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107-413: This contrasts with philosophies such as colonialism , expansionism , and liberal internationalism . Isolationism has been defined as: A policy or doctrine of trying to isolate one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, and generally attempting to make one's economy entirely self-reliant; seeking to devote

214-468: A civilizing mission to cultivate land and life, based on beliefs of entitlement and superiority, historically often rooted in the belief of a Christian mission . Because of this broad impact different instances of colonialism have been identified from around the world and in history, starting with when colonization was developed by developing colonies and metropoles , the base colonial separation and characteristic. Decolonization , which started in

321-533: A tour guide . As of 2021, Bhutan does not maintain formal foreign relations with any of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council , notably including China , its neighbor to the north with which it has a historically tense relationship . From 1431 to 1863, the Kingdom of Cambodia enforced an isolationist policy. The policy prohibited foreign contact with most outside countries. When Pol Pot and

428-718: A complaint in Ningbo over corruption amongst the officials in Canton. He had hoped that his criticisms of the current system would usher in a new era of free trade but instead, not only did his plan to open up the ports of Zhejiang fail, the Qing authorities reacted by imposing further restrictions on foreign trade. Worse still, Flint found himself deported to Macau where he was imprisoned between December 1759 and November 1762. The emperor and his officials became alarmed at this breach of normal protocol and realized that something had to be done to control

535-565: A factory in Canton. The Spanish traded chiefly through intermediaries belonging to the vast Chinese colony of Manila , which had extensive trading networks in Canton, in Fujian and in northern China, or through factories in Canton, where they had a presence since 1788. Qianlong's single port restrictions mainly affected British traders, and those of nationalities not protected by other treaties, namely Dutch, French, American, German and Nordic traders. The discovery of underground missionary activity in

642-446: A foreign ruling state... The ruling state monopolizes political power and keeps the subordinated society and its people in a legally inferior position." He also writes, "colonialism depends first and foremost upon the declaration of sovereignty and/or territorial seizure by a core state over another territory and its inhabitants who are classified as inferior subjects rather than equal citizens." According to David Strang, decolonization

749-447: A foreign trader were also to be guaranteed by the local merchant. With permission from the authorities, in 1760 Hong merchant Pan Zhencheng (潘振成) and nine others hong specializing in the western trade joined together to become the intermediary between the Qing government and the foreign traders. The role of the new body would be to purchase goods on behalf of the foreigners and deduct any taxes and duties payable for imports and exports; at

856-498: A long-term East India Company supercargo and a fluent speaker of Chinese, became the focus of the impetus for change. Flint had been repeatedly warned to remain in Canton during the trading season and not to venture north in search of commercial opportunities. Despite this, back in 1755 Flint, together with Company director Samuel Harrison, sailed north to explore possibilities for trade in Zhejiang. In 1759, he again journeyed north to file

963-563: A lot in military costs while private investors pocketed the benefits. In other cases the colonial powers managed to move the burden of administrative costs to the colonies themselves by imposing taxes. After World War I (1914–1918), the victorious Allies divided up the German colonial empire and much of the Ottoman Empire between themselves as League of Nations mandates , grouping these territories into three classes according to how quickly it

1070-629: A monopoly known as the Cohong . Thereafter Chinese merchants dealing with foreign trade (Chinese: 洋行 ; pinyin: yángháng ; Jyutping: joeng4 hong2 ; lit. "ocean traders", i.e. "overseas traders" or "foreign traders") acted through the Cohong under the supervision of the Guangdong Customs Supervisor (Chinese: 粵海關部監督 ; pinyin: Yuèhǎi guānbù jiàn dù ; Jyutping: jyut6 hoi2 gwaan1 bou6 gaam1 duk1 ), informally known as

1177-403: A nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories". The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers four definitions, including "something characteristic of a colony" and "control by one power over a dependent area or people". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy uses the term "to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of

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1284-573: A policy made explicit in the Monroe Doctrine's emphasis on unilateral action. Not until 1863 did an American delegate attend an international conference. Isolationism has been criticized for the lack of aiding nations with major troubles. One notable example is that of American isolationism, which Benjamin Schwartz described as a "tragedy" inspired by Puritanism . Some modern American conservative commentators assert that labeling others as isolationist

1391-629: A response to a perceived political and commercial threat from abroad on the part of successive Chinese emperors. From the late seventeenth century onwards, Chinese merchants, known as Hongs (Chinese: 行 ; pinyin: háng ), managed all trade in the port. Operating from the Thirteen Factories located on the banks of the Pearl River outside Canton, in 1760, by order of the Qing Qianlong Emperor , they became officially sanctioned as

1498-576: A storeroom without reading). The Qianlong Emperor granted Lord Macartney a golden scepter, an important symbol of peace and wealth, but this was dismissed by the British as worthless. The British, on the other hand, ignored Chinese laws and warnings not to deploy military forces in Chinese waters. The British landed troops in Macao despite a Chinese and Portuguese agreement to bar foreign forces from Macao, and then in

1605-673: A strategy of isolationism. Robert Art makes his argument in A Grand Strategy for America (2003). Books that have made the argument that the United States followed unilaterism instead of isolationism include Walter A. McDougall 's Promised Land, Crusader State (1997), John Lewis Gaddis 's Surprise, Security, and the American Experience (2004), and Bradley F. Podliska 's Acting Alone (2010). Both sides claim policy prescriptions from George Washington's Farewell Address as evidence for their argument. Bear F. Braumoeller argues that even

1712-453: A system of indentured servitude. Indentured servants consented to a contract with the European colonisers. Under their contract, the servant would work for an employer for a term of at least a year, while the employer agreed to pay for the servant's voyage to the colony, possibly pay for the return to the country of origin, and pay the employee a wage as well. The employees became "indentured" to

1819-596: A technical or scientific advisory capacity by the Qing Court. In 1745, Kangxi's grandson the Qianlong Emperor ordered his court to implement changes to the Ocean Trading House system. Thereafter a local Chinese merchant stood as guarantor for every foreign trading vessel entering Canton Harbour and took full responsibility for the ship and its crew along with the captain and supercargo . Any tax payments due from

1926-463: A trading company in Canton in 1686 to deal with Western trade known as the Yánghuò Háng (洋貨行, literally "Ocean Trading House"). This dealt with both imports and exports with sub-offices responsible for taxes and import/export declarations respectively. When a ship arrived or departed, the Chinese merchant involved would visit the Ocean Trading House to pay any taxes due. This set up became the basis for

2033-875: Is achieved through the attainment of sovereign statehood with de jure recognition by the international community or through full incorporation into an existing sovereign state. The Times once quipped that there were three types of colonial empire: "The English, which consists in making colonies with colonists; the German, which collects colonists without colonies; the French, which sets up colonies without colonists." Modern studies of colonialism have often distinguished between various overlapping categories of colonialism, broadly classified into four types: settler colonialism , exploitation colonialism , surrogate colonialism , and internal colonialism . Some historians have identified other forms of colonialism, including national and trade forms. When colonists settled in pre-populated areas,

2140-476: Is allocated. To explain the different colonial cases, we thus need to look first into the political institutions that shaped the economic institutions. For example, one interesting observation is "the Reversal of Fortune" – the less developed civilisations in 1500, like North America, Australia, and New Zealand, are now much richer than those countries who used to be in the prosperous civilisations in 1500 before

2247-454: Is the existence of colonies, which are by definition governed differently from other territories such as protectorates or informal spheres of influence." In the book, Osterhammel asks, "How can 'colonialism' be defined independently from 'colony? ' " He settles on a three-sentence definition: Colonialism is a relationship between an indigenous (or forcibly imported) majority and a minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decisions affecting

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2354-871: Is unified, everywhere there is peace and quiet, Manchu-Han relations are fully integrated so I command you to go abroad and trade to show the populous and affluent nature of our rule. By imperial decree I open the seas to trade. Hǎiguān (海關), Hoi Gwaan, or customs stations, were subsequently opened at Canton , Macau , and Xiangshan County in Guangdong; Fuzhou , Nantai , and Amoy in Fujian ; Ningbo and Dinghai County in Zhejiang Province ; and Huating County , Chongque, and Shanghai in Jiangsu Province . One year later in 1685, foreign traders received permission to enter Chinese ports. The Qing Court under Kangxi set up

2461-434: Is used against individuals in a pejorative manner. Colonialism Colonialism is the exploitation of people and of resources by a foreign group. Colonizers monopolize political power and hold conquered societies and their people to be inferior to their conquerors in legal, administrative, social, cultural, or biological terms. While frequently advanced as an imperialist regime, colonialism can also take

2568-485: The Catholic Church and in order to try to keep foreigners at bay, he turned church courtyards into artillery parks and turned confession boxes into border sentry posts. Some scholars, such as Robert J. Art , believe that the United States had an isolationist history, but most other scholars dispute that claim by describing the United States as following a strategy of unilateralism or non-interventionism rather than

2675-520: The Dutch East Indies (later Indonesia ) the vast majority of "Dutch" settlers were in fact Eurasians known as Indo-Europeans , formally belonging to the European legal class in the colony. Activity that could be called colonialism has a long history, starting at least as early as the ancient Egyptians . Phoenicians , Greeks , and Romans founded colonies in antiquity . Phoenicia had an enterprising maritime trading-culture that spread across

2782-519: The Khmer Rouge came to power on 17 April 1975 and established Democratic Kampuchea , the urban population of every city, including Phnom Penh , was relocated to the countryside. This was ordered by the Communist Party of Kampuchea and the secret police Santebal , and they then established an infamous prison gulag inside the torture chamber called Tuol Sleng (S-21) . Cambodia proceeded to implement

2889-448: The North , which would continued by his son and grandson following his death in 1994. In 1814, three years after it gained its independence on May 14, 1811, Paraguay was taken over by the dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia . During his rule which lasted from 1814 until his death in 1840, he closed Paraguay's borders and prohibited trade or any relationship between Paraguay and

2996-890: The Scramble for Africa . The world's colonial population at the outbreak of the First World War (1914) – a high point for colonialism – totalled about 560 million people, of whom 70% lived in British possessions, 10% in French possessions, 9% in Dutch possessions, 4% in Japanese possessions, 2% in German possessions, 2% in American possessions, 3% in Portuguese possessions, 1% in Belgian possessions and 0.5% in Italian possessions. The domestic domains of

3103-587: The Tokugawa shogunate of Japan enforced a policy called kaikin . The policy prohibited foreign contact with most outside countries. The commonly held idea that Japan was entirely closed, however, is misleading. In fact, Japan maintained limited-scale trade and diplomatic relations with China , Korea , and the Ryukyu Islands , as well as the Dutch Republic as the only Western trading partner of Japan for much of

3210-621: The Vigilance Towards Foreign Barbarian Regulations (Chinese: 防範外夷規條 ; pinyin: Fángfàn wàiyí guītiáo ; Jyutping: fong4 faan6 ngoi6 ji4 kwai1 tiu4 ) or Five Counter-Measures Against the Barbarians (Chinese: 防夷五事 ; pinyin: Fáng yí wǔ shì ; Jyutping: fong4 ji4 ng5 si6 ) contained the following provisions: These rules did not apply to all Western merchants alike. Russians had nominally had an open trade route into northern China since

3317-625: The War of 1812 attacked American ships deep in the inner harbour of Canton (the Americans had previously robbed British ships in Chinese waters as well). These, in combination with the British support to Nepal during their invasion of Tibet and later the British invasion of Nepal after it became a Chinese tributary state, led the Chinese authorities to become highly suspicious of British intentions. A seemingly insatiable western demand for tea from China towards

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3424-661: The Year Zero policy, hastening isolation from the rest of the world. Ultimately, the authority of the Khmer Rouge and its isolationist policy would collapse in 1978 when the Vietnamese invaded the country and then overthrew Pol Pot on 7 January 1979. After Zheng He's voyages in the 15th century, the foreign policy of the Ming dynasty in China became increasingly isolationist. The Hongwu Emperor

3531-455: The Yellow River , both vital arteries in the internal trade of Qing China. By 1866, only 18 foreign firms still had offices in Canton, while there were only 60 foreign residents, excluding British Indians and tidewaiters (who boarded boats as part of custom's inspections) employed by Sir Robert Hart's Imperial Maritime Customs Service . The Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital,

3638-691: The mestizos of the Americas, as well as racially divided populations such as those found in French Algeria or in Southern Rhodesia . In fact, everywhere where colonial powers established a consistent and continued presence, hybrid communities existed. Notable examples in Asia include the Anglo-Burmese , Anglo-Indian , Burgher , Eurasian Singaporean , Filipino mestizo , Kristang , and Macanese peoples . In

3745-405: The situation. The Qing court's previous laxity had effectively allowed a coterie of Chinese merchants and local officials to take over foreign commerce in the southern port according to their own best financial interests. One of the fundamental tenets of traditional Chinese diplomacy prohibited contact with Beijing except in the case of tributary envoys from other states. The new rules, known as

3852-596: The " Hoppo ", and the Governor-general of Guangzhou and Guangxi . At the start of his reign, the Kangxi Emperor (r.   1661–1722) faced a number of challenges, not the least of which was to integrate his relatively new dynasty with the Chinese Han majority . The Manchu -led Qing dynasty had only come to power in 1644, replacing the Ming dynasty . Support for the previous rulers remained strong, particularly in

3959-514: The 16th century. The British, French and Dutch joined in the slave trade in subsequent centuries. The European colonial system took approximately 11 million Africans to the Caribbean and to North and South America as slaves. Abolitionists in Europe and Americas protested the inhumane treatment of African slaves, which led to the elimination of the slave trade (and later, of most forms of slavery) by

4066-456: The 1842 Treaty of Nanking , British subjects are "allowed to reside, for the purpose of carrying on their mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint" at Canton, Shanghai , Amoy (Xiamen), Ningbo and Fuzhou . In addition, Article V of the Treaty specifically abolishes the Canton system, allowing British merchants, and eventually all foreign merchants, to deal with whomever they please in

4173-453: The 18th century, gradually led to the independence of colonies in waves, with a particular large wave of decolonizations happening in the aftermath of World War II between 1945 and 1975. Colonialism has a persistent impact on a wide range of modern outcomes, as scholars have shown that variations in colonial institutions can account for variations in economic development , regime types , and state capacity . Some academics have used

4280-577: The 19th century when the idea of free trade was popularised in the West. The concept of restricting trade to a single port was also used in Western countries such as Spain and Portugal . Chinese merchants could also trade freely and legally with Westerners (Spanish and Portuguese) in Xiamen and Macao, or with any country when trade was conducted through ports outside China such as Manila and Batavia. Although shipping

4387-641: The 9th century Vikings ( Norsemen ) such as Leif Erikson established colonies in Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, North America, present-day Russia and Ukraine, France (Normandy) and Sicily. In the 9th century a new wave of Mediterranean colonisation began, with competitors such as the Venetians , Genovese and Amalfians infiltrating the wealthy previously Byzantine or Eastern Roman islands and lands. European Crusaders set up colonial regimes in Outremer (in

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4494-594: The Americas with the Spanish American wars of independence (1808–1833). Empire-builders established several new colonies after this time, including in the German colonial empire and Belgian colonial empire . Starting with the end of the French Revolution European authors such as Johann Gottfried Herder , August von Kotzebue , and Heinrich von Kleist prolifically published so as to conjure up sympathy for

4601-711: The Bering Strait. From the 1860s onwards the Empire of Japan modelled itself on European colonial empires and expanded its territories in the Pacific and on the Asian mainland. The Empire of Brazil fought for hegemony in South America. The United States gained overseas territories after the 1898 Spanish–American War , hence, the coining of the term " American imperialism ". In the late 19th century, many European powers became involved in

4708-550: The French revolutionary wars and the Napoleonic wars, encouraged another perspective. A desire for separateness and unilateral freedom of action merged with national pride and a sense of continental safety to foster the policy of isolation. Although the United States maintained diplomatic relations and economic contacts abroad, it sought to restrict these as narrowly as possible in order to retain its independence. The Department of State continually rejected proposals for joint cooperation,

4815-609: The Guangdong Navy, which was subsequently increased in strength. Thereafter all such commerce was to be conducted via a single port under what became known as the Canton System (Chinese: 一口通商; Cantonese : jat1 hau2 tung1 soeng1 ; Mandarin : Yī kǒu tōngshāng; literally, "Single-port commerce system"). During Qianlong's reign Qing foreign trade policies had a political aspect largely based on real or imagined threats from abroad; historian Angela Schottenhammer suggests that although

4922-768: The Levant , 1097–1291) and in the Baltic littoral (12th century onwards). Venice began to dominate Dalmatia and reached its greatest nominal colonial extent at the conclusion of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, with the declaration of the acquisition of three octaves of the Byzantine Empire. The European early modern period began with the Turkish colonization of Anatolia . After the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453,

5029-696: The Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC; later the Persian Empire and various Greek city-states continued on this line of setting up colonies. The Romans would soon follow, setting up coloniae throughout the Mediterranean, in North Africa, and in Western Asia. Beginning in the 7th century, Arabs colonized a substantial portion of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. From

5136-458: The Qianlong Emperor banned all non-Russian ships from the ports of northern China. Russians were however not allowed to use Canton. All customs offices other than the one at Canton were closed. The emperor did this after receiving a petition regarding the presence of armed Western merchant ships all along the coast. The Western merchant ships were protected from pirates, and guarded against, by

5243-529: The Qianlong Emperor believed that good treatment of foreigners was essential for the government. In 1806, Chinese officials compromised with the British on the murder of a Chinese man by British seamen, as Westerners refused to be punished under Chinese law, even though local citizens vigorously protested what they considered a miscarriage of justice. In 1816, the Jiaqing Emperor dismissed a British embassy for their refusal to kowtow, but he sent them an apologetic letter with gifts (the British simply discarded them in

5350-405: The United Kingdom, and the United States abstained). The word " neocolonialism " originated from Jean-Paul Sartre in 1956, to refer to a variety of contexts since the decolonisation that took place after World War II . Generally it does not refer to a type of direct colonisation – rather to colonialism or colonial-style exploitation by other means. Specifically, neocolonialism may refer to

5457-480: The Westerners to be highly successful, intrepid, clever, and profitable, already had concerns early on about the serious omnidirectional Western threat to China, if China ever became weakened. The Canton system did not completely affect Chinese trade with the rest of the world as Chinese merchants, with their large three-masted ocean junks, were heavily involved in global trade. By sailing to and from Siam , Indonesia and Philippines , they were major facilitators of

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5564-520: The Westerners, successfully aligning trading interests with the government's revenue collection. This was the predecessor for the later Cohong system. Although he now had the foreign trade situation under control, Kangxi's liberal attitude towards religion led to a clash between Chinese and Christian spiritual authority. After Pope Clement XI issued his 1715 papal bull Ex illa die , which officially condemned Chinese religious practices, Kangxi expelled all missionaries from China except those employed in

5671-540: The armies of all three empires, Mocha coffee to Delhi and Belgrade , Persian silk to India and Istanbul . Aztec civilisation developed into an extensive empire that, much like the Roman Empire, had the goal of exacting tribute from the conquered colonial areas. For the Aztecs, a significant tribute was the acquisition of sacrificial victims for their religious rituals. On the other hand, European colonial empires sometimes attempted to channel, restrict and impede trade involving their colonies, funneling activity through

5778-426: The beginning of World War I . European colonialism employed mercantilism and chartered companies , and established coloniality , which keeps the colonized socio-economically othered and subaltern through modern biopolitics of sexuality , gender , race , disability and class , among others, resulting in intersectional violence and discrimination . Colonialism has been justified with beliefs of having

5885-403: The best case for isolationism, the United States in the interwar period, has been widely misunderstood and that Americans proved willing to fight as soon as they believed a genuine threat existed. Warren F. Kuehl and Gary B. Ostrower argue: Events during and after the Revolution related to the treaty of alliance with France, as well as difficulties arising over the neutrality policy pursued during

5992-442: The birth of the Dutch Empire and French colonial empire , as well as the English overseas possessions , which later became the British Empire . It also saw the establishment of Danish overseas colonies and Swedish overseas colonies . A first wave of separatism started with the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), initiating the Rise of the "Second" British Empire (1783–1815). The Spanish Empire largely collapsed in

6099-416: The colonial era. Indentured servants from India travelled to British colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and also to French and Portuguese colonies, while Chinese servants travelled to British and Dutch colonies. Between 1830 and 1930, around 30 million indentured servants migrated from India, and 24 million returned to India. China sent more indentured servants to European colonies, and around

6206-522: The colonial powers had a total population of about 370 million people. Outside Europe, few areas had remained without coming under formal colonial tutorship – and even Siam , China , Japan , Nepal , Afghanistan , Persia , and Abyssinia had felt varying degrees of Western colonial-style influence – concessions , unequal treaties , extraterritoriality and the like. Asking whether colonies paid, economic historian Grover Clark (1891–1938) argues an emphatic "No!" He reports that in every case

6313-447: The colonised peoples can also have a powerful influence on the imperial country. With respect to international borders, Britain and France traced close to 40% of the entire length of the world's international boundaries. Economic expansion, sometimes described as the colonial surplus , has accompanied imperial expansion since ancient times. Greek trade networks spread throughout the Mediterranean region while Roman trade expanded with

6420-439: The colonists came, like the Mughals in India and the Incas in the Americas. One explanation offered by the paper focuses on the political institutions of the various colonies: it was less likely for European colonists to introduce economic institutions where they could benefit quickly from the extraction of resources in the area. Therefore, given a more developed civilisation and denser population, European colonists would rather keep

6527-424: The difficulty of consistently distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism broadly to refer to the project of European political domination from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries that ended with the national liberation movements of the 1960s". In his preface to Jürgen Osterhammel 's Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview , Roger Tignor says "For Osterhammel, the essence of colonialism

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6634-544: The early 19th century played a part in ending slave-taking and slave-keeping among the indigenous Māori . On the other hand, British colonial administration in Southern Africa , when it officially abolished slavery in the 1830s, caused rifts in society which arguably perpetuated slavery in the Boer Republics and fed into the philosophy of apartheid . The labour shortages that resulted from abolition inspired European colonisers in Queensland, British Guaiana and Fiji (for example) to develop new sources of labour, re-adopting

6741-447: The employer because they owed a debt back to the employer for their travel expense to the colony, which they were expected to pay through their wages. In practice, indentured servants were exploited through terrible working conditions and burdensome debts imposed by the employers, with whom the servants had no means of negotiating the debt once they arrived in the colony. India and China were the largest source of indentured servants during

6848-450: The enactment of Bhutan's Constitution . Tourism in Bhutan was prohibited until 1974. Since then, the country has allowed foreigners to visit, but has tightly controlled tourism in an effort to preserve its natural and cultural heritage. As of 2022, tourists must pay a $ 200 per day fee on top of other travel expenses such as meals and accommodation. Prior to 2022, visitors were not allowed to travel independently and had to be accompanied by

6955-434: The end of the 18th century caused a significant deficit in the British balance of trade . The Chinese had little interest in Western goods and would only accept silver in payment. This spurred the East India Company to sell opium grown on its plantations in India to independent traders, who shipped it on to China to sell in exchange for silver, despite the fact that opium was already illegal in China. China tried to stop

7062-443: The entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement, both diplomatically and economically, while remaining in a state of peace by avoiding foreign entanglements and responsibilities. Before 1999, Bhutan had banned television and the Internet in order to preserve its culture, environment, and identity. Eventually, Jigme Singye Wangchuck lifted the ban on television and the Internet. His son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ,

7169-434: The existing Republic of China was confined to the island of Taiwan as both governments lay claim to each other's sovereignty. While the PRC is recognized by the United Nations , European Union , and the majority of the world's states, the ROC remains diplomatically isolated although 15 states recognize it as "China" with some countries maintaining unofficial diplomatic relations through trade offices . From 1641 to 1853,

7276-438: The existing economic systems than introduce an entirely new system; while in places with little to extract, European colonists would rather establish new economic institutions to protect their interests. Political institutions thus gave rise to different types of economic systems, which determined the colonial economic performance. European colonisation and development also changed gendered systems of power already in place around

7383-448: The form of settler colonialism , whereby colonial settlers invade and occupy territory to permanently replace an existing society with that of the colonizers, possibly towards a genocide of native populations . Colonialism developed as a concept describing European colonial empires of the modern era , which spread globally from the 15th century to the mid-20th century, spanning 35% of Earth 's land by 1800 and peaking at 84% by

7490-412: The global trading system; the era was even described by Carl Trocki as a "Chinese century" of global commerce. Under the system, the Qianlong Emperor restricted trade with foreigners on Chinese soil only for licensed Chinese merchants (Cohongs), while the British government on their part issued a monopoly charter for trade only to the British East India Company . This arrangement was not challenged until

7597-481: The huge discrepancies in previous European colonies, for example, between West African colonies like Sierra Leone and Hong Kong and Singapore . According to the paper, economic institutions are the determinant of the colonial success because they determine their financial performance and order for the distribution of resources. At the same time, these institutions are also consequences of political institutions – especially how de facto and de jure political power

7704-515: The importation of this opium, but the traders persisted. Chinese attempts to regain control led to the First Opium War , when British gunboat diplomacy quickly forced China to sign the treaty of Nanjing that gave Hong Kong to the British along with allowing free trade to British merchants in China. Additionally China was forced to pay reparations for the destroyed opium.. Following the signature of

7811-588: The landowner and trapped in servitude. The earliest uses of colonialism referred to plantations that men emigrated to and settled. The term expanded its meaning in the early 20th century to primarily refer to European imperial expansion and the imperial subjection of Asian and African peoples. Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as "the practice by which a powerful country directly controls less powerful countries and uses their resources to increase its own power and wealth". Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary defines colonialism as "the system or policy of

7918-508: The late 1750s may have contributed to the Emperor's decision to concentrate foreigners in a single port. In his edict to establish the restriction, the Emperor specifically mentioned concerns about the strategic value of the interior regions to foreigners: Chinese government consultants were aware of Western military technological superiority and Westerners' record of having "set out to conquer every land they visited". The Kangxi Emperor , considering

8025-623: The late 19th century. One (disputed) school of thought points to the role of abolitionism in the American Revolution : while the British colonial metropole started to move towards outlawing slavery, slave-owning elites in the Thirteen Colonies saw this as one of the reasons to fight for their post-colonial independence and for the right to develop and continue a largely slave-based economy. British colonising activity in New Zealand from

8132-514: The later Thirteen Factories through which all foreign trade would be conducted. Although many ports on the coasts of China were open, most Westerners chose to trade at Canton as it is closer to Southeast Asia and it was not profitable to go further north. In 1704, the Baoshang system was established. This system licensed trade with Western merchants: licences were granted to a number of Chinese merchants as long as they helped to collect duties from

8239-415: The lives of the colonised 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 colonised population, the colonisers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule. According to Julian Go, "Colonialism refers to the direct political control of a society and its people by

8346-402: The metropole and taxing accordingly. Despite the general trend of economic expansion, the economic performance of former European colonies varies significantly. In "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-run Growth", economists Daron Acemoglu , Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson compare the economic influences of the European colonists on different colonies and study what could explain

8453-465: The newly opened ports. In 1859 Canton's trade moved to a new site on the reclaimed sandbank of Shameen Island , a short distance west of the former factories. By then much of the foreign trade with China had shifted to the by then British colony of Hong Kong (acquired under the Treaty of Nanking), and to the northern ports, with their advantage of proximity to Beijing as well as the Grand Canal and

8560-455: The oppressed native peoples and the slaves of the new world, thereby starting the idealization of native humans. The Habsburg monarchy , the Russian Empire , and the Ottoman Empire existed at the same time but did not expand over oceans. Rather, these empires expanded through the conquest of neighbouring territories. There was, though, some Russian colonization of North America across

8667-492: The outside world. The Spanish settlers who had arrived in Paraguay just before it gained its independence were required to marry old colonists or the native Guaraní in order to create a single Paraguayan people . Francia had a particular dislike of foreigners, and any foreigners who attempted to enter the country were not allowed to leave for an indefinite period of time. An independent character, he hated European influences and

8774-455: The period. The culture of Japan developed with limited influence from the outside world and had one of the longest stretches of peace in history. During this period, Japan developed thriving cities, castle towns, increasing commodification of agriculture and domestic trade, wage labor, increasing literacy and concomitant print culture , laying the groundwork for modernization even as the shogunate itself grew weak. In 1863, Emperor Gojong took

8881-527: The post–World War II period. The term "neocolonialism" became popular in ex-colonies in the late 20th century. While colonies of contiguous empires have been historically excluded, they can be seen as colonies. Contemporary expansion of colonies is seen by some in case of Russian imperialism and Chinese imperialism . There is also ongoing debate in academia about Zionism as settler colonialism . The impacts of colonisation are immense and pervasive. Various effects, both immediate and protracted, include

8988-568: The primary goal of directing tribute from the colonised areas towards the Roman metropole. According to Strabo , by the time of emperor Augustus , up to 120 Roman ships would set sail every year from Myos Hormos in Roman Egypt to India. With the development of trade routes under the Ottoman Empire , Gujari Hindus, Syrian Muslims, Jews, Armenians, Christians from south and central Europe operated trading routes that supplied Persian and Arab horses to

9095-411: The rise of European colonialism came a large push for development and industrialisation of most economic systems. When working to improve productivity, Europeans focused mostly on male workers. Foreign aid arrived in the form of loans, land, credit, and tools to speed up development, but were only allocated to men. In a more European fashion, women were expected to serve on a more domestic level. The result

9202-447: The same proportion returned to China. Canton System The Canton System (1757–1842; Chinese : 一口通商 ; pinyin : Yīkǒu tōngshāng ; Jyutping : jat1 hau2 tung1 soeng1 , lit. "Single [port] trading relations") served as a means for Qing China to control trade with the West within its own country by focusing all trade on the southern port of Canton (now Guangzhou ). The protectionist policy arose in 1757 as

9309-477: The same time, according to Guangdong customs records (粵海關志, jyut6 hoi2 gwaan1 zi3 , Yuèhǎi guān zhì ), they established a new harbour authority to deal with tribute from Thailand and handle pay for the troops involved in trade as well as manage domestic maritime trade in the South China Sea . Henceforth, the Cohong possessed imperial authority to levy taxes on the foreign merchants as they saw fit. In 1757

9416-708: The sea routes discovered by Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460) became central to trade , and helped fuel the Age of Discovery . The Crown of Castile encountered the Americas in 1492 through sea travel and built trading posts or conquered large extents of land. The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the areas of these "new" lands between the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire in 1494. The 17th century saw

9523-685: The signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, although rather than send merchant vessels, in practice they limited their activity to caravan trade sent through Siberia and Kyakhta , on the land border with Outer Mongolia . The Portuguese and Spanish were still allowed to trade both in Canton and in Xiamen , although they rarely exercised the privilege of trading directly in Xiamen. The Portuguese preferred to trade through Chinese intermediaries from Canton via their possessions in Macao and, in fact, they did not maintain

9630-461: The single port trading policy arose in part from lobbying by officials and Chinese merchants, it was more likely triggered by the activities of Flint in what became known as The Flint Affair ( Hóng Rènhuī Shìjiàn , 洪任輝事件). Although the foreign merchants knew of the Cohong restriction, they had to balance a breach of etiquette against the risks of seeing their substantial investments in China destroyed by bribery and corruption. Englishman James Flint ,

9737-444: The societies and cultures of the people in those areas permanently changed. Colonial practices directly and indirectly forced the colonized peoples to abandon their traditional cultures. For example, European colonizers in the United States implemented the residential schools program to force native children to assimilate into the hegemonic culture. Cultural colonialism gave rise to culturally and ethnically mixed populations such as

9844-527: The south of the country. Kangxi twice banned all maritime trade for strategic reasons, to prevent any possible waterborne coup attempt. Several rebellions took place, including one led by Ming loyalist Koxinga and separately the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories , which led to the capture of Taiwan in 1683. Once the rebellions had been quelled, in 1684 Kangxi issued an edict: Now the whole country

9951-423: The spread of virulent diseases , unequal social relations , detribalization , exploitation , enslavement , medical advances , the creation of new institutions, abolitionism , improved infrastructure, and technological progress. Colonial practices also spur the spread of conquerors' languages, literature and cultural institutions, while endangering or obliterating those of Indigenous peoples. The cultures of

10058-465: The support cost, especially the military system necessary to support and defend colonies, outran the total trade they produced. Apart from the British Empire, they did not provide favoured destinations for the immigration of surplus metropole populations. The question of whether colonies paid is a complicated one when recognizing the multiplicity of interests involved. In some cases colonial powers paid

10165-512: The term neocolonialism to describe the continuation or imposition of elements of colonial rule through indirect means in the contemporary period. Colonialism is etymologically rooted in the Latin word " Colonus ", which was used to describe tenant farmers in the Roman Empire . The coloni sharecroppers started as tenants of landlords, but as the system evolved they became permanently indebted to

10272-587: The theory that former or existing economic relationships, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the Central American Free Trade Agreement , or the operations of companies (such as Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria and Brunei ) fostered by former colonial powers were or are used to maintain control of former colonies and dependencies after the colonial independence movements of

10379-520: The throne of the Joseon Dynasty when he was a child. His father, Regent Heungseon Daewongun , ruled for him until Gojong reached adulthood. During the mid-1860s he was the main proponent of isolationism and the principal instrument of the persecution of both native and foreign Catholics. Following the division of the peninsula after independence from Japan at the end of World War II , Kim Il Sung inaugurated an isolationist nationalist regime in

10486-623: The war significantly weakened the major colonial powers, and they quickly lost control of colonies such as Singapore, India, and Libya. In addition, the United Nations shows support for decolonisation in its 1945 charter . In 1960, the UN issued the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples , which affirmed its stance (though notably, colonial empires such as France, Spain,

10593-438: The world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia". It discusses the distinction between colonialism, imperialism and conquest and states that "[t]he difficulty of defining colonialism stems from the fact that the term is often used as a synonym for imperialism. Both colonialism and imperialism were forms of conquest that were expected to benefit Europe economically and strategically," and continues "given

10700-509: The world. In many pre-colonialist areas, women maintained power, prestige, or authority through reproductive or agricultural control. For example, in certain parts of sub-Saharan Africa women maintained farmland in which they had usage rights. While men would make political and communal decisions for a community, the women would control the village's food supply or their individual family's land. This allowed women to achieve power and autonomy, even in patrilineal and patriarchal societies. Through

10807-464: Was a technologic, economic, and class-based gender gap that widened over time. Within a colony, the presence of extractive colonial institutions in a given area has been found have effects on the modern day economic development, institutions and infrastructure of these areas. European nations entered their imperial projects with the goal of enriching the European metropoles. Exploitation of non-Europeans and of other Europeans to support imperial goals

10914-586: Was acceptable to the colonisers. Two outgrowths of this imperial agenda were the extension of slavery and indentured servitude. In the 17th century, nearly two-thirds of English settlers came to North America as indentured servants. European slave traders brought large numbers of African slaves to the Americas by sail. Spain and Portugal had brought African slaves to work in African colonies such as Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe , and then in Latin America, by

11021-504: Was deemed that they could prepare for independence. The empires of Russia and Austria collapsed in 1917–1918, and the Soviet empire started. Nazi Germany set up short-lived colonial systems ( Reichskommissariate , Generalgouvernement ) in Eastern Europe in the early 1940s. In the aftermath of World War II (1939–1945), decolonisation progressed rapidly. The tumultuous upheaval of

11128-472: Was elected Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan, which helped forge the Bhutanese democracy . Bhutan has subsequently undergone a transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy multi-party democracy . The development of Bhutanese democracy has been marked by the active encouragement and participation of the reigning Bhutanese monarchs since the 1950s, beginning with legal reforms, and culminating in

11235-447: Was not the first to propose the policy to ban all maritime shipping in 1390. The Qing dynasty that came after the Ming dynasty often continued the Ming dynasty's isolationist policies. Wokou , which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China, Japan, and Korea, and were one of the key primary concerns, although the maritime ban

11342-525: Was not without some control. In the winter of 1757, the Qianlong Emperor declared that—effective the next year— Guangzhou was to be the only Chinese port permitted to foreign traders, beginning the Canton System . Since the division of the territory following the Chinese Civil War in 1949, China is divided into two regimes with the People's Republic of China solidified control on mainland China while

11449-628: Was regulated, the Qianlong emperor's administration was diligent in accommodating the requisites of Western merchants. They hired a growing body of Western assistants for the Customs Office to help manage their fellow countrymen. The order to stay in Macao during the winter was lifted, tax was exempted on food, drink and basic supplies for Western merchants, and protections were granted to Westerners and their property. Chinese merchants were actually banned by Qing law from suing foreigners in Chinese courts, as

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