Decolonisation of Asia

The decolonization of Asia was the gradual growth of independence movements in Asia, leading ultimately to the retreat of foreign powers and the creation of a number of nation-states in the region. A number of events were catalysts for this shift, most importantly the Second World War. Prior to World War II, some countries (e.g. the Philippines in 1898) had already proclaimed independence.

Background

European powers began colonizing Asia in the early 16th century, beginning with the Portuguese seizure of sites, while along the west coast of India, Ceylon and Malacca. In 1511, Portugal established a permanent base in Malacca. In 1565, Spain commenced its colonization of the Philippine Islands, creating a long sea trade route via Mexico to Spain.

The decline of Spain and Portugal in the 17th century paved the way for other European powers, namely the Netherlands, France and England. Portugal would lose influence in all but three of its colonies, Portuguese India, Macau and Timor.

By the end of the 17th century, the Dutch had taken over much of the old Portuguese colonies, and had established a strong presence in present-day Indonesia, with colonies in Aceh, Bantam, Makassar and Jakarta. The Dutch also had trade links with Siam, Japan, China and Bengal.

The British had competed with Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch for their interests in Asia since the early 17th century, and by the mid-19th century held much of India (via the British East India Company), as well as Burma, Ceylon, Malaya and Singapore. After India's First War of Independence of 1857, Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India, thus solidifying the British rule on the subcontinent. The last British acquisition in Asia was the New Territories of Hong Kong, which was leased from the Qing emperor in 1897, expanding the British colony originally ceded in the Treaty of Nanking in 1842.

The French had little success in India following defeats against the British in the 17th century, though they held onto possessions on the east coast of India (such as Pondicherry and Mahar) until decolonisation. The French established their most lucrative and substantial colony in Indochina from 1862, eventually occupying the present-day areas of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia by 1887.

Japan's first colony was the island of Taiwan, occupied in 1874 and officially ceded by the Qing emperor in 1894. Japan continued its early imperialism with the annexation of Korea in 1910.

The United States entered the region in 1898 during the Spanish–American War, taking the Philippines as its sole colony through a mock battle in the capital and the purchase of the Philippines from Spain after the declaration of independence and the First Philippine Republic.

Asian colonies from the 19th century to the end of the Second World War

The following list shows the colonial powers following the end of World War II in 1945, their colonial or administrative possessions, and date of decolonization.

Individual countries

Burma

See Burma's colonial era.

Burma was almost completely occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War. Many Burmese fought alongside Japan in the initial stages of the war, though the Burmese Army and most Burmese switched sides in 1945.

A transitional government sponsored by the British government was formed in the years following the Second World War, ultimately leading to Burma's independence in January 1948.

Cambodia

See Cambodia's passage to independence.

Following the capitulation of France and the formation of the Vichy regime, France's Indochinese possessions were given to Japan. While there was some argument that Indochina should not be returned to France, particularly from the United States, Cambodia nevertheless remained under French rule after the end of hostilities.

France had placed Norodom Sihanouk on the throne in 1941, and were hoping for a puppet monarch. They were mistaken however, as the King led the way to Cambodian independence in 1953, taking advantage of the background of the First Indochina War being fought in Vietnam.

Ceylon

See Ceylon and independence.

Ceylon was an important base of operations for the Western Allies during the Second World War. The British gave in to popular pressure for independence and in February 1948, the country won its independence as the Dominion of Ceylon.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was returned to the United Kingdom following its occupation by the Japanese during the Second World War.^[1] It was controlled directly by a British governor until the expiry of the hundred-year lease, which occurred in 1997. From that date the territory was controlled as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Philippines

The Philippines unilaterally declared independence from Spain on 12 June 1898 under the leadership of President Emilio Aguinaldo, culminating the 1896 Revolution. Unbeknownst to the newly established government and the Filipino people in general, the United States of America had secretly arranged to purchase the colony along with several other possessions from Spain through the Treaty of Paris that concluded the Spanish–American War. After staging a mock battle in Manila, the Philippine–American War ensued until the Philippine government capitulated in 1902.

The Philippines subsequently underwent successive stages of rule under the United States, first as an unincorporated territory, then as a Commonwealth. It was then occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War. In 1943, Japan granted its short-lived independence to the Philippines and in 1944, the American invasion of the Philippines began which resulted in America regaining full control of the nation. In 1946, the United States gave Philippines its independence.

Timeline

The "colonial power" and "colonial name" columns are merged when required to denote territories, where current countries are established, that have not been de-colonised, but achieved independence in different ways.

Country[lower-alpha 1]	Colonial name	Colonial power[lower-alpha 2]	Independence declared[lower-alpha 3]	First head of state[lower-alpha 4]	War for independence
Philippines	Spanish East Indies	Spanish Empire	12 June 1898	Emilio Aguinaldo	-[lower-alpha 5]
Yemen[lower-alpha 6]	Kingdom of Yemen Colony and Protectorate of Aden	Ottoman Empire  British Empire	1 November 1918 30 November 1967	Yahya I Qahtan Mohammed al-Shaabi	World War I Aden Emergency
Afghanistan	Afghanistan	British Empire	19 August 1919	Amānullāh Khān	Third Anglo-Afghan War
Egypt[lower-alpha 7]	Sultanate of Egypt	British Empire	28 February 1922[lower-alpha 8]	Fuad I	Egyptian Revolution of 1919
Iraq	Mandatory Iraq	Ottoman Empire  British Empire	3 October 1932	Faisal I	Iraqi revolt against the British
Lebanon	Greater Lebanon	Ottoman Empire  France	8 November 1943	Bechara Khoury	-
Syria	Mandate of Syria		30 November 1943	Shukri al-Quwatli	Syrian Revolution
Indonesia[lower-alpha 9]	Dutch East Indies	Netherlands	17 August 1945[lower-alpha 10]	Sukarno	Indonesian National Revolution
Jordan	Transjordan mandate	Ottoman Empire  British Empire	25 May 1946	Abdullah I	-
Philippines	Commonwealth of the Philippines	United States	4 July 1946	Manuel Roxas	-
Pakistan	British Raj	British Empire	14 August 1947[lower-alpha 11]	Muhammad Ali Jinnah	-[lower-alpha 12]
India			15 August 1947[lower-alpha 13]	Jawaharlal Nehru	-[lower-alpha 14]
Burma	British Burma		4 January 1948	U Nu	Burma Campaign
Sri Lanka	Dominion of Ceylon		4 February 1948 22 February 1972	Don Senanayake	-
Israel	Mandatory Palestine	Ottoman Empire  British Empire	14 May 1948	David Ben-Gurion	1948 Palestine war
South Korea	Korea under Japanese rule	Japan	15 August 1948[lower-alpha 15]	Rhee Syung-man	Korean independence movement
North Korea			9 September 1948[lower-alpha 15]	Kim il-Sung
Cambodia	French Indochina	France	17 October 1953	Norodom Sihanouk	-
Laos			1 August 1954	Sisavang Vong	First Indochina War
Vietnam[lower-alpha 16]				Hồ Chí Minh Bảo Đại
Malaysia	Malaya Colony of North Borneo Colony of Sarawak	British Empire	31 August 1957 16 September 1963	Tuanku Abdul Rahman	Malayan Emergency[lower-alpha 17]
Cyprus[lower-alpha 18]	British Cyprus		16 August 1960	Makarios III	-[lower-alpha 19]
Kuwait	Kuwait		19 June 1961	Abdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah	-
Oman	Muscat and Oman[lower-alpha 20]	Portugal  British Empire	26 January 1650 1962	Sultan I bin Saif Said bin Taimur	Night attack on Muscat -[lower-alpha 21]
Singapore	Straits Settlements	British Empire	31 August 1963; 9 August 1965[lower-alpha 22]	Yusof Ishak	-
Maldives	Maldives	British Empire	26 July 1965	Muhammad Fareed Didi	-
Qatar	Qatar	British Empire	3 September 1971	Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani	-
United Arab Emirates	Trucial States		2 December 1971[lower-alpha 23]	Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan	-
Bahrain	Bahrain		16 December 1971	Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifa	-[lower-alpha 24]
Brunei	Brunei		1 January 1984	Hassanal Bolkiah	-[lower-alpha 25]
Hong Kong	British Hong Kong	British Empire	1 July 1997	Tung Chee-hwa	-
Macau	Portuguese Macau	Portugal	20 December 1999	Edmund Ho	-
Timor-Leste[lower-alpha 26]	Portuguese Timor Timor Timur	Portugal  Indonesia	28 November 1975; 20 May 2002[lower-alpha 27]	Francisco Xavier do Amaral; Xanana Gusmão	Carnation Revolution; Indonesian occupation
Palestine[lower-alpha 28][lower-alpha 29]	Mandatory Palestine  Occupied Palestinian Territories[lower-alpha 31]	Ottoman Empire  British Empire  Israel	15 May 1948; independence not yet effectuated[lower-alpha 29]	?; Mahmoud Abbas	1948 Palestine war; Israeli–Palestinian conflict

See also

• United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories
• List of dependent territories
• Colonialism
• Imperialism in Asia
• Taiwan under Japanese rule
• Decolonisation
• Wars of national liberation

Notes

References