GEO Epoche PANORAMA / GEO Epoche PANORAMA 20/2020 Kolonialismus

The Era of Colonialism - Under the pretext of spreading the blessings of Western civilization, the nation-states of Europe, especially in the 19th century, subjugate vast parts of the Earth. Soon, more than half of the world's population lives in colonies. Nations such as Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and above all, Great Britain plunder the natural resources of their respective regions, flood their markets with European products, and indulge in their own imperial grandeur. Sometimes they cooperate with local rulers, as the British did in India, while at other times they brutally subjugate nearly the entire indigenous population, as Belgian King Leopold II did in the Congo. At times, hundreds of thousands of settlers establish themselves, as the French did in Algeria, while at other times a handful of officials attempt to control the overseas possession, as in German New Guinea. No colony is like another; each is unique. Yet almost all of the dependent territories in America, Africa, Australia, or Asia share one common experience: the traumatic feeling of being involuntarily controlled by others. GEOEPOCHE PANORAMA explores one of the greatest crimes in human history: colonialism - in all its facets.