"Which Asian Nations Were Never Colonized by Europe?" Topic

"Between the 16th and 20th centuries, various European nations set out to conquer the world and take all of its wealth. They seized lands in North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, Africa, and Asia as colonies. Some countries were able to fend off annexation, however, either through rugged terrain, fierce fighting, skillful diplomacy, or a lack of attractive resources. Which Asian countries, then, escaped colonization by Europeans?

This question seems straightforward, but the answer is rather complicated. Many Asian regions escaped direct annexation as colonies by the European powers, yet were still under various degrees of domination by the western powers. Here, then are the Asian nations that were not colonized, roughly ordered from most autonomous to least autonomous:…."
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Amicalement
Armand

True. Colonization and having temporary control of a region are two very different things.

But throwing the term colonization around helps with the drama and with the permanent finger-pointing.

Dan

And Colonization (tm) is obviously only bad if it is by Europeans.

So true! :)

Dan

And Colonization (tm) is obviously only bad if it is by Europeans.

I imagine the Koreans who lived under Japanese rule would beg to differ. But it did give us great movies like this one:
YouTube link

Indeed, I was just going to point out that Korea had gotten it from both sides – Chinese, Mongols, and Chinese again – and the Japanese on several occasions.

And then the Koreans at least for a few years were controlling some of the bordering Chinese territories.

Of course the Mongols (which the article actually notes as being the founders of the dynasty the Europeans were out to supplant) ran over much of Asia and the Middle East and dominated Russia for centuries.

Nepalese went on a tear in the 1800s until the Chinese stopped them.

Burma and Thailand went back and forth on several occasions.

But then those various Asian entities weren't as dastardly as those Europeans who built schools, roads (and later railroads), improved sanitation and water supplies, etc. to better enable them to exploit their colonies.

Goragrad

True! And it's interesting how the people who love to bring up evil colonial deeds never refer to those non-European nationalities as colonial powers. Why do you think that is?

When I recently mentioned to a college student the colonial expansion of Oman and their Zanzibar slave trade, the blank look on his face really made me wonder why tuition costs keeps getting higher. How can they know of the European colonial powers and draw a blank on everyone else? Is their education "Eurocentric" only because that is the only culture group they want to attack?

Some people should really ask for their money back.

Dan

Dan +1