Political events during the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland, & during Christopher Columbus's landing on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, were similar: they were both turning points in the history of western European expansion & colonialism. It is contended that Columbus never landed in Ireland during any of his journeys across the Atlantic, yet the social changes instituted as a result of his enterprise came to have profound effects on Ireland. Given this, colonial slavery & rebellion in the conquest of Ireland, which were then transported to the American colonies, are delineated. While Ireland has become a training ground for colonization, it is argued that there is hope that decolonization & a rejection of racism will eventually prevail. L. Dorn
Less than a generation ago, historians interested in colonial Peruvian social and economic history entered a vast terra incognita. Apart from pioneering work on ethnohistory, mining, and comparative economic studies, little historical literature on Peru had been published. In the past few years, however, Andeanists have produced several important works that have substantially contributed to research in this field
One of the most pronounced trends in colonial Mexican studies in recent years has been the shift away from broadly based research on large political units toward intensive work on specific cities and regions. This article introduces eight books doing so with a renewed emphasis on social and economic themes. The authors share a common focus on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Band 23, Heft 4, S. 643-666
Starke Stellung der traditionellen Kultur im postkolonialen Swasiland. Tradition als Ideologie. Erlangung der Unabhängigkeit als Monarchie. Inthronisation von König Sobhuza II. (1921-83) und Staatsaufbau. Historische Gründe für den starken Einfluß traditioneller Strömungen, die nicht als Wiederbelebung einer längst vergangenen Welt, sondern als ein Prozeß der Selektion und Anpassung gesehen werden. Entstehung einer ländlichen Mittelklasse als staatstragendes Element. Entwicklung in der Nachkriegszeit. Entstehung eines kulturellen Nationalismus. (DÜI-Hlb)
Various contemporary & secondary sources are drawn on to summarize the process of colonization & German colonial rule in southwest Africa (Namibia). Dealing with the phase of indirect colonialism, the social dynamics of the Namibian society from 1800 to 1850 are outlined to sketch the background necessary for explaining the decisive influence of missionaries' & traders' activities from 1850 onward. During the 1890s, direct colonialism -- proclaimed by the German empire in 1884 -- became by its policy of divide & rule an existential threat to the African societies. Their resistance, culminating in the German-Namibian War of 1904-1907, was met with uncompromising violence. Rigorous destruction & subsequent regulations paved the way for an administrative system of colonial-capitalist relations, which aimed at segregation instead of integration, & by its nature created the system of apartheid. As a legacy of German colonialism, apartheid in Namibia was simply continued by the South African state. AA
In this comprehensive and original study, a distinguished specialist and scholar of African affairs argues that the current crisis in African development can be traced directly to European colonial rule, which left the continent with a "singularly difficult legacy" that is unique in modern history. Crawford Young proposes a new conception of the state, weighing the different characteristics of earlier European empires (including those of Holland, Portugal, England, and Venice) and distilling their common qualities. He then presents a concise and wide-ranging history of colonization in Africa, from the era of construction through consolidation and decolonization. Young argues that several qualities combined to make the European colonial experience in Africa distinctive. The high number of nations competing for power around the continent and the necessity to achieve effective occupation swiftly yet make the colonies self-financing drove colonial powers toward policies of "ruthless extractive action." The persistent, virulent racism that established a distance between rulers and subjects was especially central to African colonial history. Young concludes by turning his sights to other regions of the once-colonized world, comparing the fates of former African colonies to their counterparts elsewhere. In tracing both the overarching traits and variations in African colonial states, he makes a strong case that colonialism has played a critical role in shaping the fate of this troubled continent