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.
Ethiopia and Liberia are widely believed to be the only two African countries to have never been colonized. Their location, economic viability, and unity helped Ethiopia and Liberia avoid colonization.
・Japan was in the Warring States period, and the potential for war among the feudal lords was substantial. Therefore, countries like Spain simply abandoned the idea of invasion. In fact, feudal lords throughout Japan had a large number of troops and a substantial number of firearms.
Battle of Adowa (Ethiopia) As you have already learned, Ethiopia along with Liberia, were the only African countries that were not colonized by Europeans.
Hong Kong and Macau transferred sovereignty to China in 1997 and 1999 finally marked the end of European colonial era.
Australia was the last continent to be found by the Europeans. In 1768, James Cook left England to explore the South Seas. He came across Australia and proclaimed it New South Wales. He promptly left, and no one else ventured to the continent for two decades.
British settlement of Australia began as a penal colony governed by a captain of the Royal Navy. Until the 1850s, when local forces began to be recruited, British regular troops garrisoned the colonies with little local assistance.
During the European powers' attempt to control the world, the Chinese Empire was not easy to conquer as it had a powerful army and government like the Ottoman Empire. Its large size became an advantage, making it an elusive target for colonization.
The first Dutch ship arrived in 1600, and in 1609 the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC) established a trading factory in Hirado. Following the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1639, the Dutch became the only Europeans allowed to remain in Japan.
Was China colonized by any country? Yes, China was colonized directly by Britain, Portugal, Russia, and China. Many other countries had control over trade in much of China.
The majority of the European powers, as a result, owned either colonies or dependencies, while Russia became the unique country that had both at the same time. In sum, the Soviet Union inherited a complex history—in which Russia was conqueror and colonizer as well as conquered and colonized.
In that declaration, then-Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said: “I feel acute remorse and offer an apology from my heart” over the colonial rule. Japanese governments have expressed remorse or apologies over the colonial period numerous times.
Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-1945. For the first ten years Japan ruled directly through the military, and any Korean dissent was ruthlessly crushed.
When European colonial powers threatened in the 19th and 20th centuries, Thailand managed to escape as the only country not to fall under colonial rule. This was due to a compromise between the French and British to keep it as a neutral territory between them.
If Europeans never colonized and invaded America, the native nations and tribes would continue to interact in trade. What we see as the new world would be extremely diverse and the groups which live on the continent would become well-known peoples in the old world.
Ethiopia's calendar takes its inspiration from the idea that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for seven years before they were expelled for their sins. After they repented, God promised to save them after 5,500 years. And, that explains why Ethiopians are seven years behind us.
From the 1st century BC, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla grew to control the peninsula and Manchuria as the Three Kingdoms of Korea (57 BC–668 AD), until unification by Silla in 676.
Before 1949. China and Japan are geographically separated only by a relatively narrow stretch of ocean. China has strongly influenced Japan with its writing system, architecture, culture, religion, philosophy, and law.
…colonization by the Spaniards and Portuguese from the late 15th through the 18th century as well as movements of independence from Spain and Portugal in the early 19th century. Even since independence, many of the various nations have experienced similar trends, and they have some awareness of a common heritage.…
United Kingdom (Britain) The British Empire was the largest of its kind in history, and once covered about one quarter of all the land on Earth.
During the First Opium War, China cedes the island of Hong Kong to the British with the signing of the Chuenpi Convention, an agreement seeking an end to the first Anglo-Chinese conflict.
Firstly, it was easier for Europeans to cross the Atlantic than for Chinese to cross the Pacific. Secondly, Europeans were motivated by the desire to access China's legendary wealth whereas Chinese had no such incentive for exploration.
Between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died, compared with only 399 to 440 colonisers. The tallies of the dead are not the only measure of what took place, according to Dr Bill Pascoe, a digital humanities specialist and key researcher on the project. “We are always using conservative estimates,” Pascoe said.
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.