Formation of the colonial system in the 16-18 centuries. Formation and development of the world colonial system

The Renaissance, which originated in the second half of the XIV century. and which fully came into its own from the middle of the 15th century, it was the greatest progressive revolution that broke the framework of the old orbis terrarum, which laid the foundations for the later world trade, for the transfer of craft to manufacture, an unheard-of rise in productive forces; and laid the foundation for the development of modern European nations on the basis of bourgeois societies.
By the end of the 15th century. Europe, ahead of the East in both material and spiritual culture, is becoming the bearer of progressive trends world history... Great expansion of European politics was facilitated by the great geographical discoveries XV - XVI centuries
Already from the middle of the 15th century. Portuguese sailors began to advance south along the western coast of Africa, and in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded its southern tip. In 1498, the ships of Vasco da Gama entered the Indian port of Calicut. As a result of the successful struggle against the Arabs and Egyptians, the Portuguese soon became the undisputed masters of the western Indian Ocean. Then they come into contact with China and in 1557 found in Macau the first European colony on Chinese territory. In 1500, they discovered and from 1530 actively colonized Brazil. Thus, a small country, thanks to its military and naval superiority, created a huge colonial empire.
At the same time, Spain is taking vigorous action to find new routes to wealthy India. During this process, Columbus discovers America (1492). Colonization of new lands began with the West Indies, where the first Spanish plantations and gold mines appeared. It was soon discovered that the local Indians were physically weak. labor force, they could not stand the harsh conditions, died or fled. Because of this, in 1518, the supply of hardy Negro slaves from Africa to the West Indies began.
In 1519 - 1521, using the help of Indian tribes, Cortez's detachment conquered the rich Aztec empire. In 1532 - 1533. another conquistador - Pissarro took possession of the rich empire of the Incas. Here, on Peruvian soil, the richest mines were found, and Peruvian silver poured into Europe.
The Spanish colonial empire became the basis of Spain's political hegemony in Europe in the 16th century.
The great geographical discoveries gradually led to the displacement of trade routes and to a change in the balance of power in Europe. The Mediterranean Sea lost its importance as a center of maritime trade, giving way to the Atlantic Ocean, which favored the growth of the world trade authority of Antwerp and the Netherlands as a whole. In the second half of the 16th century, the strengthened Dutch bourgeoisie was able to successfully fight for the country's independence from Spanish rule.
In the XVI century. the colonial expansion of Spain went to the northern shores of Africa, but here it did not achieve much success.
So, Antwerp is becoming, as it were, the geographical center of a new emerging world market. His crafts and manufactories worked mainly for the foreign market, while the manufactories in England and France sold their goods mainly in the domestic market. In 1531, a stock exchange opened in Antwerp, which became the exchange rate-forming institution of the emerging world financial market. However, the role of the world center of credit and financial operations later passed to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the Bank of Amsterdam. In addition, Amsterdam has become a world center for the redistribution of goods, price and exchange rate education.
In 1609, the long struggle of the Netherlands against Spanish rule ended, and the recognized Republic of the United Provinces appeared on the European political arena. Since that time, the Bank of Amsterdam began to play a decisive role in the credit and financial system of the world market. The stock exchange worked intensively, bills of exchange became the main form of credit and payment, industrial development and the growth of productive forces proceeded successfully. Trade in arms and military equipment has become a highly profitable industry. Relying on a developed sea fleet, a strong Amsterdam market, and a low credit interest rate from an Amsterdam bank, Dutch merchants suppressed the aspirations of competitors everywhere.
In 1602, the Dutch merchants established the monopoly East India Company for trade and colonial development. In 1621, the West India Company was created, which served as a cover for military pirate and smuggling operations in the ocean, as well as the slave trade. The plunder of colonies began, the predatory destruction of natural resources and productive forces, the enslavement and actual destruction of entire peoples.
England also took an increasing part in this process. English merchants were actively looking for new, more and more distant markets for their goods, opening the way to unknown lands. “Regulated” and “mutual” companies emerge. The first, which were merchant corporations on a national scale, received special patents from the royal court for monopoly trade in any area. The participants in such companies did not pool their capitals, each trading at their own peril and risk. Individualism fostered competition, the kind of initiative and business acumen needed in the courageous entrepreneurship of that adventurous era. The "regulated" companies traded mainly in the nearby European markets - France and Holland.
The "mutual" companies started looking for new markets. The latter included the Russian company, which arose in 1554 as a result of R. Chancellor's visit to the Moscow state. In 1588 the Guinean company was founded, which monopolized the slave trade, which soon became one of the most important sources of the nation's enrichment. In 1600, Queen Elizabeth signed the charter to create the East India Company, initiating the "legalized" penetration of the British into India.
The struggle for sales markets led to a clash of British and Spanish interests. For a long time, this struggle took place on the vast expanses of the Atlantic. In England, special merchant companies arose to equip pirate expeditions. In the last quarter of the 16th century. they were, in effect, waging an undeclared war against the Spaniards, plundering Spanish colonies and ships carrying precious cargo from the New World. The British authorities were very lenient about the plundering activities of pirates, beneficial to the state.
In 1578, one of these pirates, Francis Drake, having passed through the Strait of Magellan, robbed the Spanish settlements in Chile and Peru, crossed the Pacific Ocean and, having rounded the Cape of Good Hope, returned to England, making the second round the world after Magellan (1520). The queen greeted the fortunate adventurer with the title of nobleman. Under Elizabeth, England's navy was significantly upgraded. Instead of bulky ships with a high surface part, low, elongated ships were built, fast and maneuverable. Along with changes in tactics sea ​​battle this allowed England in 1588 to gain an important victory over the Spanish Invincible Armada.
In 1589 - 1590 new expeditions of the British to the West Indies and to the basin are being equipped The Pacific with the aim of displacing Holland from the "spice islands", and the Portuguese from Indian waters. Piracy is becoming one of the methods of creating the foundations of the British colonial empire. The Anglo-Spanish War lasted until 1604. It clearly dragged on, became very burdensome, and its end was greeted with relief in England.
The Anglo-Spanish naval war disrupted the regular trade of England with Europe, and closed part of the English markets on the continent. The losses associated with this began to exceed the profits from piracy and plunder of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Since the beginning of the 17th century. Of particular importance is the organization of the British colonies proper, the seizure of colonial sources of raw materials and sales markets, sanctioned by the state.
France also actively participated in the struggle for the seizure of the colonies. Moreover, the French sought to establish their colonies in the very center of the American possessions of Portugal and Spain. But in 1560 the Portuguese destroyed the French settlement near Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) that had existed since 1555, in 1565 the Spaniards defeated the newly founded French Protestant colony in Florida, and in 1583 the combined Spanish-Portuguese forces were the French colony in Paramba (Brazil) was liquidated. It was obvious that at that time France did not have enough strength to confront powerful rivals. In addition, she had to solve difficult political issues in Europe. St. Bartholomew's Night (1572) once again plunged France into the abyss of religious wars.
So, we can rightfully say that the Renaissance era was not only the most important progressive revolution, but also the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the era of the initial accumulation of capital, which prepared the conditions for the first bourgeois revolutions in Europe. The first of them, the Netherlands, leads to the emergence of the bourgeois Republic of the United Provinces, which, in itself, was the most important result of the 16th century. 1609 was the year of birth of the first state of the victorious bourgeoisie. The Dutch Revolution was extremely important internationally.
Already in the first decade of the 17th century. Holland has achieved this economic growth, which surprised all European countries. Soon the Netherlands became a great maritime and colonial power, with so many ships at its disposal that outnumbered all other European countries. Amsterdam became the center of the international payment system, the largest banker in the new world market.
Equally impressive and significant was the entry of Holland into the arena of world politics. Possessing a powerful fleet, the United Provinces were strong enough to set a course for a decisive ousting of the old masters and the creation of their own colonial empire in the places of their former possessions. This was already the beginning of real wars for the redistribution of colonies, the beginning of the era of trade wars of European nations, the beginning of the birth of a new world colonial system, the arena of which has become the entire globe.

1. Formation of the colonial system in the world.

The countries of Europe, having carried out modernization, received enormous advantages over the rest of the world, which was based on the principles of traditionalism. This advantage also affected the military potential. Therefore, after the era of great geographical discoveries, associated mainly with reconnaissance expeditions, already in the XVII-XVIII centuries. the colonial expansion to the East of the most developed countries of Europe began. Traditional civilizations, due to the backwardness of their development, were not able to withstand this expansion and turned into easy prey for their more powerful opponents. The preconditions for colonialism originated in the era of the great geographical discoveries, namely in the 15th century, when Vasco da Gama opened the way to India, and Columbus reached the shores of America. When faced with peoples of other cultures, Europeans demonstrated their technological superiority (ocean sailing ships and firearms). The first colonies were founded in the New World by the Spaniards. The robbery of the American Indian states contributed to the development of the European banking system, the growth of financial investments in science and stimulated the development of industry, which, in turn, required new raw materials.

The colonial policy of the period of initial capital accumulation is characterized by: the desire to establish a monopoly in trade with the conquered territories, the seizure and plunder of entire countries, the use or imposition of predatory feudal and slaveholding forms of exploitation local population... This policy played a huge role in the process of initial accumulation. It led to the concentration of large capitals in the countries of Europe on the basis of the robbery of colonies and the slave trade, which developed especially since the second half of the 17th century and served as one of the levers of turning England into the most developed country of that time.

In the enslaved countries, colonial policy caused the destruction of the productive forces, retarded the economic and political development of these countries, led to the plundering of vast areas and the extermination of entire peoples. Military confiscation methods played a major role in the exploitation of the colonies during that period. A striking example of the use of such methods is the policy of the British East India Company in Bengal, which it conquered in 1757. The consequence of this policy was the famine of 1769-1773, which killed 10 million Bengalis. In Ireland, during the 16th-17th centuries, the British government confiscated and transferred to the English colonists almost all the lands belonging to the indigenous Irish.

At the first stage of colonization of traditional societies, Spain and Portugal were in the lead. They managed to conquer most of South America.

Colonialism in Modern Times. With the transition from manufacturing to large-scale factory industry, significant changes took place in colonial politics. The colonies are economically more closely connected with the metropolises, turning into their agrarian and raw materials appendages with a monocultural direction of agricultural development, into markets for industrial products and sources of raw materials for the growing capitalist industry of the metropolises. For example, the export of British cotton fabrics to India from 1814 to 1835 increased 65 times.

The spread of new methods of exploitation, the need to create special colonial government bodies that could consolidate domination over the local peoples, as well as the rivalry of various strata of the bourgeoisie in the metropolises led to the liquidation of monopoly colonial trading companies and the transfer of the captured countries and territories under the state control of the metropolises.

The change in the forms and methods of colonial exploitation was not accompanied by a decrease in its intensity. Enormous wealth was exported from the colonies. Their use has led to an acceleration of social economic development in Europe and North America... Although the colonialists were interested in the growth of the marketability of the peasant economy in the colonies, they often maintained and consolidated feudal and pre-feudal relations, considering the feudal and tribal nobility in the colonized countries as their social support.

With the beginning of the industrial era, Great Britain becomes the largest colonial power. Having inflicted a defeat on France during a long struggle in the 18-19 centuries, she increased her possessions at her expense, as well as at the expense of the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Great Britain subdued India. In 1840-42 and together with France in 1856-60, she waged the so-called Opium Wars against China, as a result of which she imposed favorable treaties on China. She took possession of Xianggang (Hong Kong), tried to subjugate Afghanistan, captured strongholds in the Persian Gulf, Aden. Colonial monopoly, together with industrial monopoly, ensured Great Britain's position as the most powerful power for almost the entire 19th century. Colonial expansion was carried out by other powers as well. France subjugated Algeria (1830-48), Vietnam (50-80s of the 19th century), established its protectorate over Cambodia (1863), Laos (1893). In 1885, the Congo became the possession of the Belgian king Leopold II, and a system of forced labor was established in the country.

In the middle of the 18th century. Spain and Portugal began to lag behind in economic development and how the maritime powers were relegated to the background. Leadership in the colonial conquest passed to England. Beginning in 1757, the British East India Trading Company occupied almost all of Hindustan for almost a hundred years. In 1706, the British began to actively colonize North America. At the same time, the development of Australia was going on, to the territory of which the British sent criminals convicted to hard labor. The Dutch East India Company took over Indonesia. France established colonial rule in the West Indies as well as in the New World (Canada).

African continent in the 17th-18th centuries Europeans settled only on the coast and was used mainly as a source of slaves. In the XIX century. Europeans moved far inland and by the middle of the 19th century. Africa was almost completely colonized. The exceptions were two countries: Christian Ethiopia, which put up staunch resistance to Italy, and Liberia, created by former slaves, immigrants from the United States.

V South-East Asia the French captured most the territory of Indochina. Only Siam (Thailand) retained relative independence, but a large territory was taken away from it.

By the middle of the XIX century. the Ottoman Empire came under strong pressure from the developed countries of Europe. The countries of the Levant (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), which were officially considered part of the Ottoman Empire during this period, became a zone of active penetration of Western powers - France, England, Germany. During the same period, Iran lost not only economic, but also political independence. V late XIX v. its territory was divided into spheres of influence between England and Russia. Thus, in the XIX century. practically all the countries of the East fell into one form or another of dependence on the most powerful capitalist countries, turning into colonies or semi-colonies. For Western countries, the colonies were a source of raw materials, financial resources, labor force, as well as sales markets. The exploitation of the colonies by the Western metropolises was of the most brutal and predatory nature. The wealth of the Western metropolises was created at the cost of merciless exploitation and plunder, and the relatively high standard of living of their population was maintained.

2.Types of colonies

According to the type of administration, settlement and economic development in the history of colonialism, three main types of colonies were distinguished:

Resettlement colonies.

Commodity colonies (or exploited colonies).

Mixed (resettlement and raw material colonies).

Resettlement colonialism is a type of colonization management, the main goal of which was to expand the living space (the so-called Lebensraum) of the titular ethnic group of the metropolis to the detriment of autochthonous peoples. The resettlement colonies are experiencing a massive influx of immigrants from the metropolis, which usually form a new political and economic elite. The local population is suppressed, displaced, and often physically destroyed (i.e., genocide is carried out). The metropolis often encourages resettlement to a new place as a means of regulating its own population, as well as using new lands to exile unwanted elements (criminals, prostitutes, rebellious national minorities - Irish, Basques, etc.), etc. Israel is an example of a modern resettlement colony.

The key points in the creation of resettlement colonies are two conditions: low density autochthonous population with a relative abundance of land and other natural resources. Naturally, resettlement colonialism leads to a profound restructuring of the life and ecology of the region in comparison with resource (raw materials colonialism), which, as a rule, sooner or later ends with decolonization. There are examples in the world of mixed resettlement and raw material colonies.

The colonies of Spain (Mexico, Peru) and Portugal (Brazil) were the first examples of a mixed-type resettlement colony. But it was the British Empire, followed by the United States, the Netherlands and Germany, that began to pursue a policy of complete genocide of the autochthonous population in the newly occupied lands with the aim of creating uniformly white, English-speaking, Protestant resettlement colonies, which later turned into dominions. Having once made a mistake in relation to the 13 North American colonies, England softened its attitude towards the new settlement colonies. From the very beginning, they were granted administrative and then political autonomy. These were the settlements in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But the attitude towards the autochthonous population remained extremely cruel. The Road of Tears in the USA and the policy of White Australia in Australia became world famous. No less bloody were the reprisals of the British against their European competitors: the "Great Trouble" in French Acadia and the conquest of Quebec - the French resettlement colonies of the New World. At the same time, British India with its rapidly growing 300 million population, Hong Kong, Malaysia turned out to be unsuitable for British colonization due to its dense population and the presence of aggressive Muslim minorities. In South Africa, the local and newcomer (Boers) population was already quite large, but institutional segregation helped the British to carve out certain economic niches and land for a small group of privileged British colonists. White settlers often attracted third groups to marginalize the local population: Negro slaves from Africa in the United States and Brazil; Jewish refugees from Europe to Canada, laborers from the countries of the South and of Eastern Europe that did not have their own colonies; Indians, Vietnamese and Javanese coolies in Guiana, South Africa, USA, etc. The conquest of Siberia and America by Russia, as well as their further settlement by Russian and Russian-speaking settlers, also had much in common with resettlement colonialism. In addition to the Russians, Ukrainians, Germans and other peoples took part in this process.

With the passage of time, the resettlement colonies turned into new nations. This is how Argentines, Peruvians, Mexicans, Canadians, Brazilians, American Americans, Creoles of Guiana, Caldosha of New Caledonia, Breyons, Franco-Acadians, Cajuns, and French-Canadians (Quebecans) arose. Language, religion and community of culture continue to connect them with the former metropolis. The fate of some resettlement colonies ended tragically: the Pie-noirs of Algeria (Franco-Algerians), since the end of the twentieth century, European settlers and their descendants have been intensively leaving the country Central Asia and Africa (repatriation): in South Africa, their share fell from 21% in 1940 to 9% in 2010; in Kyrgyzstan from 40% in 1960 to 10% in 2010. In Windhoek, the proportion of whites fell from 54% in 1970 to 16% in 2010. Their proportion is also rapidly declining throughout the New World: in the United States, it fell from 88% in 1930. up to about 64% in 2010; in Brazil from 63% in 1960 to 48% in 2010.

3.Features of colony management.

Colonial domination was administratively expressed either in the form of "dominion" (direct control of the colony through the viceroy, captain-general or governor-general), or in the form of a "protectorate". The ideological substantiation of colonialism went through the need to spread culture (kulturtragerstvo, modernization, Westernization - this is the spread of Western values ​​around the world) - "the burden of the white man."

The Spanish version of colonization implied the expansion of Catholicism, the Spanish language through the encomienda system. Encomienda (from the Spanish encomienda - care, protection) is a form of dependence of the population of the Spanish colonies on the colonialists. Introduced in 1503. Canceled in the 18th century. The Dutch version of the colonization of South Africa meant apartheid, the expulsion of the local population and their imprisonment on reservations or bantustans. The colonists formed communities completely independent from the local population, which were made up of people of various classes, including criminals and adventurers. Religious communities were also widespread (New England Puritans and Wild West Mormons). The power of the colonial administration was exercised on the principle of "divide and conquer" by playing off local religious communities (Hindus and Muslims in British India) or hostile tribes (in colonial Africa), as well as through apartheid (racial discrimination). Often the colonial administration supported oppressed groups to fight their enemies (the oppressed Hutus in Rwanda) and created armed detachments from the natives (the sepoys in India, the Gurkhas in Nepal, the Zouaves in Algeria).

Initially, European countries did not bring to the colonies their characteristic political culture and socio-economic relations. Faced with the ancient civilizations of the East, which long ago developed their own traditions of culture and statehood, the conquerors sought, first of all, their economic subordination. In territories where statehood was absent altogether, or was at a fairly low level (for example, in North America or Australia), they were forced to create certain state structures, to some extent borrowed from the experience of the metropolises, but with greater national specifics. In North America, for example, power was concentrated in the hands of governors who were appointed by the British government. Under the governors, there were advisers, usually from among the colonists, who defended the interests of the local population. A large role was played by the self-government bodies: the assembly of representatives of the colonies and the legislative bodies - the legislatures.

In India, the British did not particularly interfere in political life and sought to influence local rulers through economic means of influence (enslaving loans), as well as providing military assistance in the internecine struggle.

Economic policies in various European colonies were largely similar. Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, England initially transferred feudal structures to their colonial possessions. At the same time, the plantation economy was widely used. Of course, these were not slave plantations of the classical type, as, say, in ancient Rome. They were a large capitalist economy working for the market, but using crude forms of non-economic coercion and dependence.

Many of the consequences of colonization were negative. The plunder of national wealth, the merciless exploitation of the local population and poor colonists was carried out. Trading companies brought stale goods of mass demand to the occupied territories and sold them at high prices. On the other hand, valuable raw materials, gold and silver were exported from the colonial countries. Under the onslaught of goods from the metropolises, traditional oriental handicrafts deteriorated, traditional forms of life and value systems were destroyed.

At the same time, Eastern civilizations were increasingly drawn into the new system of world relations and fell under the influence of Western civilization. Gradually, the assimilation of Western ideas and political institutions took place, the creation of a capitalist economic infrastructure. Under the influence of these processes, the reformation of traditional Eastern civilizations is taking place.

The history of India provides a striking example of the change in traditional structures under the influence of colonialist policies. After the liquidation of the East India Trading Company in 1858, India became part of the British Empire. In 1861, a law was passed on the creation of legislative bodies - the Indian Councils, and in 1880 a law on local self-government. Thus, the beginning was laid for a new phenomenon for Indian civilization - the elected bodies of representation. Although it should be noted that only about 1% of the population of India had the right to take part in these elections.

The British made significant financial investments in the Indian economy. The colonial administration, resorting to loans from British bankers, built railways, irrigation facilities, enterprises. In addition, private capital grew in India, which played an important role in the development of the cotton and jute industries, in the production of tea, coffee and sugar. The owners of the enterprises were not only British, but also Indians. 1/3 of the share capital was in the hands of the national bourgeoisie.

Since the 40s. XIX century. the British authorities began to actively work on the formation of a national "Indian" in blood and skin color, tastes, morals and mentality, and intelligentsia. Such an intelligentsia was formed in the colleges and universities of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and other cities.

In the XIX century. the process of modernization also took place in the countries of the East, which did not directly fall into colonial dependence. In the 40s. XIX century. reforms began in Ottoman Empire... The administrative system and the court were transformed, and secular schools were created. Non-Muslim communities (Jewish, Greek, Armenian) were officially recognized, and their members received admission to public service. In 1876, a bicameral parliament was created, which somewhat limited the power of the Sultan, the constitution proclaimed the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. However, the democratization of the Eastern despotism turned out to be very fragile, and in 1878, after Turkey's defeat in the war with Russia, a rollback to its original positions took place. After the coup d'état, despotism reigned in the empire again, the parliament was dissolved, the democratic rights of citizens were significantly curtailed.

In addition to Turkey, in Islamic civilization, only two states began to master European standards of life: Egypt and Iran. The rest of the huge Islamic world until the middle of the XX century. remained subject to the traditional way of life.

China has also made some efforts to modernize the country. In the 60s. XIX century. here, the self-reinforcement policy has gained wide popularity. In China, industrial enterprises, shipyards, arsenals for the rearmament of the army began to be actively created. But this process has not received sufficient impetus. Further attempts to develop in this direction with great interruptions resumed in the XX century.

Farthest from the countries of the East in the second half of the XIX century. Japan advanced. The peculiarity of Japanese modernization is that reforms in this country were carried out rather quickly and most consistently. Using the experience of advanced European countries, the Japanese modernized industry, introduced a new system of legal relations, changed political structure, the education system, expanded civil rights and freedoms.

After the coup d'état of 1868, a series of radical reforms were carried out in Japan, called the Meiji Restoration. As a result of these reforms, feudalism was ended in Japan. The government abolished the feudal estates and hereditary privileges, the daimyo princes, turning them into officials who headed the provinces and prefectures. The titles were preserved, but the class distinctions were abolished. This means that, with the exception of the highest dignitaries, in terms of estates, princes and samurai were equated with other estates.

The land was transferred to the ownership of the peasants for the ransom, and this opened the way for the development of capitalism. The well-to-do peasantry, exempted from the rent tax in favor of the princes, was given the opportunity to work for the market. Smallholders became impoverished, sold their plots and either turned into farm laborers or left to work in the city.

The state took upon itself the construction of industrial facilities: shipyards, metallurgical plants, etc. It actively encouraged merchant capital, giving it social and legal guarantees. In 1889, a constitution was adopted in Japan, according to which a constitutional monarchy was established with great powers of the emperor.

As a result, all these reforms have been in favor of Japan. short term has changed dramatically. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Japanese capitalism proved to be quite competitive in relation to the capitalism of the largest Western countries, and the Japanese state turned into a powerful power.

4. The collapse of the colonial system and its consequences.

The crisis of Western civilization, so clearly manifested at the beginning of the XX century. as a result of the First World War and the profound socio-political changes in the world that followed, influenced the growth of the anti-colonial struggle. However, the victorious countries jointly managed to bring down the flaring fire. Nevertheless, the countries of the West in the conditions of the growing crisis of civilization were forced to gradually change their idea of ​​the place and future of the peoples of Asia, Africa, subject to them, Latin America... The latter were gradually drawn into market relations (for example, the trade policy of England in the colonies, starting from the period of the Great Crisis of 1929-1933), as a result of which private property was strengthened in dependent countries, elements of a new non-traditional social structure, Western culture, education, etc. .P. This was manifested in timid, inconsistent attempts to modernize the most outdated traditional relations in a number of semi-colonial countries along the Western lines, which ultimately came up against the primary problem of gaining political independence, but the growth of totalitarian trends in western world was accompanied in the interwar period by the strengthening of the ideology and policy of racism, which undoubtedly increased the resistance of the metropolises to the anti-colonial movement as a whole. That is why only after the Second World War, with the victory of the forces of democracy over fascism, the emergence of a socialist system alternative to capitalism, which traditionally supported the anti-colonial struggle of oppressed peoples (for ideological and political reasons), favorable conditions appeared for the collapse and subsequent collapse of the colonial system.

Stages of the collapse of the colonial system

The question of the system of international trusteeship (in other words, the colonial problem), in accordance with the agreement of the heads of government of England, the USSR and the United States, was included in the agenda of the conference in San Francisco, which established the UN in 1945. Soviet representatives persistently advocated the principle of independence for the colonial peoples, their opponents, and above all the British, who represented the largest colonial empire at that time, strove for the UN charter to speak only of movement "towards self-government." As a result, a formula was adopted that was close to the one proposed by the Soviet delegation: the UN trusteeship system should lead the trust territories towards "self-government and independence."

Over the next ten years, more than 1.2 billion people were freed from colonial and semi-colonial dependence. 15 sovereign states appeared on the world map, in which more than 4/5 of the population of the former colonial possessions lived. The largest British colonies, India (1947) and Ceylon (1948), achieved liberation, the territories of France under the mandate of Syria and Lebanon (1943, withdrawal of troops - 1946), Vietnam, which won independence from France during the eight-year war (1945-1954), was liberated from Japanese colonial dependence. ), defeated revolutions of a socialist nature in North Korea and China.

Since the mid-50s. the collapse of the colonial system in its classical forms of direct subordination and dictate began. V

1960 The UN General Assembly, on the initiative of the USSR, adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to the Former Colonial Countries.

By the end of World War II, about 200 million people lived in 55 territories of the African continent and a number of adjacent islands. Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia and the dominion of Great Britain - the Union of South Africa, which had their own governments and administrations, were considered formally independent. A huge part of the territories of Africa was divided between England, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy. 1960 went down in history as the "Year of Africa". Then the independence of 17 countries of the central and western part of the continent was proclaimed. In general, the process of liberation of Africa was completed by 1975. By this time, around the world, 3.7% of the world's population lived in the surviving colonies in an area that was less than 1% of the world's area.

In total, after the Second World War, more than 2 billion people were freed from the colonial yoke. The collapse of the colonial system is, of course, a progressive phenomenon in the modern history of mankind, since for a huge mass of the world's population the possibilities of independent choice of the path, national self-expression, access to the achievements of civilization have opened up.

At the same time, a number of the most serious problems of the liberated countries, called the developing countries, or the countries of the Third World, arose. These problems are not only regional, but also global in nature, and therefore can be resolved only with the active participation of all countries of the world community.

In accordance with the rather flexible classification of the UN, it is customary to refer to developing countries as most countries of the world, with the exception of developed industrial countries.

Despite the huge variety of economic life, the countries of the Third World also have similar characteristics that allow them to be combined into this category... The main one is the colonial past, the consequences of which can be found in the economy, politics, and culture of these countries. They have one way of forming the operating structure of industry - the widespread predominance of manual production in the colonial period and the program of transition to industrial methods of production after gaining independence. Therefore, in developing countries, pre-industrial and industrial types of production are closely adjacent, as well as production based on the latest achievements of the scientific and technological revolution. But basically the first two types prevail. The economy of all countries of the Third World is characterized by inconsistency in the development of sectors of the national economy, which is also explained by the fact that they have not fully passed the successive phases of economic development as leading countries.

Most developing countries are characterized by a policy of statism, i.e. direct government intervention in the economy in order to accelerate its growth. The lack of a sufficient amount of private investment and foreign investment forces the state to take on the functions of an investor. True, in last years Many developing countries have embarked on a policy of denationalization of enterprises - privatization, supported by measures to stimulate the private sector: preferential taxation, import liberalization and protectionism of the most important privately owned enterprises.

Despite important common characteristics that unite developing countries, they can be conditionally divided into several groups of the same type. In this case, it is necessary to be guided by such criteria as: the structure of the country's economy, exports and imports, the degree of the country's openness and its involvement in the world economy, some features of the state's economic policy.

Least developed countries... The least developed countries include a number of states in Tropical Africa (Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Chad, Togo, Tanzania, Somalia, Western Sahara), Asia (Kampuchea, Laos), Latin America (Tahiti, Guatemala, Guiana, Honduras, etc.). These countries are characterized by low or even negative growth rates. The agricultural sector prevails in the structure of the economy of these countries (up to 80-90%), although it is unable to meet the domestic needs for food and raw materials. The low profitability of the main sector of the economy does not allow relying on internal sources of accumulation for much-needed investments in the development of production, training of qualified labor force, improvement of technology, etc.

Countries with an average level of development... A large group of developing countries with an average level of economic development includes Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, the Philippines, Indonesia, Peru, Colombia, etc. The structure of the economy of these countries is characterized by a large share of industry in comparison with the agricultural sector, more developed domestic and foreign trade ... This group of countries has great potential for development due to the presence of internal sources of accumulation. These countries are not so acutely faced with the problem of poverty and hunger. Their place in the world economy is determined by a significant technological gap with developed countries and large external debt.

Oil-producing countries. Oil-producing countries are distinguished by a significant specificity of the economy: Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, etc., which previously had the characteristic features of lagging states. The world's largest oil reserves, actively exploited in these countries, allowed them to quickly become one of the richest (in terms of annual per capita income) countries in the world. However, the structure of the economy as a whole is characterized by extreme one-sidedness, imbalance, and therefore potential vulnerability. Along with the high development of the extractive industry, other industries do not actually play a significant role in the economy. In the system of the world economy, these countries firmly occupy the place of the largest oil exporters. Largely due to this this group countries is becoming the largest international banking center.

Newly industrialized countries... Another group of states with high rates of economic growth are newly industrialized countries, which include South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, etc. The state policy of these countries includes an orientation towards attracting private (domestic and foreign) capital, reducing the public sector by expanding the private sector. National measures include raising the level of education of the population, spreading computer literacy. They are characterized by the intensive development of industry, including high-tech, export-oriented industries. Their industrial products largely meet the level of world standards. These countries are increasingly strengthening their place in the world market, as evidenced by the numerous modern industries that have arisen and are dynamically developing in these countries with the participation of foreign capital and transnational corporations. The so-called new transnationals competing with US TNCs have appeared in countries such as South Korea, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, etc.

New industrial countries develop through skillful borrowing, selection of indisputable achievements of Western civilization and their skillful application to national traditions and way of life. It should be noted that such an assessment or a European vision of the development prospects of the liberated countries (whether they refer to the Arab-Islamic, Indo-Buddhist or Sino-Confucian worlds) is also characteristic of the Marxist school. Thus, the majority of Soviet scientists believed (as well as a significant part of bourgeois researchers) that after the liberation of the Third World countries would begin to rapidly catch up with the developed countries. The only difference in this approach was a different, or rather, polar assessment of the merits of the capitalist and socialist models of choice, capable of ensuring the pace and ultimate success of development. And such a difference in approach was to a certain extent justified by the fact that after liberation the developing countries seemed to enter the orbit of one or another political camp: socialist or capitalist.

It is known that after the victory of the liberation movements (in the interpretation of Soviet researchers - people's democratic revolutions), a number of developing countries embarked on the path of socialist construction (Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, China). About 20 more developing states, including Algeria, Guinea, Ethiopia, Benin, Congo, Tanzania, Burma, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Mozambique, Angola and others, have chosen the path of socialist orientation (or non-capitalist development). The total territory of this group of states by the beginning of the 80s. was 17 million square meters. km, and the population is about 220 million people. However, most of the liberated countries sought to strengthen their political and economic positions on the path of capitalist modernization, which began in the colonial period. Moreover, in the 60s and 80s. a number of these countries have achieved significant success. These are Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, "countries of the oil elite", newly industrialized countries and some others.

However, neither the orientation toward the West, nor toward socialism provided the vast majority of the liberated countries with such rates of development that would allow them to catch up with the developed countries. Moreover, many Third World countries not only do not catch up with the advanced ones, but even lag behind them even more. Today it has become obvious that many developing countries are neither willing nor able to repeat the universal path of development, be it the Western, capitalist version or the socialist model. The understanding of this truth by the vast majority of Third World countries led to the emergence (back in 1961) and consolidation of the Non-Aligned Movement, which in 1986 united 100 states with a combined population of 1.5 billion people.

Apparently, illusions in relation to the potential of the Third World countries are being eliminated in Europe as well. This happens as Western civilization emerges from the crisis of the first half of the 20th century. and its return to humanistic values ​​in the post-industrial era.

In other words, the understanding is ripening that the only possible option for the development of world civilization is an equal dialogue, cooperation based on the synthesis of values ​​accumulated by the West and the East (the East means different types of civilizations, which include the countries of the Third World). And also the understanding that the western version of development has led to the emergence of global problems that threaten the existence of mankind, while the eastern version has retained values ​​that can provide invaluable assistance in solving these problems. However, it should be emphasized once again that this dialogue is possible on the basis of a complete refusal of the West from relapses of the policy of neo-colonialism. And most likely, only on this path is the progress and survival of both Western civilization and the solution of the problems of backwardness, poverty, poverty, hunger, etc. possible. in the countries of the Third World.

In the world-historical process of the XX century. was an era when, at the beginning, the territorial division of the world between the leading powers was completed, and at the end, the collapse of the colonial system took place. The Soviet Union played an important role in granting independence to the colonial countries.

During the same historical period, only new industrial and oil-producing countries have achieved certain successes in economic development. The countries that developed after liberation along the path of a socialist orientation remain among the least developed.

For most of the Third World countries, the problems of hunger, poverty, employment, lack of qualified personnel, illiteracy, and external debt remain acute. Thus, the problems of the Third World countries, where about 2 billion people live, are a global problem of our time.

Colonies in modern meaning appeared in the era of the Great Geographers. Discoveries, as a result of which the colonial system begins to form. And this stage in the development of colonialism is associated with the formation of capitalist relations, therefore the concepts of "colonialism" and "capitalism" are inextricably linked, and capitalism becomes the dominant socio-economic system, and the colonies accelerate this process.

Stage 1 of the formation of colonialism is colonialism of the era of initial capital accumulation (PNA) and manufacturing capitalism. Here, the main processes were colonial plunder and colonial trade, which were the main sources of the PNC.

At this stage, as a result of the VGO, extensive colonial possessions began to form, primarily in Spain and Portugal, between which in 1494 the Agreement on the division of the world along the 30-degree meridian was concluded. Atlantic Ocean, along which all the lands to the West of this line were the colonies of Spain, and to the East - all the lands of Portugal. This was the beginning of the formation of the colonial system.

The first period of colonialism also affects the manufacturing period. Later, in the 60s of the 16th century, Spain and Portugal began to overtake Dutch merchants and the bourgeois in terms of the accumulation of wealth. Holland is driving the Portuguese out of Ceylon, creating its strongholds in South Malaysia and Indonesia.

Almost simultaneously with the Portuguese, England began its expansion in West Africa (in the countries of Gambia, Ghana), and from the beginning of the 17th century - in India.

Stage 2 of colonialism coincides with the era of industrial capitalism (i.e. stage 2 of the development of capitalism). A new stage in the development of capitalism applied new methods of exploitation of the colonies. Thus, further colonial conquests required the unification of large merchants and industrialists of the metropolitan countries.

At this stage in the development of the colonial system, an industrial revolution takes place (this is the transition from manufactories to factories and plants), which begins in the last third of the 18th century. and ends in developed European countries around the middle of the 19th century. At this stage, a period of exchange of goods begins, with the help of which the colonial countries are drawn into world commodity circulation. Thus, non-economic methods of exploitation (that is, violence) are replaced by other economic methods (this is the exchange of goods between colonies and metropolises), as a result, the metropolises turn the colonies into their agrarian and raw materials appendages for the needs of their industry.

Stage 3 is the stage of monopoly capitalism, corresponding to the last third of the 19th century. and before the First World War (until 1914). During this period, the forms of exploitation of the colonies were changing, they were drawn into the world capitalist market, and through it into the production of goods. And by the beginning of the First World War, the colonial system was fully formed, i.e. at this stage, the territorial division of the world was completed, when the colonial possessions of 3 European powers were formed: England, Germany, France.

The collapse of the colonial system

Stage 1 of the collapse of the colonial system dates back to the end of the 18th century. - the first quarter of the 19th century, when, as a result of the wars for independence from Spanish and Portuguese rule, countries gained freedom: in North America - the United States (the former British colony) and many Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia).

Stage 2 of the collapse is associated with the crisis of the colonial system, which began at the beginning of the 20th century. During the period of imperialism, the preconditions for the collapse of the colonial system are created, these are:

1) the creation of entrepreneurship in the colonies created an opportunity further development only with national independence;

2) the revolution in Russia in 1905-07, which predetermined the trend of the national liberation movement in the colonies;

3) the crisis of Western civilization associated with the First World War and the profound socio-political changes in the world that followed it, which influenced the anti-colonial struggle (i.e., the collapse of the colonial system).

Colonialism is the enslavement of a weak state, usually a more stable state. Colonialism is of great importance in the history of Europe. Colonialism as a result of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the beginning of which was influenced by the voyages of Vasco da Gamma and Christopher Columbus. Colonialism was not the result of the invention of developing capitalism. Even in previous centuries, there were large colonial empires (Iranian, Egyptian, Roman, etc.). The main difference between ancient and medieval colonies was high level organization, in clear coherence, in the technological basis of European colonization.

At that time, Europe was economically unstable than Asia and Africa. Europe was attracted by the resources of these countries, as the demand for gold grew. Significant means of exchange were required. The colonial expansion of these countries met these needs.

Great geographical discoveries of the mid-15th - mid-17th centuries. were associated with the process of initial capital accumulation in Europe. The development of new trade routes and countries, the plundering of newly discovered lands contributed to the development of this process, laid the foundation for the creation of the colonial system of capitalism, the formation of the world market. The history of colonialism is closely related to two European countries: Spain and Portugal. It is worth noting that during this period, the pioneers of colonialism, Spain and Portugal, remained feudal states. They paved the way for European colonial expansion, but over time they had rivals in the form of the Netherlands and England. It was the Netherlands and England that passed the baton of the main role in European colonial expansion. That period of time was marked by the beginning of the development of early forms of capitalist colonialism. V early XVII v. Holland became the main colonial power. 1602 Establishment of the Dutch East India Company.

In the same year, the chambers of six Dutch cities - Amsterdam, Delft, Middleburg, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Enkhusen - invested in the East India Company. It was the first monopoly company to receive the right to trade and sea ​​voyage virtually the entire Afro-Asian region. Further, following the pattern, the East India Companies of Denmark, Sweden, Kurilyand, etc. arose. Colonialism in England began to develop along with Holland. As in Holland, the East India, West Indies, Levantine colonies were created in England. The British created pirate expeditions to attack Spanish ships. During that period, the British began to create their first colonies on the territory of modern North America (Newfoundland, Virginia, British Honduras, Bermuda). Since the second half of the 17th century, England has paid great attention to the colonization of the East. The East India Company of England established itself first by creating separate factories in the Moluccas, Sulawessi, Java, Sumatra, India, and Xi'an. Very soon, competition between Holland and England for Southeast Asia led to war. The initial advantage was on the side of the Netherlands. In 1619, in the Gulf of Thailand, the British were defeated by the Dutch fleet, and in 1620 England was completely ousted from the Molucca. The situation began to change in the second half of the 17th century, with the outbreak of trade wars. England managed to take away from Holland its treasure in Asia - Indonesia. In 3 Anglo-Dutch wars, the sea power of Holland was broken by her worst enemy - England. And the fourth war between England and Holland determined the primacy of England. Despite this, the Netherlands nevertheless defended its colonies, but irrevocably ceded leadership to the British, and the new stars of colonial politics - the French.

Indonesia remained the main Dutch colony in Asia. 1664 in the history of colonialism was associated with the founding of the French East India Company. During the same period, France had its points in India - Chandranagore and Pondicherry. By the middle of the 18th century. France established itself in South India. But the seven-year war caused damage to France on the part of England, and for one thing undermined the colonial power of its ally - Spain. France loses Canada, some West Indies islands and crushing losses in India. 1763 - the conclusion of the Paris Peace Treaty, according to which France renounced its territories in India. This was positively reflected for England, as England has ways to establish itself in Hindustan. The French period of colonial conquest also had many advantages. For example, under Napoleon III, France reached its power in Algeria, they also managed to penetrate Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon. These countries became the possessions of both France and England. In an alliance with England, France took part in the war against China, also participated in the penetration into Japan, and South Vietnam was also enslaved by them. Since 1857, the expansion of French possessions in Africa begins. An unsuccessful attempt was made to seize Korea in 1866, and in 1867 a French protectorate was established over Cambodia. The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War weakened the influence of France, and as a result she had to cede a controlling stake in the Suez Canal to England. This weakened the position of France in Egypt, but despite this, in 1879 France resumed the expansion of its colonies in Africa, and in the countries of Indochina. Be that as it may, France secured a number of African territories. A little earlier, having defeated China in the war of 1884-1885, France took power over Tonkin and established its protectorate over Vietnam.

In the 18th century, as before in the 17th century, the history of the peoples of the East was inextricably linked with the colonial policy of the European powers. During this period, the foundations of the colonial system were laid, meeting the interests of the big commercial bourgeoisie. If in the XVII century. the first steps of the colonial policy of the East India Companies were associated with the Netherlands, then in the XVIII century. the Dutch company was no longer able to maintain its monopoly position and ceded its position to England. Outstripping Holland in its development, England dealt her serious blows in a number of trade wars. Anglo-Dutch War 1780-1784 led to the loss of a number of colonial territories by the Netherlands and the granting of the right to pass through the Indonesian waters to the English courts. By this time, England had achieved significant success in India and expanded its ties with the Middle East and China. Most of the peoples of the countries of Asia and Africa at the time of their transformation into colonies and semi-colonies of industrial powers lived in a feudal or tribal system. The results of their conquest by industrial countries were extremely ambiguous. Colonialism was especially destructive, using methods of the pre-capitalist era in the exploitation of colonies. They included the robbery of colonies, the export of gold, silver, cultural monuments to the metropolis, the creation of a slave trade system, which especially affected the population of Equatorial Africa in the 16th-19th centuries.

More serious prerequisites for modernization existed in the countries of Latin America. Colonial dependence on Spain and Portugal was eliminated there back in early XIX century. After the War of Independence (1816), Argentina was liberated, in 1821 - Mexico, in 1824 - Peru, Brazil also gained independence in 1822, although until 1889 it remained a monarchy under the rule of her son, and then grandson of the king of Portugal.

In 1823, the United States adopted the Monroe Doctrine, which proclaimed the inadmissibility of interference by European powers in the affairs of American states. Thanks to this, the danger of a re-colonial conquest of Latin America disappeared. The United States, possessing a vast and not yet fully developed territory, limited itself to annexing part of Mexico's territory and establishing control over the Panama Canal zone, which previously belonged to Colombia.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the era of colonial Europe is a special period. New advances in navigation, curiosity, as well as the desire to get rich and convert new peoples to Christianity pushed Europeans to long sea voyages. They were made possible thanks to the support of the Portuguese and Spanish kings.