The Evil Legacy of European Colonialism

Dear Abbot:

The Third World is poor today because of the legacy of colonialism. While the charges of corruption and incompetence are, in many cases, true, let us not forget what created the conditions which gave rise to such regimes: subjugation and colonization by European governments.

Guilty White Liberal


Dear Guilty:

Certainly not because of a legacy of colonialism. Let’s look at that.

Suppose that European colonialism was purely exploitative, and not, as it was generally thought at the time, a type of foreign aid. Even so—when did it end? India gained independence in 1947. Qatar and the Gulf States gained independence in 1972. Let’s split the difference; say that the average former colony of Western Europe in the Third World achieved independence about 47 years ago, circa 1960.

Now, that does seem like a fair length of time to make good any lingering unwanted colonial legacy. That’s two generations of leadership.

Compare the postwar experience of Germany and Japan. They lost a total war, unconditionally. They were more or less reduced to rubble. Surely no colonial oppression, however severe, could have been more devastating.

Now count 47 years forward from this point: that’s 1992. Both were in fairly good shape by then, weren’t they? So is it reasonable to blame a claimed exploitation two generations ago in other cases?

Nor does the German and Japanese case seem to be an artifact of a particularly generous peace settlement. The same had been done before. Japan’s colonization of Korea was, by most accounts, one of the harshest of colonial regimes. It included an attempt to wipe out the Korean language, for example, and live medical experiments on Koreans. Nevertheless, wasn’t South Korea doing fairly well by 1992? France lost the Franco-Prussian War badly in 1871. Paris was starving, and France was charged a deliberately exploitative indemnity. Nevertheless, France pulled itself sufficiently together to stage two world expositions, erect the Eiffel Tower as the world’s tallest building, become the acknowledged center of world culture, and come back and defeat Germany, by 1918—47 years later. Germany, similarly crippled and stripped of its resources as a result of that war, in a notoriously rapacious peace settlement, came back to conquer France by 1940, and indeed made a serious bid to take over the world—21 years later.

Odd that these other tragically oppressed countries cannot manage the same. Note too, neither Germany, nor France, nor Japan, nor South Korea, are particularly rich in natural resources. Not nearly as rich as, say, the Philippines, Nigeria, Iran, or Zambia.

Now let’s compare culturally similar areas with different experiences of colonialism. Is Ethiopia, not colonized but for a brief period by Italy, doing so much better than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa? No: of the 195 nations tracked by NationMaster for GDP per capita, Ethiopia ranks 192nd. Most African countries, obviously, do better. Similarly, compare the experience of Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore, all former colonies, all ethnically and culturally Chinese, with that of Mainland China, which mostly avoided direct colonization. Singapore: nominal GDP per capita: $26,892. Hong Kong: $25,592. PR China: $1,712. Or, indeed, compare Canada, fully independent only in 1933 by the Statue of Westminster, with any given Latin American country—most having achieved full independence in the early 19th century. Is Canada really doing so much worse than Argentina? Or compare Saudi Arabia with the smaller Gulf States—Saudi achieved independence from Turkey in 1918; the others were held by Britain until the 1970s. Is Saudi in better shape? No; in terms of GDP per capita, it is doing worse, despite having far more oil. Saudi: $13,399 per capita; Qatar: $52,299; UAE, $28,611; Bahrain, $17,773; Kuwait, $31,860.

Frankly, while there were some cases of genuine exploitation, it looks as though most nations colonized by Western European powers last century actually have an advantage over those who were not. Nor should this be surprising. This is just what the European powers thought they were doing, and intended to do, for the most part: to bring peace, order, and good government, to mentor and educate, to facilitate trade, and to build infrastructure. All of this should have been to the benefit of the local population. Empires were commonly thought of not as moneymaking ventures, but as a drain upon the resources of the home country.

Yes, the colonial masters hoped at best to make a profit, but from expanding trade: a large empire was a large free trade area. Free trade is to the benefit of both parties. If it is exploitation, it is an exploitation the rich world has since embraced for themselves, in such new empires as the EU and NAFTA.

Reality check: if the European powers were really in the business of ruthless exploitation, why would Britain pull out of the Persian Gulf in the 1970s, precisely when their tiny charges, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE, previously economic basket cases, became fantastically profitable? These are even today small, militarily puny countries. In purely military terms, Britain had it chosen so could still be sitting on the oil and gas reserves of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and the UAE. It would probably have been easier than clinging to the Falklands.

Finally, there was nothing new to most of the nations the Europeans colonized about the experience of colonialism. It is the norm of world history—the nation state is mostly a modern European creation, and itself part of Europe’s legacy to the Third World. Before Europe came, what Third World nations were unified, free and self-governing? Only a handful. China was held by the Manchus—the Manchurians. Hindu India was held by the Muslim Moghuls—the Mongols. The Arab Middle East was held by Turkey. Africa was primarily tribal, but with more powerful tribes often enslaving their neighbours. Consider the history of Israel in the Bible, and realize that it was typical of pre-modern nations generally. The only thing special about their experience of European colonialism is that it, uniquely, ended amicably with their complete freedom.

No—this continuing claim of harmful colonial legacy is a con perpetuated by corrupt ruling classes. It is a scapegoating of foreigners, no more plausible than, no more noble than, and more or less of a piece with Hitler’s scapegoating of the Jews. It is the traditional technique of a bad, oppressive government.

Abbot