled by [[António de Oliveira Salazar]]). The regime was fiercely determined to maintain the country's colonial possessions at all costs and to aggressively suppress any insurgencies. In 1961, [[Annexation of Goa|India annexed Goa]] and by the same year nationalist forces had begun organizing in Portugal. Revolts (preceding the [[Portuguese Colonial War]]) spread to [[Portuguese Angola|Angola]], [[Portuguese Guinea|Guinea Bissau]] and [[Portuguese Mozambique|Mozambique]].<ref>John P. Cann, ''Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War 1961–74'' Solihull, UK (Helion Studies in Military History, No. 12), 2012.</ref> [[Lisbon]] escalated its effort in the war: for instance, it increased the number of natives in the colonial army and built strategic hamlets. Portugal sent another 300,000 European settlers into Angola and Mozambique before 1974. That year, [[Carnation Revolution|a left-wing revolution]] inside Portugal overthrew the existing regime and encouraged pro-Soviet elements to attempt to seize control in the colonies. The result was a very long and extremely difficult multi-party [[Angolan Civil War|Civil War in Angola]], and lesser insurrections in Mozambique.<ref>Norrie MacQueen,  ''The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire''</ref>

===== Belgium =====
Belgium's empire began with the annexation of the Congo in 1908 in response to international pressure to bring an end to the [[Atrocities in the Congo Free State|terrible atrocities]] that had taken place under [[King Leopold II of Belgium|King Leopold]]'s privately run [[Congo Free State]]. It added [[Ruanda-Urundi|Rwanda and Burundi]] as League of Nations mandates from the former German Empire in 1919. The colonies remained independent during the war, while Belgium was occupied by the Germans. There was no serious planning for independence, and exceedingly little training or education provided.  The [[Belgian Congo]] was especially rich, and many Belgian businessmen lobbied hard to maintain control. Local revolts grew in power and finally, the Belgian king suddenly announced in 1959 that independence was on the agenda – and it was hurriedly arranged in 1960, for country bitterly and deeply divided on social and economic grounds.<ref>Henri Grimal, ''Decolonisation: The British, French, Dutch and Belgian Empires, 1919–63'' (1978).</ref>

===== Netherlands =====
[[File:Een groep gevangenen zit op de grond, bewaakt door soldaten voorbeeld van goe…, Bestanddeelnr 15865.jpg|thumb|210px|Dutch soldiers in the East Indies during the [[Indonesian National Revolution]], 1946]]
[[File:Dutch Empire preWWII.PNG|thumb|The territory of the Dutch empire before [[World War II]]]]
The Netherlands had spent centuries building up its empire. By 1940 it consisted mostly of the [[Dutch East Indies]], corresponding to what is now Indonesia. Its massive oil reserves provided about 14 percent of the Dutch national product and supported a large population of ethnic Dutch government officials and businessmen in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (now Jakarta) and other major cities. The Netherlands was overrun and almost starved to death [[Reichskommissariat Niederlande|by the Nazis]] during the war, and Japan sank the Dutch fleet in seizing the East Indies. In 1945 the Netherlands could not regain these islands on its own; [[Battle of Surabaya|it did so by depending on British military help]] and [[Marshall Plan|American financial grants]]. By the time Dutch soldiers returned, an independent government under [[Sukarno]] was in power, originally set up by the [[Empire of Japan]]. The Dutch both abroad and at home generally agreed that Dutch power depended on an expensive war to regain the islands. Compromises were negotiated, but were trusted by neither side. When the [[Madiun Affair|Indonesian Republic successfully suppressed]] a large-scale communist revolt, the United States realized that it needed the nationalist government as an ally in the Cold War. Dutch possession was an obstacle to American Cold War goals, so Washington forced the Dutch to grant full independence. A few years later, Sukarno nationalized all [[Dutch East Indies]] properties and expelled all [[Indo people|ethnic Dutch]]—over 300,000—as well as several hundred thousand ethnic Indonesians who supported the Dutch cause. In the aftermath, the Netherlands prospered greatly in the 1950s and 1960s but nevertheless public opinion was bitterly hostile to the United States for betrayal. The Dutch government eventually gave up on claims to Indonesian sovereignty in 1949, after American pressure.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frances Gouda|title=American Visions of the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia: US Foreign Policy and Indonesian Nationalism, 1920–1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zh1VtsxRlRAC&pg=PA36|year=2002|publisher=Amsterdam UP|page=36|isbn=978-90-5356-479-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 259796|title = The Netherlands after the Loss of Empire|journal = Journal of Contemporary History|volume = 4|issue = 1|pages = 127–139|last1 = Baudet|first1 = Henri|year = 1969|doi = 10.1177/002200946900400109|s2cid = 159531822}}</ref> The Netherlands also had one other major colony, Dutch Guiana in [[South America]], which became independent as [[Suriname]] in 1975.

==== United Nations trust territories ====
{{Main|United Nations trust territories}}

When the United Nations was formed in 1945, it established trust territories. These territories included the [[League of Nations mandate]] territories which had not achieved independence by 1945, along with the former [[Italian Somaliland]]. The [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands]] was transferred from Japanese to US administration. By 1990 all but one of the trust territories had achieved independence, either as independent states or by merger with another independent state; the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] elected to become a commonwealth of the United States.

==== The emergence of the Third World (1945–present) ====
Newly independent states organised themselves in order to oppose continued economic colonialism by former imperial powers. The [[Non-Aligned Movement]] constituted itself around the main figures of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first Prime Minister of India, [[Sukarno]], the Indonesian president, [[Josip Broz Tito]] the Communist leader of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], and [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], head of Egypt.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Nehru, Jawaharlal |title=Jawaharlal Nehru.: an autobiography. |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-303104-8 |oclc=909343858}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Non-Aligned Movement {{!}} Definition, Mission, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227123949/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |archive-date=27 February 2021 |access-date=10 July 2020 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mukherjee |first=Mithi |year=2010 |title='A World of Illusion': The Legacy of Empire in India's Foreign Relations, 1947-62. |journal=The International History Review |volume=32: 2 |issue=2 |pages=253–271 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2010.489753 |jstor=25703954 |s2cid=155062058}}</ref> In 1955 these leaders gathered at the [[Bandung Conference]] along with [[Sukarno]], the leader of Indonesia, and [[Zhou Enlai]], Premier of the People's Republic of China.<ref name="maounknown">Jung Chang and John Halliday, ''Mao: The Unknown Story'', pp. 603–604, 2007 edition, Vintage Books</ref><ref name="Bogetić">{{cite journal |last=Bogetić |first=Dragan |date=2017 |title=Sukob Titovog koncepta univerzalizma i Sukarnovog koncepta regionalizma na Samitu nesvrstanih u Kairu 1964. |trans-title=The Conflict Between Tito's Concept of Universalism and Sukarno's Concept of Regionalism in the 1964 Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in Cairo |journal=Istorija 20. Veka |publisher=Institute for Contemporary History, [[Belgrade]] |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=101–118 |doi=10.29362/IST20VEKA.2017.2.BOG.101-118 |s2cid=189123378 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1960, the [[UN General Assembly]] voted on the [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]]. The next year, the first Non-Aligned Movement conference was held in [[Belgrade]] (1961),<ref>{{cite web |date=6 September 1961 |title=Belgrade declaration of non-aligned countries |url=http://www.namegypt.org/Relevant%20Documents/01st%20Summit%20of%20the%20Non-Aligned%20Movement%20-%20Final%20Document%20(Belgrade_Declaration).pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008014412/http://www.namegypt.org/Relevant%20Documents/01st%20Summit%20of%20the%20Non-Aligned%20Movement%20-%20Final%20Document%20(Belgrade_Declaration).pdf |archive-date=8 October 2011 |access-date=23 April 2011 |publisher=Egyptian presidency website}}</ref> and was followed in 1964 by the creation of the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD) which tried to promote a [[New International Economic Order]] (NIEO).<ref name="auto4">{{cite book |last1=Laszlo |first1=Ervin |title=The Objectives of the New International Economic Order |last2=Baker |first2=Robert Jr. |last3=Eisenberg |first3=Elliott |last4=Raman |first4=Venkata |date=1978 |publisher=Pergamon Press |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mazower |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7xvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310 |title=Governing the World: The History of an Idea |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-0-14-312394-1 |location=New York City |page=310}}</ref> The NIEO was opposed to the 1944 [[Bretton Woods system]], which had benefited the leading states which had created it, and remained in force until 1971 after the United States' suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold. The main principles of the NIEO are:

# The sovereign equality of all States, with non-interference in their internal affairs, their effective participation in solving world problems and the right to adopt their own economic and social systems;
# Full sovereignty of each State over its natural resources and other economic activities necessary for development, as well as regulation of transnational corporations;
# Just and equitable relationship between the price of raw materials and other goods exported by developing countries, and the prices of raw materials and other goods exported by the developed countries;
# Strengthening of bilateral and multilateral international assistance to promote industrialization in the developing countries through, in particular, the provisioning of sufficient financial resources and opportunities for transfer of appropriate techniques and technologies.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last1=Mahiou |first1=Ahmed |date=1 May 1974 |title=Introductory Note, Declaration of the Establishment of a New International Economic Order |url=http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/ga_3201/ga_3201.html |access-date=17 December 2020 |website=UN Audiovisual Library of International Law |ref=p. 3}}</ref>

[[File:Countries by Human Development Index (2020).png|thumb|upright=1.6|The [[UN Human Development Index]] (HDI) is a quantitative index of development, an alternative to the classic [[Gross Domestic Product]] (GDP), which some use as a proxy to define the [[Third World]]. While the GDP only calculates economic wealth, the HDI includes [[life expectancy]], [[public health]] and [[literacy]] as fundamental factors of a good [[quality of life]]. Countries in [[North America]], the [[Southern Cone]], [[Europe]], [[East Asia]], and [[Oceania]] generally have better standards of living than countries in [[Central Africa]], [[East Africa]], parts of the [[Caribbean]], and [[South Asia]].]]
The UNCTAD however was not very effective in implementing the NIEO, and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and the Third World grew throughout the 1960s until the 21st century. The [[1973 oil crisis]] which followed the [[Yom Kippur War]] (October 1973) was triggered by the OPEC which decided an embargo against the US and Western countries, causing a fourfold increase in the price of oil, which lasted five months, starting on 17 October 1973, and ending on 18 March 1974. OPEC nations then agreed, on 7 January 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC nations – including many who had recently nationalized their oil industries – joined the call for a New International Economic Order to be initiated by coalitions of primary producers. Concluding the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they called for stable and just commodity prices, an international food and agriculture program, technology transfer from North to South, and the democratization of the economic system. But industrialized countries quickly began to look for substitutes to OPEC petroleum, with the oil companies investing the majority of their research capital in the US and European countries or others, politically sure countries. The OPEC lost more and more influence on the world prices of oil.

The [[1979 energy crisis|second oil crisis]] occurred in the wake of the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]]. Then, the 1982 [[Latin American debt crisis]] exploded in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing the existence of the international economic system.

The 1990s were characterized by the prevalence of the [[Washington consensus]] on [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] policies, "[[structural adjustment]]" and "[[shock therapy (economics)|shock therapies]]" for the former Communist states.

====Decolonization of Africa====
{{Main|Decolonisation of Africa}}

[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|right|British decolonisation in Africa]]
The decolonization of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa took place in the mid-to-late 1950s, very suddenly, with little preparation. There was widespread unrest and organized revolts, especially in French Algeria, Portuguese Angola, the Belgian Congo and British Kenya.<ref>John Hatch, ''Africa: The Rebirth of Self-Rule'' (1967)</ref><ref>William Roger Louis, ''The transfer of power in Africa: decolonisation, 1940–1960'' (Yale UP, 1982).</ref><ref>John D. Hargreaves, ''Decolonisation in Africa'' (2014).</ref><ref>for the viewpoint from London and Paris see Rudolf von Albertini, ''Decolonisation: the Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960'' (Doubleday, 1971).</ref>

In 1945, Africa had four independent countries – Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa.

After Italy's defeat in World War II, France and the UK occupied the former Italian colonies. [[Libya]] became an independent kingdom in 1951. [[Eritrea]] was merged with Ethiopia in 1952. Italian Somaliland was governed by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960.
[[File:Gungu la mcezo contre la France à Mayotte.jpg|thumb|Comorians protest against [[2009 Mahoran status referendum|Mayotte referendum]] on becoming an overseas department of France, 2009]]
By 1977, European colonial rule in mainland Africa had ended. Most of Africa's island countries had also become independent, although [[Réunion]] and [[Mayotte]] remain part of France. However the black majorities in [[Rhodesia]] and South Africa were disenfranchised until 1979 in [[Rhodesia]], which became [[Zimbabwe-Rhodesia]] that year and Zimbabwe the next, and until 1994 in South Africa. [[Namibia]], Africa's last UN Trust Territory, became independent of South Africa in 1990.

Most independent African countries exist within prior colonial borders. However [[Morocco]] merged [[French Morocco]] with [[Spanish Morocco]], and [[Somalia]] formed from the merger of [[British Somaliland]] and [[Italian Somaliland]]. [[Eritrea]] merged with Ethiopia in 1952, but became an independent country in 1993.

Most African countries became independent as [[republic]]s. [[Morocco]], [[Lesotho]], and [[Eswatini]] remain monarchies under dynasties that predate colonial rule. [[Burundi]], [[Egypt]], [[Libya]], and [[Tunisia]] gained independence as monarchies, but all four countries' monarchs were later deposed, and they became republics.

African countries cooperate in various multi-state associations. The [[African Union]] includes all 55 African states. There are several regional associations of states, including the [[East African Community]], [[Southern African Development Community]], and [[Economic Community of West African States]], some of which have overlapping membership.
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Sudan]] (1956); [[Ghana]] (1957); [[Nigeria]] (1960); [[Sierra Leone]] and [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (1961); [[Uganda]] (1962); [[Kenya]] and [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]] (1963); [[Malawi]] and [[Zambia]] (1964); [[The Gambia|Gambia]] and [[Rhodesia]] (1965); [[Botswana]] and [[Lesotho]] (1966); [[Mauritius]] and [[Swaziland]] (1968); [[Seychelles]] (1976)
* {{flagcountry|France}}: [[Morocco]] and [[Tunisia]] (1956); [[Guinea]] (1958); [[Cameroon]], [[Togo]], [[Mali]], [[Senegal]], [[Madagascar]], [[Benin]], [[Niger]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Chad]], [[Central African Republic]], [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Gabon]] and [[Mauritania]] (1960); [[Algeria]] (1962); [[Comoros]] (1975); [[Djibouti]] (1977)
* {{flagcountry|Spain}}: [[Equatorial Guinea]] (1968)
* {{flagcountry|Portugal}}: [[Guinea-Bissau]] (1974); [[Mozambique]], [[Cape Verde]], [[São Tomé and Príncipe]] and [[Angola]] (1975)
* {{flagcountry|Belgium}}: [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (1960); [[Burundi]] and [[Rwanda]] (1962)

==== Decolonization in the Americas after 1945 ====
{{Main|Decolonization of the Americas}}

* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] (formerly an independent dominion but under direct British rule since 1934) (1949, union with Canada); [[Jamaica]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (1962); [[Barbados]] and [[Guyana]] (1966); [[Bahamas]] (1973); [[Grenada]] (1974); [[Trinidad and Tobago]] (1976, removal of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] as head of state, transition to republic); [[Dominica]] (1978); [[Saint Lucia]] and [[St. Vincent and the Grenadines]] (1979); [[Antigua and Barbuda]] and [[Belize]] (1981); [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]] (1983); [[Barbados]] (2021, removal of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] as head of state, transition to republic).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/prince-charles-travels-barbados-celebrate-creation-republic-2021-11-29/|title = Barbados ditches Britain's Queen Elizabeth to become a republic|newspaper = Reuters|date = 30 November 2021|last1 = Faulconbridge|first1 = Guy|last2 = Ellsworth|first2 = Brian}}</ref>
* {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: [[Netherlands Antilles]], [[Suriname]] (1954, both becoming constituent countries of the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]]), 1975 (independence of Suriname)
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Denmark}}: [[Greenland]] (1979, became an autonomous territory of the [[Kingdom of Denmark]]).

==== Decolonization of Asia ====
{{Main|Decolonisation of Asia}}

[[File:Colonization 1945.png|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Western European colonial empires in Asia and Africa all collapsed in the years after 1945]]
[[File:Partition of India.PNG|thumb|Four nations ([[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Dominion of Ceylon]], and [[Union of Burma]]) that gained independence in 1947 and 1948]]
Japan expanded its occupation of Chinese territory during the 1930s, and occupied [[Southeast Asia]] during World War II. After the war, the [[Japanese colonial empire]] was dissolved, and national independence movements resisted the re-imposition of colonial control by European countries and the United States.

The [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] regained control of Japanese-occupied territories in Manchuria and eastern China, as well as Taiwan. Only Hong Kong and Macau remained in outside control until both places were transferred to the [[People's Republic of China]] by the [[UK]] and [[Portugal]] in 1997 and 1999.

The Allied powers divided Korea into two occupation zones, which became the states of [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]]. The [[Philippines]] became independent of the U.S. in 1946.

The Netherlands recognized [[Indonesia]]'s independence in 1949, after a four-year [[Indonesian National Revolution|independence struggle]]. Indonesia annexed [[Netherlands New Guinea]] in 1963, and [[Portuguese Timor]] in 1975. In 2002, former Portuguese Timor became independent as [[East Timor]].

The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of hostilities in 1945, and their colonial or administrative possessions. The year of decolonization is given chronologically in parentheses.<ref>Baylis, J. & Smith S. (2001). The Globalisation of World Politics: An introduction to international relations.</ref>
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] (1946), [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]] and [[Pakistan]] (1947); [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]], [[Myanmar|Burma]] and [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] (1948); [[British Malaya]] (1957); [[Kuwait]] (1961); [[Kingdom of Sarawak]], [[North Borneo]] and [[Singapore]] (1963); [[Maldives]] (1965); [[Southern Movement|Aden]] (1967); [[Bahrain]], [[Qatar]] and [[United Arab Emirates]] (1971); [[Brunei]] (1984); [[Hong Kong]] (1997)
* {{flagcountry|France}}: [[French India]] (1954) and [[Indochina]] comprising [[Vietnam]] (1954), [[Cambodia]] (1953) and [[Laos]] (1953)
* {{flagcountry|Portugal}}: [[Portuguese India]] (1961); [[East Timor]] (1975); [[Macau]] (1999)
* {{flagcountry|United States}}: [[Philippines]] (1946)
* {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: [[Indonesia]] (1949)

==== Decolonization in Europe ====
[[File:Nyet, nyet, Soviet (11).jpg|thumb|A protest sign from the second half of the 20th century calling on the U.N. to abolish [[Soviet colonialism]] in the [[Baltic states]]]]

Italy had occupied the [[Dodecanese]] islands in 1912, but Italian occupation ended after World War II, and the islands were integrated into Greece. British rule ended in [[British Cyprus (1878–1960)|Cyprus]] in 1960, and [[History of Malta#Malta in the British Empire (1800–1964)|Malta]] in 1964, and both islands became independent republics.

Referring to the [[Revolutions of 1989]], the historian Robert Daniels stated: "A special dimension that the anti-Communist revolutions shared with some of their predecessors was decolonization."<ref>{{cite book|editor=David Parker|title=Revolutions and the Revolutionary Tradition: In the West 1560–1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cMGEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA203|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|pages=202–203|isbn=978-1-134-69058-9}}</ref> 

During the [[Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)|Russo-Ukrainian war]], Ukraine passed [[On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy|a law]] in 2023 that banned geographical names associated with Russia.<ref>{{cite web|date=22 March 2023|access-date=22 March 2023|title=Geographical names associated with Russia have been banned in Ukraine|url=https://lb.ua/news/2023/03/21/549538_ukraini_zaboronili_geografichni.html|website={{ill|Lb.ua|uk|Lb.ua}}|lang=Ukrainian}}</ref> This law in particular has been described by [[Volodymyr Viatrovych]] as providing "a legitimate framework for the [[decolonization of Ukraine|ongoing decolonization processes in Ukraine]] and effective mechanisms".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-03-22 |title=Що таке деколонізація, чому вона важлива і як буде здійснюватися згідно з законом? |url=https://lb.ua/news/2023/03/22/549649_shcho_take_dekolonizatsiya_chomu_vona.html |access-date=2024-01-23|language=uk}}</ref> Scholars of [[Russian studies]] have also renewed awareness of Russian colonialism and interest in decolonizing scholarship in their field.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Prince |first=Todd |date=2023-01-01 |title=Moscow's Invasion Of Ukraine Triggers 'Soul-Searching' At Western Universities As Scholars Rethink Russian Studies |language=en |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-war-ukraine-western-academia/32201630.html |access-date=2023-04-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith-Peter |first=Susan |date=2022-12-14 |title=How the Field was Colonized: Russian History's Ukrainian Blind Spot |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/10000/blog/decolonizing-russian-studies/12015665/how-field-was-colonized-russian-history%E2%80%99s |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=H-Net}}</ref> While decolonial scholars like Madina Tlostanova endorse this framing, the anthropologist Jeremy F. Walton has suggested, instead, the concept of ''deimperiality'' to engage critically with the legacies of the [[Russian Empire|Romanov Empire]] and the Soviet Union in Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walton |first=Jeremy F |date=2026-03-17 |title=Postempire: On memory, legacy and deimperiality |journal=Memory Studies |language=EN |article-number=17506980261425540 |doi=10.1177/17506980261425540 |issn=1750-6980}}</ref> 

==== Decolonization of Oceania ====
{{Main|Decolonisation of Oceania}}

The decolonization of Oceania occurred after World War II when nations in Oceania achieved independence by transitioning from European colonial rule to full independence.
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: [[Tonga]] and [[Fiji]] (1970); [[Solomon Islands]] and [[Tuvalu]] (1978); [[Kiribati]] (1979)
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} and {{flagcountry|France}}: [[Vanuatu]] (1980)
* {{flagcountry|Australia}}: [[Nauru]] (1968); [[Papua New Guinea]] (1975)
* {{flagcountry|New Zealand}}: [[Samoa]] (1962)
* {{flagcountry|United States}}: [[Marshall Islands]] and [[Federated States of Micronesia]] (1986); [[Palau]] (1994)

== Aspects ==
Typical challenges of decolonization include [[state-building]], [[nation-building]], and [[economic development]].

=== State-building ===
{{Main|State-building}}

After independence, the new states needed to establish or strengthen the institutions of a sovereign state, i.e. governments, laws, a military, schools, administrative systems, and so on. The amount of self-rule granted prior to independence, and assistance from the colonial power and/or international organizations after independence, varied greatly between colonial powers, and between individual colonies.<ref name="Glassner, Martin Ira 1980">Glassner, Martin Ira (1980). ''Systematic Political Geography'' 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.</ref>

Except for a few absolute monarchies, most post-colonial states are either [[republic]]s or [[constitutional monarchy|constitutional monarchies]]. These new states had to devise [[constitution]]s, [[electoral system]]s, and other institutions of [[representative democracy]].

=== Nation-building ===
{{Main|Nation-building}}

[[File:Black Star Monument, Accra, Ghana.JPG|thumb|{{center|The '''Black Star Monument''' in [[Accra]], built by [[Ghana]]'s first president [[Kwame Nkrumah]] to commemorate the country's independence}}]]

Nation-building is the process of creating a sense of identification with, and loyalty to, the state.<ref>Karl Wolfgang Deutsch, William J. Folt, eds, ''Nation Building in Comparative Contexts'', New York, Atherton, 1966.{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199743292-0217 |chapter=Nation-Building |title=International Relations |date=2017 |last1=Mylonas |first1=Harris |isbn=978-0-19-974329-2 }}</ref> Nation-building projects seek to replace loyalty to the old colonial power, and/or tribal or regional loyalties, with loyalty to the new state. Elements of nation-building include creating and promoting symbols of the state like a flag, a coat of arms and an anthem, monuments, official histories, national sports teams, codifying one or more Indigenous [[official language]]s, and replacing colonial place-names with local ones.<ref name="Glassner, Martin Ira 1980"/> Nation-building after independence often continues the work began by independence movements during the colonial period.

==== Language policy ====
From the perspective of [[language policy]] (or [[language politics]]), "linguistic decolonization" entails the replacement of a colonizing (imperial) power's language with a given colony's indigenous language in the function of [[official language]]. With the exception of colonies in [[Eurasia]], linguistic decolonization did not take place in the former colonies-turned-independent states on the other continents ("Rest of the World").<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kamusella |first1=Tomasz |title=Global Language Politics: Eurasia versus the Rest |journal=Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics |date=1 December 2020 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=117–151 |doi=10.2478/jnmlp-2020-0008 |s2cid=230283299 |doi-access=free |hdl=10023/21315 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Linguistic imperialism]] is the imposition and enforcement of one dominant language over other languages, and one response to this form of imperialism is linguistic decolonization.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phillipson |first=Robert |title=Linguistic Imperialism |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-19-437146-9 |location=Oxford |oclc=30978070}} p. 46-47.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Agyekum |first=Kofi |date=2018-05-23 |title=Linguistic imperialism and language decolonisation in Africa through documentation and preservation |url=https://zenodo.org/records/1251718 |journal=African Linguistics on the Prairie |pages=87–88 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.1251718}}</ref>

====Cinematography====
Kenyan writer [[Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o]] has written about colonization and decolonization in the film universe. Born in Ethiopia, filmmaker [[Haile Gerima]] describes the "colonization of the unconscious" he describes experiencing as a child:<ref name=kato2007>{{cite book |last1=Kato |first1=M. T. |title=From Kung Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution, and Popular Culture |date=2012 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-8063-2 }}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref>
<blockquote>...as kids, we tried to act out the things we had seen in the movies. We used to play cowboys and Indians in the mountains around Gondar...We acted out the roles of these heroes, identifying with the cowboys conquering the Indians. We didn't identify with the Indians at all and we never wanted the Indians to win. Even in Tarzan movies, we would become totally galvanized by the activities of the hero and follow the story from his point of view, completely caught up in the structure of the story. Whenever Africans sneaked up behind Tarzan, we would scream our heads off, trying to warn him that 'they' were coming".</blockquote>
In Asia, [[kung fu film|kung fu cinema]] emerged at a time Japan wanted to reach Asian populations in other countries by way of its cultural influence. The surge in popularity of kung fu movies began in the late 1960s through the 1970s. Local populations were depicted as protagonists opposing "imperialists" (foreigners) and their "Chinese collaborators".<ref name=kato2007 />

=== Repatriation ===
In a 2023 paper on the political theory of settler colonialism, Canadian academics Yann Allard-Tremblay and Elaine Coburn posit that: "In Africa, the Middle East, South America, and much of the rest of the world, decolonization often meant the expulsion or departure of most colonial settlers. In contrast, in settler colonial states like [[New Zealand]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], and the [[United States]], settlers have not left, even as independence from the metropole was gained... The systemic oppression and domination of the colonized by the colonizer is not historical — firmly in the past — but ongoing and supported by radically unequal political, social, economic, and legal institutions."<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1177/00323217211018127 | title=The Flying Heads of Settler Colonialism; or the Ideological Erasures of Indigenous Peoples in Political Theorizing | date=2023 | last1=Allard-Tremblay | first1=Yann | last2=Coburn | first2=Elaine | journal=Political Studies | volume=71 | issue=2 | pages=359–378 | s2cid=236234578 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

Decolonization is not an easy matter in colonies with large settler populations, particularly if they have been there for several generations. When settlers remain in former colonies after independence, colonialism is ongoing and takes the form of [[settler colonialism]], which is highly resistant to decolonisation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Veracini |first1=Lorenzo |title=Settler colonialism and decolonisation |journal=Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive) |date=2007 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/1337/ }}</ref> [[Repatriation]] of existing colonizers or prevention of immigration of additional [[colonialism|colonizers]] can be seen as [[return migration]] and [[opposition to immigration]].<ref>[https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315458298-25/migrants-indigeneity-nandita-sharma Sharma, Nandita. "Migrants and indigeneity: Nationalism, nativism and the politics of place." Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies. Routledge, 2019. 246-257.]</ref>

In a few cases, settler populations have been [[Repatriation|repatriated]]. For instance, the decolonization of [[Algeria]] by France was particularly uneasy due to the large European population (see also ''[[pied noir]]''),<ref name="Cook">{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Bernard A. |title=Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo/page/n461 398] |year=2001 |publisher=Garland |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8153-4057-7}}</ref> which largely evacuated to France when Algeria became independent.<ref name="ladepeche">[http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2012/03/10/1308713-pieds-noirs-ceux-qui-ont-choisi-de-rester.html "Pieds-noirs": ceux qui ont choisi de rester], [[La Dépêche du Midi]], March 2012</ref> In [[Zimbabwe]], former [[Rhodesia]], [[Robert Mugabe]] seized property from white African farmers, killing several of them, and forcing the survivors to emigrate.<ref name="Cybriwsky">Cybriwsky, Roman Adrian. ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture''. ABC-CLIO, LLC 2013. {{ISBN|978-1610692472}} pp. 54–275.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://museumvictoria.com.au/origins/history.aspx?pid=226|title=Origins: History of immigration from Zimbabwe – Immigration Museum, Melbourne Australia|website=Museumvictoria.com.au|access-date=30 April 2016|archive-date=2 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202060852/http://museumvictoria.com.au/origins/history.aspx?pid=226}}</ref> A large Indian community lived in [[Uganda]] as a result of Britain colonizing both India and East Africa, and [[Idi Amin]] [[Expulsion of Asians from Uganda|expelled them]] for domestic political gain.<ref name="Drive">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/17/world/once-outcasts-asians-again-drive-uganda-s-economy.html | title=Once Outcasts, Asians Again Drive Uganda's Economy | access-date=14 March 2016 | date=17 August 2003 | first=Marc | last=Lacey | newspaper=[[New York Times]] | location=New York City}}</ref> 

=== Economic development ===
{{Main|Economic development}}

Newly independent states also had to develop independent economic institutions – a national currency, banks, companies, regulation, tax systems, etc.

Many colonies were serving as resource colonies which produced raw materials and agricultural products, and as a captive market for goods manufactured in the colonizing country. Many decolonized countries created programs to promote [[industrialization]]. Some [[nationalized]] industries and infrastructure, and some engaged in [[land reform]] to redistribute land to individual farmers or create collective farms.

Some decolonized countries maintain strong economic ties with the former colonial power. The [[CFA franc]] is a currency shared by 14 countries in West and Central Africa, mostly former French colonies. The CFA franc is guaranteed by the French treasury.

After independence, many countries created regional economic associations to promote trade and economic development among neighboring countries, including the [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations]] (ASEAN), the [[Economic Community of West African States]] (ECOWAS), and the [[Gulf Cooperation Council]].

==== Effects on the colonizers ====
[[John Kenneth Galbraith]] argues that the post–World War II decolonization was brought about for economic reasons. In ''A Journey Through Economic Time'', he writes: <blockquote>"The engine of economic well-being was now within and between the advanced industrial countries. Domestic [[economic growth]] – as now measured and much discussed – came to be seen as far more important than the erstwhile colonial trade.... The economic effect in the United States from the granting of independence to the Philippines was unnoticeable, partly due to the [[Bell Trade Act]], which allowed American monopoly in the economy of the Philippines. The departure of India and Pakistan made small economic difference in the United Kingdom. [[Netherlands|Dutch]] economists calculated that the economic effect from the loss of the great Dutch empire in Indonesia was compensated for by a couple of years or so of domestic post-war economic growth. The end of the colonial era is celebrated in the history books as a triumph of national aspiration in the former colonies and of benign good sense on the part of the colonial powers. Lurking beneath, as so often happens, was a strong current of economic interest – or in this case, disinterest."</blockquote>

In general, the release of the colonized caused little economic loss to the colonizers. Part of the reason for this was that major costs were eliminated while major benefits were obtained by alternate means. Decolonization allowed the colonizer to disclaim responsibility for the colonized. The colonizer no longer had the burden of obligation, financial or otherwise, to their colony. However, the colonizer continued to be able to obtain cheap goods and labor as well as economic benefits (see [[Suez Canal Crisis]]) from the former colonies. Financial, political and military pressure could still be used to achieve goals desired by the colonizer. Thus decolonization allowed the goals of colonization to be largely achieved, but [http://www.e-ir.info/2012/05/22/what-impact-did-decolonisation-have-on-britain/ without its burdens].

== Current colonies ==
The [[United Nations]], under "Chapter XI: Declaration Regarding Non-Self Governing Territories" of the [[Charter of the United Nations]], defines [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|Non-Self Governing Nations (NSGSs)]] as "territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government"—the contemporary definition of [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-06-17|title=Chapter XI|url=https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-xi/index.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org|language=en}}</ref> After the conclusion of World War II with the surrender of the Axis Powers in 1945, and two decades into the latter half of the 20th century, over three dozen "states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence" from European administering powers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/asia-and-africa|access-date=2020-06-14|website=history.state.gov}}</ref> As of 2020, 17 territories remain under Chapter XI distinction:<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Non-Self-Governing Territories {{!}} The United Nations and Decolonization|url=https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/en/nsgt|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref>

=== United Nations NSGS list ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Year Listed as [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories|NSGS]]
!Administering Power
!Territory
|-
|1946
| rowspan="10" |{{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|{{flagicon|Anguilla}} [[Anguilla]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|BER}} [[Bermuda]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|BVI}} [[British Virgin Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|CAY}} [[Cayman Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|FLK}} [[Falkland Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|Montserrat}} [[Montserrat]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|Saint Helena}} [[Saint Helena]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|Turks and Caicos Islands}} [[Turks and Caicos Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|GIB}} [[Gibraltar]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|Pitcairn Islands}} [[Pitcairn Islands|Pitcairn]]
|-
|1946
| rowspan="3" |{{flagicon|US}} [[United States]]
|{{flagicon|American Samoa}} [[American Samoa]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|USVI}} [[United States Virgin Islands]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|GUM}} [[Guam]]
|-
|1946
|{{flagicon|NZL}} [[New Zealand]]
|{{flagicon|TOK}} [[Tokelau]]
|-
|1963
|{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Spain]]
|[[Western Sahara]]
|-
|1946–47, 1986
| rowspan="2" |{{flagicon|FRA}} [[France]]
|{{flagicon|New Caledonia}} [[New Caledonia]]
|-
|1946–47, 2013
|{{flagicon|French Polynesia}} [[French Polynesia]]
|}
"On 26 February 1976, [[Spain]] informed the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|Secretary-General]] that as of that date it had terminated its presence in the Territory of the Sahara and deemed it necessary to place on record that Spain considered itself thenceforth exempt from any responsibility of any international nature in connection with the administration of the Territory, in view of the cessation of its participation in the temporary administration established for the Territory. In 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara."<ref name=":2" />

On 10 December 2010, the [[United Nations]] published its official [[decree]], announcing the ''[[International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism|Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism]]'' wherein the United Nations declared its "renewal of the call to States Members of the United Nations to speed up the process of decolonization towards the complete elimination of colonialism".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism|url=https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/65/119|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> According to an article by scholar John Quintero, "given the modern emphasis on the equality of states and inalienable nature of their sovereignty, many people do not realize that these non-self-governing structures still exist".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Residual Colonialism In The 21St Century|publisher=United Nations University|url=https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html|access-date=2020-06-14|website=unu.edu|language=en-US|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717205732/https://unu.edu/publications/articles/residual-colonialism-in-the-21st-century.html}}</ref> Some activists have claimed that the attention of the United Nations was "further diverted from the social and economic agenda [for decolonization] towards "firefighting and extinguishing" armed conflicts". Advocates have stressed that the United Nations "[remains] the last refuge of hope for peoples under the yolk ''[sic]'' of colonialism".<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=United Nations Should Eradicate Colonialism by 2020, Urges Secretary-General in Message to Caribbean Regional Decolonization Seminar {{!}} Meetings Coverage and Press Releases|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/gacol3277.doc.htm|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.un.org}}</ref> Furthermore, on 19 May 2015, [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General]] [[Ban Ki-moon]] addressed the attendants of the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization, urging international political leaders to "build on [the success of precedent decolonization efforts and] towards fully eradicating colonialism by 2020".<ref name=":3" />

The sovereignty of the [[Chagos Archipelago]] in the Indian Ocean is [[Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute|disputed]] between the United Kingdom and [[Mauritius]]. In February 2019, the [[International Court of Justice]] in [[The Hague]] ruled that the United Kingdom must transfer the islands to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chagos Islands dispute: UK obliged to end control – UN |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47358602 |work=BBC News |date=25 February 2019 }}</ref> On 22 May 2019, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] debated and adopted a resolution that affirmed that the Chagos Archipelago "forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sands |first=Philippe |date=2019-05-24 |quote=Britain's behaviour towards its former colony has been shameful. The UN resolution changes everything |title=At last, the Chagossians have a real chance of going back home|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/24/chagossians-britain-colony-shameful-un-resolution?|journal=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> The UK does not recognize Mauritius' sovereignty claim over the Chagos Archipelago.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chagos Islands dispute: UK misses deadline to return control |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50511847 |work=BBC News |date=22 November 2019}}</ref> In October 2020, Mauritian Prime Minister [[Pravind Jugnauth]] described the British and American governments as "hypocrites" and "champions of double talk" over their response to the dispute.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chagos Islands dispute: Mauritius calls US and UK 'hypocrites' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54598084 |work=BBC News |date=19 October 2020}}</ref>

In May 2026, the [[East Turkistan Government in Exile]] and the East Turkistan National Movement petitioned the [[Special Committee on Decolonization]] to list [[East Turkistan]] (which China administers as the [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]]) as a Non-Self-Governing Territory and to apply the [[Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples]] to it, describing it as under Chinese colonial occupation rather than a willing part of China.<ref>{{cite news |title=East Turkistan exiles petition UN to label China a colonial power |url=https://www.nationpress.com/international/east-turkistan-exiles-challenge-china-at-un |access-date=9 June 2026 |agency=Nation Press |date=6 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Doğu Türkistanlılardan BM'ye Tarihi Başvuru: Çin İlk Kez 'Sömürgeci Güç' Olarak Şikayet Edildi |url=https://www.yenicaggazetesi.com/dogu-turkistanlilardan-bmye-tarihi-basvuru-cin-ilk-kez-somurgeci-guc-olarak-sikayet-edildi-1028962h.htm |access-date=9 June 2026 |agency=Yeniçağ Gazetesi |date=12 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Öner |first1=Fuat |title=Doğu Türkistanlılardan BM'ye tarihi başvuru |url=https://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/3627578-dogu-turkistanlilardan-bmye-tarihi-basvuru |access-date=9 June 2026 |agency=Haber7 |date=13 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Doğu Türkistanlılardan BM'ye Tarihi Başvuru: Çin ilk kez 'Sömürgeci güç' olarak şikayet edildi |url=https://www.karar.com/guncel-haberler/dogu-turkistanlilardan-bmye-tarihi-basvuru-cin-ilk-kez-somurgeci-guc-2047643 |access-date=9 June 2026 |agency=Karar |date=11 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=East Turkistan Minister Urges UN, Western Leaders to Support Region's Self-Determination as CCP Genocide Set to Enter 13th Year |url=https://www.ntd.com/ntdplus/east-turkistan-minister-urges-un-western-leaders-to-support-regions-self-determination-as-ccp-genocide-set-to-enter-13th-year_1143587.html |access-date=9 June 2026 |agency=NTD News |date=6 May 2026}}</ref> As of {{date|June 2026}}, the Committee had not added the territory to its list.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sandor |first=Steven |title=East Turkistan's prime minister in exile a north Edmonton school bus driver |work=Edmonton Journal |publisher=Postmedia |date=28 May 2026}}</ref>

== Effects of decolonization ==
A 2019 study found that "[[democracy]] levels increased sharply as colonies gained internal autonomy in the period immediately before their independence. However, conflict, revenue growth, and economic growth did not systematically differ before and after independence."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2019|title=What Were the Consequences of Decolonization? |journal=International Studies Quarterly|doi=10.1093/isq/sqy064|last1=Lee|first1=Alexander|last2=Paine|first2=Jack|volume=63|issue=2|pages=406–416}}</ref>

David Strang writes that the loss of their empires turned France and Britain into "second-rate powers".<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139174053.012 |chapter=British and French political institutions and the patterning of decolonization |title=The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State |date=1994 |last1=Strang |first1=David |pages=278–296 |isbn=978-0-521-43473-7 }}</ref>

==Criticism==
Some articles extend the meaning of decolonization beyond independence or equal rights for colonized peoples to include broader economic, cultural and psychological aspects of the colonial experience.<ref name=":6">{{cite book |last1=Betts |first1=Raymond F. |title=Beyond Empire and Nation |date=2012 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-26044-3 |pages=23–37 |chapter=Decolonization a brief history of the word |doi=10.1163/9789004260443_004 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w8h2zm.5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corntassel |first=Jeff |date=2012-09-08 |title=Re-envisioning resurgence: Indigenous pathways to decolonization and sustainable self-determination |url=https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18627 |journal=Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |issn=1929-8692}}</ref> Extending the meaning of decolonization beyond political [[independence]] has been disputed and received criticism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Táíwò |first=Olúfẹ́mi |title=Against decolonisation: taking African agency seriously |date=2022 |publisher=Hurst & Company |isbn=978-1-78738-692-1 |series=African arguments |location=London}}{{pn|date=August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kurzwelly |first1=Jonatan |last2=Wilckens |first2=Malin S |date=2023 |title=Calcified identities: Persisting essentialism in academic collections of human remains |journal=Anthropological Theory |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=100–122 |doi=10.1177/14634996221133872 |s2cid=254352277 |url=https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2967871 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Naicker |first=Veeran |date=2023 |title=The problem of epistemological critique in contemporary Decolonial theory |journal=Social Dynamics |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=220–241 |doi=10.1080/02533952.2023.2226497 |s2cid=259828705 }}</ref>

According to political theorist Kevin Duong, decolonization "may have been the century's greatest act of [[disenfranchisement]]", as numerous anti-colonial activists primarily pursued universal suffrage within empires rather than independence: "As dependent territories became nation-states, they lost their voice in metropolitan assemblies whose affairs affected them long after independence."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duong |first1=Kevin |title=Universal Suffrage as Decolonization |journal=American Political Science Review |date=May 2021 |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=412–428 |doi=10.1017/S0003055420000994 |s2cid=232422414 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|History}}
{{col div|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Anti-imperialism]]
* [[Blue water thesis]]
* [[Coloniality of power]]
* [[Colonial mentality]]
* [[Conquest#Recapture]]
* [[Creole nationalism]]
* [[Decoloniality]]
* [[Decolonization of the Americas]]
* [[Decolonization of public space]]
* [[Dependency theory]]
* [[Exploitation colonialism]]
* [[Indigenism]]
** [[Indigenismo]]
* [[Neocolonialism]]
* {{lang|fr|[[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie]]|italic=no}}
* [[Postcolonialism]]
* [[Repatriation (cultural heritage)]]
* [[Repatriation and reburial of human remains]]
* [[Revanchism]]
* [[Self-defence in international law]]
* [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)]]
* [[Indigenous survival during colonization]]
* [[Timeline of national independence]]
* [[United Nations list of non-self-governing territories]]
* [[Wars of independence]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Bailey, Thomas A. ''A diplomatic history of the American people'' (1969) [https://archive.org/details/diplomatichistor00bail_0 online free]
* Betts, Raymond F. ''Decolonisation'' (2nd ed. 2004)
* Betts, Raymond F. ''France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960'' (1991)
* {{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=L. |last2=Stockwell |first2=S. |title=The Wind of Change: Harold Macmillan and British Decolonization |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-31800-8 }}
* Chafer, Tony. ''The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonisation'' (Bloomsbury, 2002).{{ISBN?}}
* [[Chamberlain, Muriel E.]] ed. ''Longman Companion to European Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century'' (Routledge, 2014)
* Clayton, Anthony. ''The wars of French decolonisation'' (Routledge, 2014).
* {{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Frederick |title=French Africa, 1947–48: Reform, Violence, and Uncertainty in a Colonial Situation |journal=Critical Inquiry |date=2014 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=466–478 |doi=10.1086/676416 |jstor=10.1086/676416 |s2cid=162291339 }}
* Darwin, John. "Decolonisation and the End of Empire"  in Robin W. Winks, ed., ''The Oxford History of the British Empire – Vol. 5: Historiography''  (1999) 5: 541–557.
* Gerits, Frank. ''The Ideological Scramble for Africa: How the Pursuit of Anticolonial Modernity Shaped a Postcolonial Order (1945–1966)'' (Cornell University Press, 2023). {{ISBN|9781501767913}}.  Major scholarly coverage of British, French and Portuguese colonies. [https://hdiplo.org/to/RT26-4 see online reviews and reply by author]

* Grimal, Henri. ''Decolonisation: The British, Dutch, and Belgian Empires, 1919–1963'' (1978).
* {{cite book |last1=Hyam |first1=Ronald |title=Britain's Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation, 1918–1968 |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-02565-9 }}
* Ikeda, Ryo. ''The Imperialism of French Decolonisation: French Policy and the Anglo-American Response in Tunisia and Morocco'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
* Jansen, Jan C. & Jürgen Osterhammel. ''Decolonisation: A Short History'' (Princeton UP, 2017). [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10963.html online]
* Jones, Max, et al. "Decolonising imperial heroes: Britain and France." ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'' 42#5 (2014): 787–825.
* Klose, Fabian (2014), [http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-and-the-world/european-overseas-rule/fabian-klose-decolonization-and-revolution?set_language=en&-C= ''Decolonization and Revolution''], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO – European History Online], Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of European History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219021834/http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php |date=19 February 2016 }}, retrieved: March 17, 2021 ([https://d-nb.info/1061112594/34 pdf]).
* Lawrence, Adria K. ''Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism:  Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire'' (Cambridge UP, 2013) [https://issforum.org/roundtables/7-18-imperial-rule-nationalism online reviews]
* {{cite journal |last1=McDougall |first1=James |title=The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonization of France, 1945–1962 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |date=December 2017 |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=772–811 |doi=10.1086/694427 |s2cid=148602270 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3fcec5a2-738d-4cc7-ae7d-0e8acd9adae7 }}
* MacQueen, Norrie. ''The Decolonisation of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire'' (1997).
* Milford, Ismay. ''African Activists in a Decolonising World: The Making of an Anticolonial Culture, 1952–1966'' (Cambridge University Press, 2023) [https://hdiplo.org/to/RT26-14 online reviews of this book]

* [[Elizabeth Monroe (historian)|Monroe, Elizabeth]]. '' Britain's Moment in the Middle East, 1914–1956'' (1963)

* O'Sullivan, Christopher. FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East (2012).
* Rothermund, Dietmar. ''The Routledge companion to decolonisation'' (Routledge, 2006), comprehensive global coverage; 365pp
* {{cite book |last1=Rothermund |first1=Dietmar |title=Memories of Post-Imperial Nations |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-10229-3 }} Compares the impact on Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Japan
* Shepard, Todd. ''The Invention of Decolonisation: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France'' (2006)
* Simpson, Alfred William Brian. ''Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention'' (Oxford University Press, 2004).
* Smith, Simon C. ''Ending empire in the Middle East: Britain, the United States and post-war decolonisation, 1945–1973'' (Routledge, 2013)
* {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Tony |title=A Comparative Study of French and British Decolonization |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |date=January 1978 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=70–102 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500008835 |s2cid=145080475 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Tony |title=The French Colonial Consensus and People's War, 1946-58 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |date=1974 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=217–247 |doi=10.1177/002200947400900410 |jstor=260298 |s2cid=159883569 }}
* Strayer, Robert. "Decolonisation, Democratisation, and Communist Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective," Journal of World History 12#2 (2001), 375–406. [http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_26_3.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224051615/http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_26_3.pdf |date=2015-02-24 }}
* Thomas, Martin, Bob Moore, and Lawrence J. Butler. ''Crises of Empire: Decolonisation and Europe's imperial states'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015)
* {{cite book |last1=White |first1=Nicholas |title=Decolonisation: The British Experience since 1945 |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-88789-8 }}
{{Refend}}
*

==External links==
{{Library resources box}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Decolonization}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Wikibooks-inline|Public International Law/History of International Law/Decolonization}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 66}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations Trusteeship Agreements listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-Governing}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541}}
* James E. Kitchen: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/colonial_empires_after_the_wardecolonisation/ Colonial Empires after the First World War/Decolonisation]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}, in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].

{{South-South}}
{{Colonization}}
{{Globalization}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:History of colonialism]]
[[Category:Sovereignty]]
[[Category:Decolonization]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II]]