7.2: Colonial Independence

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The British colonies in North America became independent in the late 1700's. So did the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America in the early 1800's. Then the Europeans destroyed each other during WWI (1914-18) and WWII (1939-45). In WWII, Asians learned that they were not biologically inferior when they saw Japanese soldiers guarding long columns of bedraggled European prisoners of war who had until recently ruled as colonial masters. From the 1940's through the 1970s, dozens of Asian and African colonies fought for or peacefully received their political independence. But often their economies are still dependent on the former ‘mother’ countries in what has been called neo-imperialism or neo-colonialism, and their politics are often controlled by crooked westernized elites.