Colonialism
Colonialism and imperialism are treated as synonyms, but they are not. Colonialism is a practice of domination of one group of people over another. Though imperialism also involves political and economic control over a dependent territory, it is different from colonialism.
The word colonialism is derived from the root word ‘colonies, which means farmer. This reminds us that colonialism usually involved the transfer of population to a new territory[1]. The new arrivals live as permanent settlers while maintaining political allegiance to their country of origin. The word imperialism is derived from the word’ imperium’, which means to command; thus, imperialism is the way one country exercises power over another, whether through settlement, sovereignty or indirect mechanisms of control. Both colonialism and imperialism are forms of conquest. The term colonialism is frequently used to describe the settlement of places such as North America, Australia, New Zealand, Algeria, and Brazil controlled by a large population of permanent European residents. The term imperialism often describes cases in which a foreign government administers a territory without significant settlement.
Colonialism refers to history from the late 15th to 20th century when European countries established colonies on other continents. There are many reasons for colonialism. Some of them are profits to be made, expanding the power and various religious and political beliefs.
Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as “the policy of acquiring and maintaining colonies, especially for exploitation.”
The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy “uses the term colonialism” to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia.
Jurgen Osterhammel differentiates between colonisation, colony and colonialism and says that “Colonization” is a process of territorial acquisition, “Colony” is a particular type of socio-political organisation and “Colonialism” is a system of domination. He feels that the basis for all these three concepts is expanding a society beyond its original habitat. This occurs in six significant forms:
- Total migration of entire populations and societies- a large human collectives that have settled in one place, give up their original settlements without leaving the parent societies behind.
- Mass individual migration: individual families and small groups leave their home territories, motivated primarily by economic factors. They do not intend to return.
- Border colonization: this is the extensive opening up of land for human use, pushing a frontier into the wilderness for agricultural purposes or to attain natural resources.
- Overseas settlement colonization: this is the development of settlement off-shoots across the sea in areas where relatively slight display of military power was required. The land is considered ruler less, lacking legitimate political authority. The Europeans did not find efficient agricultural systems whose taxable surpluses could have supported a militarily based colonial apparatus – ex: the British in India
- Empire building wars of conquest: this is the classic “Roman” form of establishing the rule on one people over another. Osterhammel feels that the British India was never a settlement area. This was the colonial rule without colonization, which we will classify as an exploitation colony.
- Military base: this was the only colony types that was adaptable to modern circumstances on a long term basis.
According to Osterhammel, the terms colonisation and colony should not be too closely identified with one another. Colonisation takes place without colony building, which is the predominant form of frontier colonisation. However, there is also colony building that does not follow colonisation but originates in military conquest. Therefore he defines Colony as a new political organisation created by invasion (conquest and settlement colonisation) but built on pre-colonial conditions. Its alien rulers are in sustained dependence on a geographically remote “mother country” or imperial centre, claiming exclusive rights of “possession” of the colony. He talks about three different types of settlements. They are:
- Exploitation colonies
- Maritime enclaves
- Settlement colonies
- Exploitation colonies are resulted out of military conquest and are often after extended phases of contact without land claims. The purpose of this kind of colonialism is economic exploitation by means of trade monopolies, use of natural resources and levying tribute rather than farming. the civil bureaucrats, soldiers and businessmen do not settle down in the colonies but return to their mother country after completion of their assignments. The colonies ruled by the mother country. Ex: India colonized by British, Indochina by French, Egypt by British, Togo by German, Philippines by American, Taiwan by Japanese.
- Maritime enclaves: these colonies resulted of indirect commercial penetration of a hinterland and/or contribution to the logistics of a maritime deployment of force and informal control over formally autonomous states. Ex: Malacca by Portuguese, Batavia by Dutch, Hong Kong by Singapore
- Settlement colonies: these are the result of militarily supported colonization process. The purposes of this kind of colonialism is utilization of cheap land and labour, cultivation of forms of social, religious and cultural life that are under pressure in the mother country. Here the colonies are present in the form of permanently resident farmers and planters. This is the onset of self-government of the “white” colonists, disregarding the rights and interests of the indigenous population.
Further, he differentiates colonialism from colonies and describes colonialism in the following three sentences:
- The colonialism is relationship between an indigenous majority and a minority of foreign invaders.
- The fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often defined in a distant metropolis.
- Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population, the colonisers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.
Whatever be the type of colonialism, it affects the whole life of colonised. Their culture, transport, trade, agriculture, education and economic aspects change entirely for good and some for evil. It is a great relief that there is no more colonisation taking place in the world.