What is decolonisation?
A colony is a land ruled by another, usually far-away, country. The ruling country is an empire. It takes raw materials like cotton, rubber and minerals, collects taxes and makes the laws. The local people have little say.
Decolonisation means colonies becoming free, independent states. It is the opposite of colonisation. In 1945 about one third of the world's people lived under colonial rule. By 1980 almost all colonies had become independent.
Latin America had an earlier wave: most of it broke free from Spain and Portugal in the 1810s–1820s. The big wave after 1945 was in Asia and Africa.
Why did empires end after 1945?
1. The war weakened the rulers
The Second World War left Britain, France and the Netherlands tired and deep in debt. Keeping soldiers in far-away colonies became too costly.
2. Freedom movements grew
Educated leaders, workers and farmers organised parties, strikes and protests. Soldiers from colonies who fought in the war asked: if we fought for freedom, why are we not free?
3. A new world order
The UN Charter (1945) spoke of the right of peoples to decide their own future (self-determination). The two new superpowers, the USA and the USSR, both disliked the old empires, for their own reasons.
Roads to freedom and waves of independence
Road A – talks and mass movements: India and Pakistan (1947) after a long national movement; Ghana (1957), led by Kwame Nkrumah, the first sub-Saharan African colony to be free.
Road B – armed struggle: Indonesia against the Dutch (1945–49), Vietnam against France (to 1954), Algeria against France (1954–62), Kenya (Mau Mau rising, freedom 1963), Angola and Mozambique (1975).
| Wave | Where | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1945–1950 | South and South-East Asia, Middle East | India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Israel |
| 1950s–1960s | North, West and East Africa | Ghana 1957, 17 states in 1960, Algeria 1962 |
| 1970s | Southern Africa, islands | Angola, Mozambique 1975, Zimbabwe 1980 |
Many partitions were painful: the partition of India in 1947 caused huge migration and violence.
New states: problems and paths of development
- Economy: colonies had been built to export one crop or mineral (cocoa, copper). Industry, schools and hospitals were few.
- Borders: lines drawn by rulers ignored where peoples lived, which led to civil wars in some places.
- Politics: some states stayed democracies; others fell to one-party rule or military coups.
- Neo-colonialism: even after freedom, some states stayed dependent on the old rulers for trade and loans.
Paths of development: a mixed economy with five-year plans (India), a socialist path (Tanzania, Cuba), or a market path. In 1955, 29 Asian and African states met at Bandung. In 1961 the Non-Aligned Movement was founded (Nehru, Nasser, Tito, Nkrumah, Sukarno) to avoid joining either Cold War bloc. These countries were often called the Third World or, today, the Global South.
Key formulas and definitions
- Key term – colony: a land ruled by a foreign power
- Key term – self-determination: the right of a people to choose its own government
- Key term – neo-colonialism: control through money and trade after formal freedom
- Key term – non-alignment: not joining either Cold War bloc
- Timeline: 1945 UN → 1947 India → 1955 Bandung → 1957 Ghana → 1960 Year of Africa → 1961 NAM → 1962 Algeria → 1975 Angola, Mozambique
Worked examples
1. Give three causes of decolonisation after 1945.
(1) The Second World War weakened the colonial powers. (2) Nationalist movements in the colonies grew strong. (3) The UN and both superpowers supported self-determination.
2. Compare the independence of India and Algeria.
India won freedom in 1947 mainly through a mass, largely non-violent movement and negotiation. Algeria won in 1962 after an eight-year armed war against France. Both ended colonial rule, but by different roads.
3. Why did many new states join the Non-Aligned Movement?
They had just won freedom and did not want to become dependent on either the USA or the USSR. Non-alignment let them take help from both while keeping their own foreign policy.
Common mistakes
- Thinking all colonies became free at the same time. It came in waves from 1945 to the 1970s.
- Believing freedom always came through war. Many colonies became free through talks and mass movements.
- Thinking non-aligned means neutral and passive. NAM states took active positions, for example against apartheid.
- Forgetting Latin America: most of it became independent in the early 1800s, long before Asia and Africa.