Colonization occurs when one country takes over the lands and people of another country or territory and subjects them to rule by its government instead of their own. For example, the American colonies before the Revolutionary War were land holdings of the British government and ruled by the British king—despite the fact that the Native Americans lived in North America for thousands of years before the European colonists arrived. When one country colonizes another country or territory, it usually exploits the land, resources, and people of the colonized lands for economic gain. Many countries celebrate a national Independence Day to rejoice that they are no longer colonies under foreign rule.
Nearly every country on Earth has been either a colonized territory or a colonizing power at some point in its history (some countries have been both). Moreover, most of the tiny subset of countries that have not been colonized have had to forcefully repel attempts at colonization. For example, several foreign nations have attempted to colonize Afghanistan, but its rugged terrain and tribalistic culture have thwarted those efforts. Similarly, the British sought to colonize Nepal during the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-1816 but were hampered by the mountainous terrain. In the end, the Brits were able to claim some of Nepal's territory, but their attempts to declare the country a British colony were ultimately unsuccessful.
Countries that have never been colonized:
The term "colonization" means different things to different people. Because of this disparity, the list of countries that have never been colonized varies tremendously from one source to the next. In addition, many lists focus upon countries that were not colonized by European countries—which misrepresents countries that were colonized by a country from Asia or Africa. Ultimately, of all the countries in the world, only one consistently appears on every list of countries that have never been colonized: Japan.
Several other countries appear on various lists. However, they all have events in their history that arguably make them colonies according to one definition or another.
The varied and disputed meanings of "colonization"
Countries that have been occupied by a foreign power are often considered to have been colonies. But many experts say that there is a distinct difference between a country that has been occupied or ruled over as compared to one that has been colonized. Case in point: Afghanistan was never officially colonized, but some historians say the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 counts as colonization.
Thailand, known in the nineteenth century as the Kingdom of Siam, was surrounded by the colonized countries of French Indochina (modern-day Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) and British Burma (modern-day Myanmar). The Siamese king adopted many pro-European customs and developed strong relations with the British to prevent the full colonization of his land. However, Thailand (along with Korea and parts of Mongolia and China) was later occupied by Japan during World War II—which many historians classify as colonization rather than an occupation.
The reason Japan's occupation is considered by many to be a colonization while similar situations during World War II are considered occupations—Italy's annexing of Ethiopia and Germany's conquest of Poland, for example—is due to the actions of the occupying country. Japan actively attempted to replace the local culture with Japanese culture. In Korea, for example, thousands of Korean men were forced to join Japan's military, use of the Korean language was suppressed, Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese surnames (known as as Sōshi-kaimei), thousands of culturally relevant Korean artifacts were taken to Japan or destroyed, and approximately 850,000 Japanese citizens were resettled in Korea. To many historians, this effort to not simply occupy another country, but assimilate and convert its population distinguishes an occupation from an attempted colonization.
In other cases, countries may have operated as unofficial de facto colonies, in which their lands and people were exploited for economic gain but the colonizing power did not establish its government in that country. For example, for much of the twentieth century, Britain held the rights to virtually all of the oil under Iran's land. The British government did not officially rule Iran, but it did own the country's most valuable resource, which greatly affected the Iranian government's policies and operations. Likewise, China was never formally colonized, but the Opium Wars of 1839-1842 and 1856-1860 were fought to ensure that British opium merchants had access to Chinese markets. These countries were neither colonies in the traditional sense nor fully free and sovereign.
Today, the effects of colonization can be seen worldwide, in the languages that a given nation's citizens speak (many Africans speak English or French as their primary language), the customs that they hold, and the exports they send out to the world.
