Page 36 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two

colonialism 385

Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was born of a Polish fam- with only a score of followers against a whole army.
ily in Ukraine and was twenty-one years old before he I believe the natives talk of that war to this day. Mean-
spoke a word of English. Conrad’s own life forms the time, it seems, Stein never failed to annex on his own
basis of his novels of the sea. From Marseille, France, account every butterfly or beetle he could lay hands
to Singapore, Conrad sailed the seas for twenty years, on. After some eight years of war, negotiations, false
first as a seaman aboard clipper ships, and then as truces, sudden outbreaks, reconciliation, treachery,
master of his vessels in the British merchant marines. and so on, and just as peace seemed at last perma-
In the following excerpt from Lord Jim (1899), Con- nently established, his “poor Mohammed Bonso” was
rad contrasts the “privileged position” of an imperial- assassinated at the gate of his own royal residence
ist with that of one of his subjects. while dismounting in the highest spirits on his return
from a successful deer-hunt. This event rendered
By means of the simple formality Stein inherited the
Stein’s position extremely insecure, but he would
Scotsman’s privileged position and all his stock-in-
have stayed perhaps had it not been that a short time
trade, together with a fortified house on the banks of
afterwards he lost Mohammed’s sister (“my dear wife
the only navigable river in the country. Shortly after-
the princess,” he used to say solemnly), by whom he
wards the old queen, who was so free in her speech,
had had a daughter—mother and child both dying
died, and the country became disturbed by various
within three days of each other from some infectious
pretenders to the throne. Stein joined the party of a
fever. He left the country, which this cruel loss had
younger son, the one of whom thirty years later he
made unbearable to him. Thus ended the first and
never spoke otherwise but as “my poor Mohammed
adventurous part of his existence.
Bonso.” They both became the heroes of innumerable
Source: Conrad, J. (1965). Lord Jim (pp.122-123). New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc.
exploits; they had wonderful adventures, and once
stood a siege in the Scotsman’s house for a month,

Decolonization alized and pushed out of territories desired by the grow-
By the end of the twentieth century nearly all European ing European-descended population.This was the general
colonies had become independent nations. The United pattern throughout the Americas, Australia, and New
States was among the first of the colonies to declare inde- Zealand. The slave revolt in Haiti that led to independ-
pendence, which it achieved with its 1783 victory in the ence in 1804 was one notable exception to that pattern.
Revolutionary War. Many Spanish colonies in the Amer- The other form of decolonization was more common
icas followed suit in the nineteenth century. For the and involved the indigenous, colonized people retaking
African,Asian, and Pacific colonies of Britain, France, and control of their territory. In most regions it was a long
Germany, decolonization came in the mid- to late twen- process that often involved violence. At first, requests for
tieth century, most often as a result of disruptions and more autonomy were generally rejected by the colonizer;
political realignments following World Wars I and II. somewhat later limited reforms that provided a degree of
Decolonization typically takes one of two forms. In the home rule were often initiated. Finally, the colonial gov-
first, exemplified by the United States and Canada, set- ernment would leave and the indigenous people would
tlers, desiring political and economic independence, establish their own government and take control of the
sought the end of colonial control.With the mother coun- economy.
try no longer in power, the settlers were free to rule their The period following decolonization was difficult for
own newly established nation. This independence gen- most new nations. Old ethnic rivalries for power sur-
erally had no benefits for the original inhabitants of the faced, there were often conflicts between settlers and
land, however, who continued to find themselves margin- indigenous populations, the numbers of people with the