Editing Decolonization (section)

== Independence movements ==
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>{{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}}</ref><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 seemed less ruthless than, for example, Belgium, in controlling political dissent. 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 [[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]]
[[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]], [[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. [[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 [[Ghana]] to independence from colonial rule.

Independence for the colonies in Africa began with the independence of [[Sudan]] in 1956, and [[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 [[India]] and [[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.

[[History of Cyprus since 1878|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]]
In late 1946, the Viet Minh [[Battle of Hanoi (1946)|attacked]] France in Hanoi, leading to the [[First Indochina War|Indochina War]] (1946–54). France later recognized independence of [[State of Vietnam|Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]] in 1949. France also [[Élysée Accords|recognized]] the unity of Vietnam and supported the anti-communist faction in this country against the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|communists]] who fought in the name of anti-colonialism, 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]], Vietnam would be united under communism 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]].

=== 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 ====
=====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]]]]
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]]
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) ====
[[File:Africa cs poster.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Czechoslovak anti-colonialist propaganda poster: "Africa – in fight for freedom"]]
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=9780143031048 |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=9780143123941 |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.

Soviet control of its non-Russian member republics weakened as movements for democratization and self-government gained strength during the late 1980s, and four republics declared independence in 1990 and 1991. The [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|Soviet coup d'état attempt]] in August 1991 accelerated the breakup of the USSR, which formally ended on 26 December 1991. The [[Republics of the Soviet Union]] became sovereign states—[[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]] (formerly called Byelorussia,) [[Estonia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Moldova]], [[Russia]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. Historian Robert Daniels says, "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=202–3|isbn=978-1-134-69058-9}}</ref> Moscow's policy had long been to settle ethnic Russians in the non-Russian republics. After independence, minority rights have been an issue for Russian-speakers in some republics and for [[Languages of Russia|non-Russian-speakers]] in Russia; see [[Russians in the Baltic states]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 43211802|title = Russians in the Baltic States: To be or Not to Be?|journal = Journal of Baltic Studies|volume = 24|issue = 2|pages = 173–188|last1 = Kirch|first1 = Aksel|last2 = Kirch|first2 = Marika|last3 = Tuisk|first3 = Tarmo|year = 1993|doi = 10.1080/01629779300000051}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Russian Federation continues to apply political, economic, and military pressure on former Soviet colonies. In 2014, it [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula]], the first such action in Europe since the end of the Second World War. In March 2023, following the [[2022 Russian invasion]] and subsequent Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine, Ukraine passed [[On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy|a law]] that did forbid to have toponymy with names associated with Russian ("the occupying state").<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 Ukrainian media as providing "a legitimate framework and effective mechanisms" for the [[decolonization of Ukraine]].<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>

After the 2022 Russian invasion, scholars of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Studies ("[[Russian studies]]") have 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> with academic conferences organized on the theme by the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) in Stockholm in December 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Administration |date=2012-11-02 |title=PhD |url=https://ccrs.ku.dk/phd/?pure=en/activities/cbees-annual-conference-2022-where-are-we-now-perspectives-on-east-european-area-studies-today(f555db0d-383f-429d-a8eb-bf4e73784324).html |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=ccrs.ku.dk |language=en}}</ref> the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) in April 2023,<ref>{{Cite web |title=BASEES Annual Conference 2022 |url=https://www.myeventflo.com/event.asp?m=4&evID=2387 |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=www.myeventflo.com}}</ref> the Aleksanteri Institute in October,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aleksanteri Conference takes a stand for Ukraine {{!}} Aleksanteri Institute {{!}} University of Helsinki |url=https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/economics/aleksanteri-conference-takes-stand-ukraine |access-date=2023-04-24 |website=www.helsinki.fi |date=6 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and the [[Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies]] (ASEEES) in Philadelphia in November–December.

==== 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)