EUROPEAN EXPANSION AND THE EMANCIPATION OF THE COLONIES

For the Europeans, the rise and fall of great empires were nothing new when, from the sixteenth century on, they built their colonial empires. What was new, especially for the European empires in the Americas, was the sharp separation between motherland and colony by an ocean, or in the fall of Eurasia, by a large land mass. This led to the development in the colonies of two clearly differentiated groups of members of the colonial power. The first consisted of those born in Europe and influenced by European culture and values; they represented predominantly the interests of the motherland and designated themselves as members of the motherland or as Europeans. The second group's members were also fully or partially of European descent, but born overseas and influenced more strongly by the colonies and their interests. In all colonies, they were much more numerous than the Europeans. The names of such groups, such as “Creoles” or “Americans,” frequently accentuated the contrast to Europe and the motherland. They understood themselves increasingly as a separate group and ultimately as a people. The weaker the other rivals for power were, the stronger the antagonism between the two groups became. If the indigenous population or those forcibly introduced by the Europeans put up resistance, then the Europeans and the colonists of European descent had to join forces for defense. If the non-Europeans were weak and few in number, then the Europeans could carry on their conflicts among each other undisturbed. The more numerous and strong the settlers of European descent were compared to the Europeans, the more such conflicts tended to occur, and then the motherland had to show special consideration for the settlers’ interests.

In the following, the transfer of power from the motherland to the colonies, as occurred in large parts of the Americas between 1776 and 1826, shall be referred to as the first decolonization, and the worldwide dissolution of the colonial empires after the Second World War as the second decolonization.

In view of the later standpoint that decolonization represents the realization of self-determination par excellence, it is necessary to inquire whether self-determination or even a right of self-determination already prevailed in the context of the first decolonization.