DECOLONISATION & DECLINE OF EUROPEAN WORLD ORDER

European dominance in politics, economics, and culture forced all ancient civilizations to reappraise their beliefs, institutions, and traditions. They had to make decisions about what to preserve from their own cultures and what to borrow from the Europeans. Even as European domination peaked at the end of the 19th century forces were building that would end the dominance. Within colonial empires a sense of solidarity was emerging among Western-educated middle class groups who created political parties to arouse mass nationalist sentiments. Most Asian and African nationalists, except in settler colonies, relied on peaceful measures advocating principles based on a blend of their rulers' democratic traditions and indigenous beliefs. The European dependence upon the indigenous elite in their administrations made them very vulnerable to such challenges. The European global wars of the 20th century and the Great Depression helped to erode the colonial order.
The ideas of communism and the successful Socialistic revolution in Russia also inspired ant-colonial struggles across the world.
The resulting social and economic disruptions assisted nationalist leaders to build a mass base for resistance. The Western European colonial world disintegrated within a few decades after World War II.
 

The First Phase of Decolonization in India and Egypt.

India and Southeast Asia, among the earliest of colonized territories, had the 1st movements for independence. Before the close of the 19th century, in India, Burma, Indonesia and the Philippines, Western-educated groups were organizing nationalist associations to make their opinions heard. India, Europe's most important colonial possession, produced patterns that were later followed all over the colonial world. The diversity of the colonial world produced important variations in the decolonization process, but key themes were the lead of Western-educated elites, importance of charismatic leaders, and reliance on nonviolent tactics. In the North Africa Egypt was the scene of early nationalist action.
 

India

The Makings of the Nationalist Challenge to the British Raj. The party that led India to independence, the Indian National Congress formed in 1885, grew out of regional urban political associations. It had British support as a means of learning the opinions of educated Indians. The organization was loyal to their rulers; it lacked a mass base or firm organization and was most interested in elite-related issues. The members reacted to British racist attitudes. As time passed Indians developed a common identity that had not previously existed among India's many diverse peoples.
Social Foundations of a Mass Movement: By the end of the 19th century there was much dissatisfaction with British rule. Businesspeople were angered by the favoritism given to British interests and products. The Indian army absorbed a large share of revenues and was used widely outside of India to advance British concerns. British officials received high salaries and pensions. The peasantry was pushed into the production of cash crops at the expense of food production. Landlessness, disease, and poverty were widespread.
The Rise of Militant Nationalism: A united nationalist movement was hindered by the differing concerns of Hindus and Muslims. Leaders such as B.G. Tilak ignored the split and asserted that nationalism should be built on appeals to the Hindu majority. He broke with moderates by demanding boycotts of British goods, and threatening violence if independence was not granted. Tilak was the first leader with a mass following, but it was limited to Bombay and its region. His use of reactionary Hindu ideas alienated Muslims, moderate Hindus, and other religious groups. Tilak was imprisoned by the British. Another early nationalist threat came from Hindus pushing violent overthrow of the raj; they committed terrorist acts in Bengal. The British crushed them by World War I. The failure of the two movements strengthened the more moderate Congress politicians who advocated a peaceful path to independence. The British cooperated through the Moreley-Minto reforms of 1909 that expanded opportunities for Indians to elect and serve on local and national councils.
 

Egypt and the Rise of Nationalism in the Middle East

Egyptian nationalism predated the British occupation. The unsuccessful rising of Ahmad Orabi in 1882 had aimed at liberating Egypt from its unpopular rulers and their European associates. The British put down the movement and continued the dynasty in power under their control. British High Commissioner Lord Cromer. His reforms mostly benefited the small middle and elite classes and foreign merchants. Rural landlords (ayan) also were significant gainers at the expense of the mass rural population. Resistance to the system grew among urban business and professional families. Unlike India, journalists and not lawyers were predominant.
During the 1890s several nationalist political parties formed, all without a mass base. The British often utilized harsh techniques against protesters. The extent of the hostility of the mass of the population to the British was demonstrated in the Dinshawi Incident of 1906. A small clash, with limited fatalities, demonstrated British racial arrogance and undermined support for their presence in Egypt. By 1913 the British recognized the rising nationalism by granting a constitution and an indirectly elected parliament.
 

World War I and the Postwar Crisis of the European Empires

During World War I Europeans for the first time fought each other in their colonies. Significant campaigns occurred in Africa and the Middle East. British naval supremacy allowed the Allies to draw heavily on their territories for men and raw materials. Indian industrial production was encouraged to help the war effort. Asian and African soldiers and laborers served on many fronts during the war and gained direct experience of their rulers' weaknesses. African administrative personnel had opportunities to exercise increased administrative responsibility. The Allies to win support made promises about postwar progress for colonies, but after victory did not carry them out.
 

India: Gandhi and the Nationalist Struggle

India had loyally supported Britain with men and resources during World War I. But, as the war dragged on, Indian casualties mounted while economic conditions in India hurt all sectors of the population. Inflation and famines raged as war production increased upper-class profits. Moderate politicians after the war were frustrated by Britain's refusal to honor promises of a steady move to self-government. The Montage- reforms of 1919 had increased powers of Indian legislators at national levels and placed aspects of provincial administration under Indian direction. But the Rowlatt Act of 1919 offset the reforms by restricting key civil rights. The localized protest present during and after the war provided the base for Gandhi's nationalist campaign.
Gandhi combined knowledge of the British with the attributes of an Indian holy man and thus was able to win followers among all classes. He stressed nonviolent, but aggressive, protest tactics (or truth force) to weaken British control without provoking reprisal.
 

Rise of Communalism and Political Fragmentation

Driven by the British policy of divide and rule there appeared communal cleavages in Indian Political structure; in 1906 certain fundamentals under british influence founded their own Muslim League. Although small in numbers until the 1940s it was a dangerous threat to a unified national movement. Gandhi tried without success to bring the Muslim and other minorities into the nationalist mainstream. Gandhi nonetheless was the central figure in the nationalist struggle. The campaign against the Rowlatt Act demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of his tactics. It was impossible over time to control the participants in mass disobedience movements. Violence led to police reprisals. Gandhi reacted by calling off the anti-Rowlatt campaign. He and other nationalists were arrested and imprisoned. The nationalist movement slowed but did not disappear. Local protests continued and harsh Britain repression, along with the effects of the Great Depression, revived civil disobedience campaigns by the 1930s. Gandhi led the dramatic Salt March in 1931. The British finally bowed by passing the Government of India Act in 1935.
The British kept control of the central administration but turned over provincial governments to Indians chosen by an expanded electorate. The nationalists took office in 1937 and civil disobedience quieted.
 

The Middle East

Betrayal and the Growth of Arab Nationalism: France and Britain did not honor the promises about Arab independence made during World War I. They occupied the former Turkish lands as League of Nations mandates. Further Arab anger came from conflicting British promises to Arabs and Jews concerning Palestine. A pledge to the Jews fed aspirations for a return to the Holy Land; 19th-century pogroms had convinced some Jews that acceptance in Europe was impossible. Zionist organizations formed to promote a Jewish state. Theodore Hertz of the World Zionist Organization was indifferent to the presence of Palestine's Arab inhabitants. Arab opposition to Jewish emigration led the British to restrict the pledges made to the Zionists, but did not stem them from building up their local position. Nothing was done by the British to encourage the development of a strong Palestinian leadership able to promote its own interests..
 

Revolt in Egypt, 1919: Egypt had been made a British protectorate in 1914. Martial law was declared when World War I began to ensure protection of the Suez Canal. The many troops stationed in Egypt drained local food supplies, while forced labor and inflation made conditions of mass life even harsher.
When a delegation of Egyptian leaders was refused permission to present their case for self- determination to the conference at Versailles, unexpected mass demonstrations erupted. The British repressed the movement but recognized the necessity to listen to Egyptian opinion. The Wafd Party of Sa'd Zaghlul gave a unified nationalist base for Egyptian demands. After negotiations the British agreed to a gradual move to independence beginning in 1922 and ending with withdrawal from the Suez Canal zone in 1936.
The khedival regime remained and Britain kept the power to reoccupy Egypt if it was threatened by a foreign power. Egyptian political parties after 1922 did little to increase the welfare of the majority of the population. Politicians used their positions to enrich themselves while they quarreled about control of the government. The utter social bankruptcy of the regime prepared the way for revolution in 1952 under Gamal Abdul Nasser.
 

The Beginnings of the Liberation Struggle in Africa

Most Western-educated Africans remained loyal to their colonial rulers during World War I. Along with traditional African rulers they gained local authority as the Europeans drew upon their lands for men and resources. The war disrupted colonial life because of reaction to recruitment of soldiers and laborers and interruption of export crops. The failure of Europeans after the war to keep promises of further reform and the effects of the Great Depression contributed to unrest.
Western-educated politicians began to organize during the 1920s; some were influenced by Afro-American leaders, such as Marcus Garvey or W.E.B. Du Bois, and the Pan- Africanist movement. By the mid-1920s nationalist leaders from the British and French colonies were on separate paths. French subjects focused on Paris and the Négritude movement formed by such writers as Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire and Léon Damas. Africans, except in settler colonies, had greater opportunities to organize politically. They were allowed representation in advisory councils and developed the beginnings of true political parties. By the 1930s new and vigorous leaders came forward and made the first efforts to gain a mass following.
 

Women in Asian and African Nationalist Movements

The educational establishments established by colonial rulers and missionaries produced a group of articulate and politically active women. Many women received education to allow them to share in the lives of their educated husbands.
Women thus, especially in the upper social classes, found the colonial presence a liberating experience. They participated in both peaceful and violent nationalist movements. Educated women also challenged in their own male-dominated societies. Although their activities helped women to gain basic civil rights once independence came, full equality has not arrived.
 

Another Global War and the Collapse of the European World Order

The impact of World War II proved fatal to European empires. Japanese and German victories demonstrated the decline of Western might. Western war losses left a lack of will for additional struggles in the colonies. The war also increased the power of the United States and the Soviet Union, and both were hostile to European colonial domination. Most nonsettler lands relatively easily moved to independence.
 

The Winning of Independence in South and Southeast Asia

The Indian National Congress refused to support the British war effort unless independence was promised after the conflict. The British did not agree to the terms and mass civil disobedience campaigns called the Quit India movement occurred in 1942. Dissidents, including Gandhi, were arrested; only the Muslims and Communists supported Britain.
The war caused hardship in India through inflation and famine. When a Labour government came to power in Britain in 1945 independence in the near future was conceded. The divided Indians were unable to work out a compromise between Hindu desires for one nation under majority rule and Muslim wishes for a separate state. When communal rioting spread, the British agreed to the creation of two independent nations, India and Pakistan, in 1947. Hundreds of thousands of people then perished as Hindus, Muslims, and other groups attacked each other. Millions fled from one region to another. Gandhi's assassination in 1948 by a Hindu fanatic added to the malaise. Other parts of the Indian empire, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and Myanmar (Burma), peacefully received independence shortly after. Other empires were already then decolonizing. The United States after the war quickly granted independence to the Philippines. The Dutch fought against nationalists in Indonesia until losing in 1949. The French did the same in Indochina.

Burma- The British used force to annex Burma between 1826 and 1888 (Barton 50) in three Anglo-Burmese Wars. The British maintained Burma as a province of British India. King of Burma gave France the right to build a railway in 1880. British feared French expansion and a war with Burma, captured Burmese King and annexed it in 1886
Indochina, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam- current national borders of Southeast Asia were not established until after World War II. What is now northern Vietnam was ruled by China for more than a thousand years, between the second century BCE and the tenth century CE. Then, in the 1800s, France conquered a region including the modern nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. France did not withdraw from “Indochina,” as the region was called, until 1954.
Indonesia- Indonesia faced approximately 450 years of colonization by Europeans. In 1602, the VOC or Netherlands’ United East India Company was formed which indirectly colonized Indonesia. During the Second World War, Japan occupied Indonesia from 1942 to 1945. educated elites and reformers, such as Sukarno, led the Indonesian Revolution. In 1945, Sukarno was declared President and he established the Republic of the United States of Indonesia. The Dutch finally recognized their loss and liberated Indonesia from the colonial control in 1949
Malaysia and Singapore -The British (Raffles) set up Singapore in 1819 and the Netherlands ceded Malacca to Britain in 1824. Britain governed Penang (acquired in 1786), Singapore, and Malacca as the Straits Settlements from which Britain expanded into the Malay Peninsula from 1874 to 1914 Strait of Malacca
Sri Lanka- it was occupied by the Portuguese, then by Dutch and finally by British. England introduced and rubber plantation in Sri Lanka as they formed 7/8th of Sri Lankan exports
Thailand / Siam- Sandwiched between Indochina (French) and Burma (British).Although it remained independent state, both France and Britain exercised much power and authority over its affairs.
 

Philippines- There was a revolt by Filipinos and Cubans against the Spanish rule. After the global triumph of the U.S. over Spain in 1898, the U.S. moved in to colonize the Philippines. Admiral Dewey defeated Spain in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898 and the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899 but the U.S. did not recognize it. Hence, the Philippine-American War started in 1899 and went on for about 10 years. About 400,000 to 600,000 Filipinos were killed and 10,000 Americans died. On Feb. 6, 1899, the U.S. Senate voted to annex the Philippines. On July 4, 1901, U.S. President McKinley set up civil government and appointment the Philippine Commission which was headed by William Howard Taft. Mark Twain was the most famous literary adversary of the Philippine-American War and he served as a vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 until his death. The Philippines became a commonwealth in 1935 and independent in 1946 after World War II.

The Liberation of Non-settler Africa

Unlike the colonies in Asia, nationalism arose late in Africa because of two factors. First, unlike more or less homogenous societies of Asia, the African society was very diverse and divided into numerous Tribes. Hence it took a while to forge unity among them. Secondly, due to experience in India and elsewhere the colonialists were reluctant to introduce modern education in africa.
However, World War II had the same impact in Africa as in other colonial regions. The British and French were forced to reverse policies to allow some industrial development which spurred rural migration to the cities. One path to independence was followed in colonies without a European settler population. In the British Gold Coast (later Ghana) Kama Nkrumah established the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and gained support from urban and rural peoples. He introduced a new style of politics, using mass rallies, boycotts, and strikes. Nkrumah gained concessions from the British through winning elections and secured independence for Ghana in 1957. Most other British non-settler colonies gained independence through peaceful means by the mid-1960s. The French took a roughly similar line with most of their territories. Moderate African leaders who were willing to retain ties to France dominated the nationalist process in West Africa. By 1960 all were free. The Belgians experienced more difficulties in the Congo as they precipitously withdrew before a newly organized nationalist movement. The Portuguese still clung to their colonies.
 

Repression and Guerrilla War

The Struggle for the Settler Colonies. Territories with large European settler populations had a more difficult decolonization experience. Racist settlers blocked the rise of African nationalist movements as they fought to defend their numerous privileges. In Kenya, when peaceful efforts led by Jomo Kenyatta failed, more radical Africans formed the Land Freedom Army and commenced a guerrilla campaign against the British and other Africans. The British defeated the rebel movement, called by them the Mau Mau, and imprisoned Kenyatta and other nonviolent leaders. The British government then turned to negotiation with Africans; Kenya gained independence in 1963 and Kenyatta was the first president. The struggle in Algeria, with more than a million settlers, was much more violent. War began in the 1950s under the direction of the National Liberation Front. The French defeated rebel forces in battle but never fully contained them. Independence came through negotiations in 1962. Most of the settlers then left Algeria.
 

The Persistence of White Supremacy in South Africa

Portugal’s colonies, Angola and Mozambique, secured independence after revolutionary struggle in 1975. Southern Rhodesia’s (now Zimbabwe) Africans won independence by 1980. In South Africa the large and long resident minority European population held on to control. The Afrikaners lacked a European homeland to retreat to and over the centuries had built up a racist white supremacy ideology. The British had abandoned Africans to Afrikaner racist rule after the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). Afrikaners won internal political control in 1948 and built the racial segregation system known as apartheid which reserved political, social, and economic rights for whites. The brutal Afrikaner police state hampered the growth of African parties.
 

Conflicting Nationalisms

Arabs, Israelis, and the Palestinian Question. Even though most Arabs won independence from foreign rule by the 1960s, the Palestine problem presented special problems. The Zionist movement was strengthened by German persecution, and immigration to Palestine increased. The British reacted to Arab resistance to the foreigners by attempting to limit Jewish arrivals. A major Muslim revolt between 1936 and 1939 further strengthened British resolve to halt the inflow. The Zionists in return resisted the British measures. By the end of World War II both Arabs and Jews claimed Palestine, but in 1948 the sympathies roused by the Holocaust caused the United Nations to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. The neighboring Arab states then attacked. The outnumbered Jews drove them back and expanded into Arab territory. Thousands of Arabs fled Palestine. An enduring hostility between the two sides marked the future.
Conclusion: The Limits of Decolonization
The fragile foundations of the European colonial order explain its quick demise. The break with the colonial past was modified by power passing to Western-educated elites. Social gains for the majority of populations were minimal. Western cultural influences remained strong in reformed educational systems. Independence did not disrupt Western dominance in the global economic order. Lingering traces of colonial rule persisted after independence.

COMPARING DECOLONISATION IN LATIN AMERICA & AFRICA

Over the course of several hundred years, these regions had been colonized by various European powers, mainly Spain in Latin America and Britain and France in Africa. However, three basic issues instigated decolonization in Africa and Latin America-the indigenous peoples' desire for independence, European distraction with global affairs, and popular resentment against racism and inequality.
Decolonization is "the action of changing from colonial to independent status." In addition to the causes which led to Latin American decolonization were Allied promises after World War II, limited higher education for a few individuals, and the unstoppable forces of nationalism. In strikingly similar long term effects, Africa and Latin America lost their indigenous heritages, natural resources, economic stability and political autonomy. Plunged into debt and torn by civil war, both faced similar consequences in the aftermath of decolonization. Although differing in unique application of process, Latin America and Africa were mostly similar in overall comparison of decolonization.
Of course, the colonizations of Africa and Latin America preceded and led to their separate decolonizations. After Columbus discovered San Salvador in 1492, European colonialism led to the subjugation of Latin America during the sixteenth century. Using religious conversion as an excuse, Catholic expansionism engulfed the land and consumed the resources of the native population. Draining indigenous assets for European benefit, colonization in Latin America eventually led to civil unrest and a push for independence after the American and French revolutions. A later facet of the same colonialism, called imperialism, occurred in Africa during the late nineteenth century. Earlier, European greed had ruined Africa by a filthy exploitation of African people as a cheap means of slave labor. During the Scramble for Africa, European imperialistic powers carved up Africa and its resources into political partitions at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85.
By 1905, African soil was completely controlled by European might, mainly Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, and Italy. As a result of colonialism and imperialism, Latin America and Africa suffered long term effects, such as the loss of important natural resources like gold and rubber, economic devastation, cultural confusion, geopolitical division, and political subjugation. However, European domination also brought better roads, railways, harbors, hospitals, education, and modern agricultural methods."
 

What caused decolonization efforts in Latin America?
Revolutionary thought originated as Latin America watched the successful revolutions of the United States and France. If the United States, its geographical and colonial cousin could be free, why not Latin America? Secondly, international powers forgot colonial conquests as the limelight centered on Napoleon Bonaparte, whose empire was creeping onto their very doorstep. Profiting from their opportunity, Latin Americans renounced Spanish allegiance when Napoleon placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the Spanish throne in 1808. Even when the Bourbon dynasty was restored, Spain would not be able to reacquire its Latin American colonies. Thirdly, interracial relationships of Europeans with natives led to social divisions in Latin America. Peninsulares, pure bred Spaniards born in Europe, enjoyed high status as landowners, while creoles, full blooded Spaniards born in the colonies, had fewer privileges and lower social standing. At the social median were the mestizoes, a mixture of European and Native American blood, and mulattoes, of European and African descent. Demoted to the bottom of the social ladder were the pure blooded native tribes and Africans, stuck with the lowest jobs and fewest opportunities. As racially based discriminations grew, pent up tension simmered and nationalistic hatred bubbled in this colonial mélange. In the end, colonial racism coupled with revolutionary ideas and international disregard helped ignite the Latin American wars for independence. Thus Greater Columbia gained its independence in 1819, Mexico in 1821, Peru in 1824, Argentina in 1825 and Cuba in 1898. Once the unstoppable impetus of independence was underway, other Latin American colonies threw off European control throughout the 1800's.
 

In comparison to the decolonization of Latin America, a combination of three similar circumstances and three different trends of Allied promises, better education, and the forces of nationalism led to African emancipation. Comparative to Latin American decolonization, African desire for independence was based on witnessing the successful revolution and subsequent self rule of its neighbor nation, India, led by the exemplary pacifist Mahatma Gandhi. Secondly, African decolonization occurred with the international confrontation of the Cold War. Because the Soviet Union was attempting to promulgate its Communist ideology, major European powers feared that their desperate colonies would turn to Communism as a radical means of obtaining independence. Although in a different form from Latin America, racism was the third circumstance which affected the decolonization of Africa. Unlike Latin America, Africa did not have the racial mixture in the colonies, since Europeans had not settled and intermixed with the natives. Instead, the racial prejudice was rooted in European belief of the inferiority of Africans based on cultural differences, lack of political involvement and lower education.
Differentiating from aspects of Latin American freedom, African decolonization was merely a fulfilling of promises. Desirous of discarding the economic burden of maintaining huge empires, Allied powers promised independence to Africa after World War II. In a second differing aspect, the better education of a few people played a huge part in informing and activating the multitudes. Lending a voice to the people of Africa, the support of intellectuals and well educated individuals united the masses by a surge of nationalism. This desire for change, for national awakening, for throwing off the colonial rule, became the final element which enabled Africans to push for independence through intellectual appeal, political campaign and bloody uprisings. In 1957, Ghana became the first African nation to become independent. Further African decolonization occurred with the independence of Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Malawi, Gambia, Botswana, Swaziland, Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, and Niger. By the end of the 1970s, almost no African soil remained constricted by colonial rule.
The results of decolonization continued to affect Latin America long after colonialism was gone. Because the mother countries had exercised full political control during colonization, political instability ensued after the colonial governing influence was gone. Although democracy in government was attempted, racial inequality in Latin America was too deep seated to permit egalitarianism. Secondly, the partitions established during colonization led to border disputes in the newly decolonized states. During the violence, aggression, and civil war which further split the new states, Greater Columbia divided into the separate countries of Columbia, Panama, and Venezuela. Of course, the border wars coupled with colonial exploitation of natural resources led to the third result of decolonization-economic disaster. Under colonialism, the colonies had been totally dependent on the mother countries to buy their raw materials such as cash crops or minerals. When the mother country's support for the narrow cash crop based economy was gone, the entire economy threatened to crash. Stripped of its natural resources and without a stable government, Latin America needed to diversify and industrialize its economy, but lacked the means. Only by borrowing huge amounts of money were the new countries able to stay afloat. In this fourth result of decolonization, debt led to Latin American susceptibility and dependence on its lenders. In a condition known as neocolonialism, the countries or bankers which loaned money to Latin America used those loans as a means of exerting economic or political control over Latin America.
In the aftermath of decolonization, Africa displayed the same four results found in Latin America. Political instability occurred with the introductions of Marxist and capitalist influence, along with continuing friction from racial inequalities. Inciting civil war, Black Nationalist groups participated in violent attacks against white settlers, trying to end "white minority rule" in the government. Further violence occurred with disagreements over the partitions made during the colonization. Despite widespread acceptance of these partitions, border disputes such as those between Chad and Libya, Ethiopia and Somalia, and Nigeria and Cameroon are nursed even today.6 In another result of colonialism followed by decolonization, the African economy was drained of natural resources with no opportunity to diversify from its colonial export of cash crops. Suffering through famine and drought, Africa struggled to industrialize its poverty stricken work force without sufficient funds. In an attempt to influence the Third World to adopt the ideology of either capitalism or Communism, the United States and the Soviet Union loaned food and money to Africa. In this fourth circumstance of post decolonization, debt was a result of the poor economic set up of colonialism. To feed, educate, and modernize its masses, Africa borrowed huge sums of money from various nations, bankers and companies. In return, the lenders tried to exert political power over Africa, even though technically not in charge. Sadly, the borrowed money did not fix the devastated economy. Since the massive loans in both Africa and Latin America have been squandered by mismanagement and corruption of dictators, social issues such as education, healthcare, and political stability have been ignored.
 

Conclusion

Three main phenomena led to decolonization-- colonial desire for independence based on the successful emancipation of other nations, European distraction with international affairs, and native resentment against racial discrimination. Three additional aspects, including the Allied promises of independence after World War II, better educational opportunities, and a wave of nationalism, separated African decolonization from that of Latin America. In a direct comparison, the four main results of decolonization proved similar in generality, but unique in application. Finally, the results of decolonization including political instability, border disputes, economic ruin, and massive debt continue to plague both Africa and Latin America to this present day.