The Decolonization Process
Self-Determination by Dependent Territories
The process of achievingself-determination by colonial or dependent territories is known asdecolonization. A half-century ago, much of the world, especially Africa and Asia, consisted of colonies and dependent territoriesruled by a small number of colonial powers. Nowadays, almost all of the formercolonies have been transformed into independent countries. The United Nationsplayed an important role in this historic transformation. The United Nations was established in 1945 by 51 sovereign states. The Charter of the organization proclaimed “the respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as one of its basic purposes. Since then, nearly 750 million people…
