Starting from the first steps of the formation of the colonial system and most of the 20th century, the development of mankind largely proceeded under the sign of the dominance of a group of countries united under the general name “West” (Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia (USSR), Italy, Spain, USA, Canada etc.), i.e. the world was Eurocentric or, in in a broad sense, Euro-American-centric. Other peoples, regions and countries were taken into account insofar as they were connected with the history of the West.

The era of exploration and subjugation of Asia, Africa and America by European peoples began with the Great Geographical Discoveries of the 15th-16th centuries. The final act of this epic was the creation by the end of the 19th century. great colonial empires that covered vast areas and numerous nations and countries in all parts globe. It should be noted that colonialism and imperialism were not the exclusive monopoly of Europe or the Western world in modern and recent times. The history of conquest is as old as the history of civilizations. Empire as a form political organization countries and peoples existed almost from the very beginning of human history. Suffice it to recall, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, the Roman and Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empire, empires of Qing Shi Huang and Genghis Khan, etc.

IN modern understanding The term "empire" (as well as its derivative term "imperialism") is related to the Latin word for "emperor" and is usually associated with ideas of dictatorial power and coercive methods of government. In modern times, it first came into use in France in the 30s of the 19th century. and was used against supporters of the Napoleonic Empire. In subsequent decades, with the increasing colonial expansion of Britain and other countries, the term gained popularity as an equivalent to the term "colonialism". On turn of the 19th century and 20th centuries imperialism began to be viewed as a special stage in the development of capitalism, characterized by the tightening of exploitation of the lower classes within the country and the intensification of the struggle for the redivision of the world in the international arena.

Imperialism is also characterized by special relations of domination and dependence. Different nations are not equal in their origin, influence, resources, and opportunities. Some of them are large, others are small, some have developed industry, while others are significantly behind in the process of modernization. International inequality has always been a reality, which led to the suppression and subjugation of weak peoples and countries by strong and powerful empires and world powers.

As historical experience shows, any strong civilization has invariably shown a tendency towards spatial expansion. Therefore, it inevitably acquired an imperial character. In the last five centuries, the initiative in expansion belonged to the Europeans, and then to the West as a whole. Chronologically, the beginning of the formation of Eurocentric capitalist civilization coincided with the beginning of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The emerging young dynamic civilization seemed to immediately declare its claims to the entire globe. During the four centuries that followed the discoveries of Columbus and Vasco da Gama, the rest of the world was either developed and populated, or conquered.

Industrial revolution of the 19th century. gave a new impetus to the overseas expansion of European powers. Territorial conquests began to be seen as a means of increasing wealth, prestige, military power and gaining additional trump cards in the diplomatic game. An acute conflict has developed between the leading industrial powers. competitive fight for the areas and regions of the most profitable investment of capital, as well as markets for goods. End of the 19th century was marked by an intensification of the struggle of leading European countries for the conquest of still unoccupied territories and countries in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

By the beginning of the 20th century. The wave of creation of huge colonial empires ended, the largest of which was the British Empire, stretching over vast areas from Hong Kong in the East to Canada in the West. The whole world was divided, there were almost no “no man’s” territories left on the planet. The great era of European expansion was over. In the course of many wars for the division and redistribution of territories, European peoples extended their dominance over almost the entire globe.

Until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. non-European peoples mastered European scientific, technical, economic, intellectual and other achievements passively; Now the stage of their active development has begun, as if from the inside. The priority in this regard undoubtedly belongs to Japan, which, as a result of the Meiji reforms in 1868, embarked on the path of capitalist development. The reforms marked the beginning of significant economic growth for the country, which, in turn, gave it the opportunity to move on to the path of external expansion. The attack by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941 on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor demonstrated firsthand the real beginning of the end of the Eurocentric world and became the starting point new era in world history. But until the second half of the 20th century. the world remained Eurocentric: Western countries continued to dictate their will and determine the rules of the political game in the international arena. The overwhelming majority of other countries and peoples were assigned only a passive role as objects of the policies of the great powers.

Formation of the world economy World economic ties originate in world trade, which dates back thousands of years. In the pre-industrial era, the paradigm (from the gr. paradeigma - sample) of economic development can be characterized as “sustained consumption”. Then simple reproduction was typical, and subsistence farming was dominant. From the point of view of the socio-economic form, this corresponded to the primitive, slave and feudal modes of production. The enrichment of the ruling classes was carried out through non-economic coercion of slaves and peasants.

World trade and world economic relations acquired their new quality on the basis of the Great Geographical Discoveries of the late XV-XVI centuries. and the decay of feudalism in Europe. Great geographical discoveries were not an accident. They were the result of the development of technology and science, economics, cities, and commodity-money relations. Creating a new type sailing ships-- caravels allowed X. Columbus's expedition to cross the Atlantic Ocean (1492). A compass began to be used, in combination with an astrolabe to help navigate the open sea. Cartography has improved.

A huge incentive was the “thirst for gold.” It was determined not only by the desire of kings and other nobles to replenish their treasury, not only by the passion of adventurers for enrichment, but also by the need for growing trade turnover. The pursuit of money and its fetishization began. Trade interests were important. The Seljuk Turks' capture of Constantinople interrupted Levantine trade. All this stimulated the geographical expeditions of the Spaniards and Portuguese, and later the French, Dutch, and British.

Russia played an outstanding role in the exploration and development of the northern coast of Asia and America, the Arctic and Pacific oceans. The consequences of geographical discoveries were extremely important. A significant share of colonial spoils went into the hands of kings and court nobles and received feudal use. Large land ownership, serfdom, and even plantation slavery were imposed in the colonies. But still, capitalist consequences were predominant - the process of initial accumulation of capital.

Throughout the 16th century. The territory known to Europeans increased 6 times. The territorial base of trade has reached gigantic proportions. It has become global, oceanic. The scope of the international division of labor has expanded. Huge masses of new goods were involved in trade turnover. European capital became more full-blooded and viable. Penetrating into industry, he accelerated the development of manufacturing capitalism. There was a movement of trade routes to the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

The Mediterranean Sea began to lose its importance, the cities of its coast fell into decay. But Lisbon, Seville, Cadiz (Spain), Antwerp, Amsterdam, London rose. Economic centers moved west during this period. The influx of cheap gold and silver caused in the 16th century. “price revolution” - they increased 2-5 times. This accelerated the enrichment of merchants and manufactory owners, who sold goods at ever-increasing prices and paid wages with ever-cheaper money. Prosperous peasants speculating in raw materials and food also became rich. As for the workers and the rural poor, they suffered from high prices. The income of the nobility became scarce as monetary dues depreciated.

One of the most important consequences of geographical discoveries was colonialism. Accelerating economic development Western Europe occurred at the cost of unequal exchange, robbery and enslavement of the peoples of America, Africa, and Asia. All of the above allows us to conclude that it was the Great Geographical Discoveries that marked the beginning of the formation of the world economy.

From the standpoint of socio-economic forms of society, this stage is characterized by the process of decomposition of feudal relations, the feudal mode of production as a whole, the genesis of capitalism - the initial accumulation of capital, which, on the basis of geographical discoveries, exploitation of mineral resources and enslaved peoples, also received a new quality. In this regard, the initial stage of the formation of the world economy is usually associated with the final victory over the feudal mode of production, the process of initial accumulation of capital and the formation of free competition. There has been a fundamental change in the paradigm of economic development. Central figure the movement of the economy becomes an “economic man” with strong motives and benefits, enterprising, ready to take risks for the sake of profit. The rate of economic growth has increased sharply. Great Britain is becoming the most developed, advanced country in the world.

Great geographical discoveries contributed to its economic rise. Before this, England occupied a rather modest place. The process of the formation of capitalism here occurred more intensively and with greater clarity than in other countries. Therefore, England is considered a “classical” capitalist country.

The main commodity industry of the country was agriculture. The wool was exported for processing to Flanders and Florence. Our own industrial production based on guild crafts also developed. Great geographical discoveries expanded the world market, increased demand and prices. Thanks to lower production costs, manufacture quickly replaced small-scale handicraft production.

For further development, more raw materials and free labor were required. Sheep breeding was profitable for feudal lords, but faced limited pastures. Landlords seized communal pastures and drove peasants off the land, which in history was called enclosure. In this case, brutal measures were used, entire areas were devastated. The peasants driven off the land lost their livelihoods and turned into beggars and vagabonds.

Agrarian revolution of the 16th century. created conditions for the rapid growth of the wool industry, providing it with raw materials and labor. “Bloody” legislation formed a new capitalist labor discipline. Workers received meager wages with long working hours (from 5 a.m. to 6-8 p.m.). The development of industrial production and the growth of the non-agricultural population contributed to the formation of a domestic market, the size of which was limited by low effective demand. This oriented production toward the foreign market.

The characteristic policy at this time was mercantilism. However, the growing bourgeoisie experienced oppression from the ruling elite of the nobility, which caused its struggle against the feudal order. Bourgeois revolution 1642-1649 put an end to feudalism in England, ended the Middle Ages and ushered in a period of new history - capitalism. In economics, this contributed to the industrial revolution and the formation of a new stage in the world economy. Thus, the first stage of the formation of the world economy can be conditionally limited to the framework of the late XV - late XVIII centuries. The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century characterized a new stage in the development of the world economy. Industrial capital begins to occupy a central place in the economy, which also changed the paradigm of economic development, the model of which is the industrialized economy.

Stages of development of the world economy In its formation and development, the world economy has come a long and difficult path.

By the middle of the 20th century, the world economy was split into two parts: the world capitalist and the world socialist.

Since the 1960s, developing countries have been included in the MX system. By the mid-70s, the following stood out noticeably among them: the so-called “new industrial countries” of Southeast Asia (the first wave - 4 “small dragons” - South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore) and the countries of Latin America: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico. After the collapse of the USSR and revolutionary changes in countries of Eastern Europe The world economy begins to acquire the features of a single, holistic entity. The emerging global world economy, while not homogeneous, includes the national economies of industrialized countries, developing countries and countries with an economic system of a transition type. While maintaining many contradictions and diverse trends, MX at the turn of the 21st century is incomparably more holistic, integrated, and dynamic than in the middle of the 20th century.

The world economy at the turn of the 21st century is global in scale; it is based entirely on the principles of a market economy, objective laws of the international division of labor, and the internationalization of production and capital. By the end of the 90s, a number of stable trends emerged in the world economy. These include: - stable rates of economic growth.

The average growth rate of all countries in the world rose from less than 1% in the early 90s to 3% per annum at the end of the decade; - increasing the foreign economic factor in economic development. The scale has noticeably increased and the nature of traditional international trade in embodied goods and services has changed qualitatively. “Electronic commerce” has appeared, i.e. trading on the Internet; - globalization of financial markets and increased interdependence of national economies; - growth in the share of the service sector in national economy and international exchange; - development of regional integration processes. The achieved degree of unity of trade, production and the credit and financial sphere of industrial developed countries serves as a sign of the formation of a world economic complex (WEC).

Russia and Europe in the 18th century. Changes in the international position of the empire.

The outcome of the palace struggle at the end of the 17th century, clearing power Petru, predetermined the nature of the further development of transformations. Peter abruptly put forward the German-technical direction to the detriment of the Polish-scholastic one and concentrated his vigorous activity on continuing military, financial and administrative reforms. The starting points of the reform were already given by the experiences of the 17th century.

The development of the reform was devoid of systematic planning and proceeded in fits and starts, under the direct influence of current military events and increasing financial difficulties. Only in the second half of the reign, by the 20s of the 18th century, a more systematic reform plan was outlined, inspired by Western theories of enlightened absolutism and mercantilism and based on models of foreign, mainly Swedish, institutions.

The development of this transformative plan was the collective work of a number of people who submitted transformative projects to Peter on similar issues. Understanding these projects, Peter gave the implementation of the planned transformations a forced, terrorist character. Along with the properties of Peter's personal character, the feverishly excited pace of the transformative work was determined by the course of external events.

War filled the entire reign of Peter. The end of the 90s of the 17th century was occupied by the Azov campaigns. They were a continuation of Russia's participation in the European coalition against Turkey, which was formed under Peter's predecessors. With the capture of Azov and the construction of the Voronezh fleet, the prestige of Russia, shaken by the failures of Prince Golitsyn, was raised both in the eyes of the allies and in the eyes of Turkey. Moldavia and Wallachia turned to Peter with an offer of citizenship and the transfer of military operations against Turkey to the banks of the Danube. But at this time, members of the coalition were already in a hurry to make peace with Turkey: Western Europe was preparing for another grandiose struggle - for the Spanish inheritance.

The collapse of the coalition forced Russia to conclude a truce with Turkey for 30 years (July 3, 1700). Azov went to Russia, Russia's annual tribute to the Crimean Khan was destroyed. Two months after the conclusion of this truce, a war began with Sweden, against which back in 1699 Peter entered into an alliance with Poland. The Polish king Augustus and the Livonian nobleman Patkul, who worked hard to conclude a Polish-Russian union, dreamed that when dividing his future conquests, Peter would be content with Ingria and Karelia.

The defeat of the Russians at Narva further increased the claims and hopes of Augustus. He demanded that Peter cede Poland to Little Russia; but the alliance was renewed without fulfilling this condition. After the Narva victory, Charles XII, in the words of Peter, “got stuck in Poland,” and the Russians at that time ravaged Livonia, captured Dorpat and Narva and established themselves on the Neva with the capture of Noteburg and Nyenskans and the founding of St. Petersburg (1703). Having reached the sea, Peter began to think about peace with Sweden and asked Austria, England, Holland and France for mediation. Powers that fought with Louis XIV, did not sympathize with the strengthening of Russia and coldly greeted Peter’s request. Negotiations with Sweden began with the mediation of France, but were interrupted due to the demand of Charles XII to return all Russian conquests to Sweden.

Russia occupied Courland; Charles, having forced Poland to peace and replaced Augustus on the Polish throne with Stanislav Leszczynski, was preparing to march deep into Russia. Peter was afraid of the Swedes' campaign against Moscow, but Karl, counting on the Little Russian Cossacks and the Crimean Khan, moved to Ukraine. The Battle of Poltava (1709) turned the entire course of both military and diplomatic actions. Karl fled to Turkey; Russia, with its success, attracted the watchful attention of all of Europe, coupled with fear. Fear caused hostility. France and Poland raised Turkey against Russia. Peter went to the break, encouraged by the hope of the Balkan Slavs, who during this reign of Peter did not cease to appeal to the protection of Russia. The rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia entered into formal alliances with Peter against the Turks, under the condition of declaring the independence of their rulers. The betrayal of the Wallachian ruler Brankovan subjected Russian army terrible danger from the Turks and forced the Prut campaign to end with a difficult peace for Russia with Turkey: Azov again passed to Turkey, the newly built Russian cities Sea of ​​Azov ruined, Charles XII was guaranteed a free return to Swedish possessions.

The years 1711 - 1715 were busy with military operations in Pomerania and Finland. The penetration of Russian troops into Germany further increased the anxiety of Europe hostile to Russia. The end of the War of the Spanish Succession made it possible for European powers to more closely monitor Russia's political growth. England, Austria, France behaved towards Russia, partly with cold tension, partly with open hostility. Poland, where Augustus reigned again after the Battle of Poltava, Denmark and Prussia were allied with Peter, but the first two powers were afraid of Russia and intrigued against its successes.

Despite all this, Peter, after successes in Finland, drew up a plan for landing a united Russian-Danish fleet in southern Sweden. The plan did not materialize due to discord among the allies. Peter then began to seek rapprochement with France. After his trip to Paris, an alliance was concluded between Russia, France and Prussia, with the obligation to open negotiations with Sweden through France.

Simultaneously with this agreement, however, it was decided - at the suggestion of the Swedish diplomat Hertz - a congress of Russian and Swedish representatives in the Åland Islands, without the participation of French representatives. The Congress of Åland, during which Charles XII was replaced on the throne by Ulrika Eleonora, did not lead to anything. Peter resumed the war. Despite the demonstrative cruising of the English fleet in the Baltic Sea, the Russian army landed in Sweden several times and devastated the outskirts of Stockholm. This led to the conclusion of peace in Nystadt in 1721. Finland, except for Vyborg, was returned to Sweden, but Russia received Livonia, Estland, Ingria, with the payment of 2 million rubles to Sweden. Russia's two-century desire for the Baltic coast was satisfied. Not more than a year later, Peter set off on a new campaign, to Persia.

The thought of Caspian acquisitions occupied Peter from the beginning of his reign and intensified even more after the Prut campaign. The strengthening of Russia in the Caspian Sea was supposed to serve as a reward for the failure in the Black Sea. The internal disorder of the Persian monarchy, revealed by Volynsky's embassy to Persia (1716), further strengthened Peter in terms of the Persian campaign. Russian troops quickly occupied the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

The Persian War caused a new outbreak of hostile distrust of Russia in Europe and almost led to a new break with Turkey, to which Persia turned for help and which was zealously incited against Russia by Austrian and English diplomats. Peter's conquests raised Russia's international position to unprecedented heights and increased the state's territory by more than 10,000 square miles, but greatly increased the size of the army. In the first decade of the 18th century, the war caused an increase in the army from 40 to 100 thousand people and required the creation of a navy.

Military expenditures increased, compared to the budget of 1680, by 40 million, and expenditures on military needs accounted for 65% of the total government expenditures. The growth of troops and military expenditures led to a new reorganization of the military and financial system, which in turn caused a number of social and administrative transformations. Streltsy infantry and local noble cavalry of old times were replaced by a regular army.

In the first half of the reign, new direct taxes were introduced, new objects of taxation were found, coinage was widely used through the recoining of silver money, government quitrent articles were reissued, proprietary fishing, home baths, mills, and inns were again subject to quitrent, and a number of government monopolies were established. All this did not warn financial crisis. A deficit of half a million was expected in 1710.

A household census carried out in 1710 showed a huge population decline throughout Russia. The decentralization of financial management, carried out with the establishment of provinces, did not contribute to the increase and streamlining of revenues; new “request” and “non-salary” fees were received with ever greater arrears. The government again faced a task that had already had to be resolved at the end of the 17th century - reform of the taxation procedure and consolidation of direct tax. This was done in the 20s of the 18th century.

Household taxation was replaced by capitation taxation in order to better achieve universality and uniformity of taxation. Indirect taxes temporarily occupy a secondary place in the revenue budget. Military and financial reforms contributed to changing the structure of Russian society. Changes in the order of service completed the estate-corporate organization of the nobility; The taxation reform was accompanied by the further establishment of serfdom among the peasantry.

After the special duty of the service class, military service, was turned into an all-class duty, the nobility received its special role when fulfilling this duty: after serving ordinary service in the guard, the nobles became officers in the army, forming a noble-officer corporation in it. Another special class obligation of the nobility was compulsory education according to a government-approved program. Civil service still remained indefinite and compulsory for the nobility: civil service in the offices was placed on a par with military service in the regiments, and the distribution of members of each noble family between both branches of service was subject to the proportion established by law.

With the abolition of local militias, the land ceased to serve as the material basis for the allocation of official burdens, but all noble lands - both former estates and former estates - began to be considered as a fund officially assigned to the nobility material support serving noble families.

Therefore, the decree of 1714 legalized the inalienability and indivisibility of noble lands. By creating a service class corporation from the nobility, Peter opened free access to outsiders into his midst. The table of ranks finally replaced the old principle of the breed in the service schedule with the beginning of personal service, legitimizing the acquisition of nobility by rank, which greatly contributed to the democratization of the social system.

The decrees on audit and poll tax completed the transformation of the lower social strata into a homogeneous enslaved mass. These decrees changed the legal basis of attachment, legitimizing the attachment of a peasant to a landowner in a revision tale, and extended serfdom to new social categories - to children of the parish clergy who do not have specific occupations, people walking and serfs, who, along with peasants, were registered in revision tales for the owners and subject to a capitation salary. This entire legally united serf mass was placed under the control of landowners-nobles, responsible to the treasury for the tax service of their peasants and police order within their estates. Administrative reform Petra stood in equally close connection with military and financial transformations.

In the first half of the reign, under the pressure of military concerns and due to the need to ensure the maintenance of a new regular army, the system of military administrative districts outlined already in the 17th century was completed. The empire was divided into eight such districts, called provinces. The constant movement of troops due to military operations did not make it possible to territorialize the army in these districts; Nevertheless, financially, each part of the army was assigned to one of the provinces, and the main function of the provincial administration was the transfer of provincial taxes directly to the maintenance of the regiments. The indefinitely broad power of the governors had to be somewhat moderated by the introduction of a collegial and elective principle into the mechanism of the provincial administration.

In fact, however, the elections of the Landrat soon gave way to appointments. In 1719-20, the administrative system underwent a new revision, under the influence of Swedish models and in the spirit of bureaucratic centralization. The collegial principle was transferred from the region to the center, and the elective principle was eliminated. The boards, established on the Swedish model, distributed among themselves the administration of the empire according to the type of affairs. For a short time, the Senate became, as it were, the general presence of collegiate presidents, who were appointed from among the senators; but this order was soon abolished as contrary to the controlling role of the Senate in relation to the collegiums. The colleges received new, low-ranking presidents, while the old noble presidents remained in the Senate, which gave the Senate personnel an aristocratic touch and turned the colleges into subordinate bodies of the Senate.

Collegiums remained in an exceptional position Military, Admiralty and Foreign: they retained the former presidents and did not fall under the subordination of the Senate, which clearly expressed the primacy of the issues external struggle in the range of immediate government tasks. With the establishment of the central collegiums, the Landrat collegiums in the provinces disappeared.

The elective principle was retained in the districts, where zemstvo commissars elected from local nobles were vested with very diverse powers, from collecting taxes to the morality police, inclusive. In practice, however, the commissars soon became subordinate agents of the military authorities, primarily for the collection of poll taxes. Having established the administration on the basis of centralization and bureaucratic guardianship, paralyzing the weak embryos of public control, Peter subordinated the administrative mechanism to double crown control: secret over finances - the fiscal and overt over the courts - the prosecutor's office; the top leadership of both was concentrated in the hands of the prosecutor general. Public autonomy in the field of urban management became somewhat more widespread.

Developing the reform of the 1680s, Peter transferred financial fees, management and judgment over the commercial and industrial population of cities to burgomasters elected from among this population, who were subordinate to the burgomaster chamber or town hall, also composed of elected officials. However, in the 20s of the 18th century, with the transformation of town halls into magistrates, a bureaucratic element was introduced into this sphere. Service in the magistrates was made, as it were, a privilege of the highest, “first-class” layer of the urban merchants.

This reflected the main trend of Peter's economic policy - the encouragement of large urban industry, bequeathed to him by the reform program of the 17th century. Rapprochement with the West gradually developed this tendency into a conscious mercantilistic system, expressed in three directions: 1) in encouraging the mining industry in order to increase the country's metal reserves, 2) in regulating foreign trade on the basis of the trade balance, and 3) in encouraging the native factory industry.

Until 1719, Peter continued, like his predecessors, to call foreign technicians and craftsmen from Austria, Venice, Holland, Sweden, Germany to Russia, and also to send Russians abroad to learn skills. In 1719, with the establishment of the manufactory college, these activities were systematized. All of Peter's measures, however, could not accelerate the growth of the factory industry, which was not yet based on the natural successes of the national economy.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Russia was still a country of agricultural and small household industry. Peter's reform put an end to the external forms of the old Moscow statehood forever, but at the same time brought to its highest development the very principles that underlay the previous state system. The reorganization of the military and tax organization proceeded from the old principle of the absorption of all national resources by the needs of the fiscal, the needs of state military defense.

Estate reforms changed the previous order of distribution of state duties between social classes, but still left the entire population from top to bottom enslaved to service and tax.

Administrative reforms modified the structure of government institutions, but even more sharply eliminated public unions from participation in current management, which was completely transferred to the hands of the bureaucracy. Economic and educational measures were aimed at bringing to life two truly new forces that had not previously played a prominent role in state building - industrial capital and scientific knowledge. But the experiments of the first category anticipated the results of economic development that were yet to come in the future, and therefore did not fully achieve the goal, and the experiments with the planting of knowledge proceeded from the old, narrowly applied view of book learning, with only the transfer of interest from issues of spiritual salvation to issues of technical progress.

Completing the previous process of state structure, Peter's reform nevertheless prepared a new era of progressive development of Russian life. The rapprochement with the West, undertaken for the sake of borrowings of a purely technical nature, did not stop within these initial frameworks and gradually captured more and more new spheres of life. Already in the first half of the 18th century, the influence of political and philosophical Western European literature spread quite widely among the upper strata of society. Ideas natural law, the contractual origin of the state, popular sovereignty were perceived by Russian leaders and accordingly applied to the native movements that emerged among the Russian nobility. These movements themselves were, in turn, an indirect consequence of Peter’s reforms.

In parallel with the discovery of new lands, they were studied, described and conquered. In the new lands, the interests of different countries collided, controversial situations and conflicts, often armed, arose.

Portugal and Spain took the path of colonial conquest before others. They also made the first attempt to delimit their spheres of interest. To prevent the possibility of clashes, both states entered into a special agreement in 1494, according to which everything again open lands those to the west of the 30th meridian were to belong to the Spaniards, and to the east to the Portuguese. However, the demarcation line passed only along the Atlantic Ocean, and later this led to contradictions when the Spaniards, approaching from the east, and the Portuguese from the west, met in the Moluccas.

The invaders, the conquistadors, conquered vast territories, turning them into colonies, appropriated and ruthlessly exploited their wealth, converted pagan natives to Christianity, and wiped out entire civilizations from the face of the earth. By the middle of the 17th century. the largest overseas territories belonged to Spain, Portugal, Holland, France and England.

Conclusion

Until the XV-XVII centuries. The West was a relatively closed region, and at the stage of the decomposition of feudalism, the borders of the Western world expanded, the process of forming a pan-European and world market began, and the horizons of Europeans expanded.

Such shifts were caused by the Great Geographical Discoveries that spanned precisely these two and a half centuries. Great geographical discoveries became possible thanks to the organization by Europeans of expeditions across the oceans to find new routes to India, a country of untold riches. The previous routes to this distant fairyland through the Mediterranean Sea and Western Asia were blocked by Arab, Turkish, and Mongol-Tatar conquerors. And Europe during this period experienced a significant significant shortage of gold and silver as a means of circulation.

The great geographical discoveries had very important economic consequences, although different for different countries.

First of all, the development of the world productive forces has advanced; The territory known by that time increased only during the 16th century. six times, there were fewer and fewer white spots on it.

Trade routes from the Northern, Baltic and Mediterranean seas moved to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Thanks to this, trade routes connected the continents. Navigation made it possible to establish stable economic ties between individual parts of the world and determined the formation of world trade.

Great geographical discoveries contributed to the disintegration of feudalism and the development of capitalist relations, laying the foundations of the world market.

However, there are also negative consequences, which was reflected in the formation of the colonial system of nascent capitalism.

Geographical discoveries of the XV-XVI centuries. changed the course of world history, ushering in the expansion of leading Western European countries in various regions of the globe and the emergence of colonial empires.

The first colonial powers were Spain and Portugal. A year after the discovery of the West Indies by Christopher Columbus, the Spanish crown demanded confirmation by the Pope (1493) of its exclusive right to discover the New World. Having concluded the Treaties of Tordesillas (1494) and Saragossa (1529), the Spaniards and Portuguese divided New World on spheres of influence. However, the 1494 agreement on the division of spheres of influence along the 49th meridian seemed too tight for both parties (the Portuguese, despite it, were able to take possession of Brazil), and after trip around the world Magellan has lost its meaning. All newly discovered lands in America, with the exception of Brazil, were recognized as the possessions of Spain, which, in addition, seized the Philippine Islands. Brazil and lands along the coasts of Africa, India and Southeast Asia went to Portugal.

Colonial activities of France, England and Holland up to early XVII V. was reduced mainly to preliminary exploration of the territories of the New World that were not conquered by the Spaniards and Portuguese.

Only the crushing of Spanish and Portuguese domination of the seas at the end of the 16th century. created the preconditions for the rapid expansion of new colonial powers. The struggle for colonies began, in which the state-bureaucratic system of Spain and Portugal was opposed by the private enterprise initiative of the Dutch and British.

The colonies became an inexhaustible source of enrichment for the states of Western Europe, but their merciless exploitation resulted in disasters for the indigenous inhabitants. The natives were often subjected to total extermination or forced out of the lands, used as cheap labor or slaves, and their introduction to Christian civilization was accompanied by the barbaric extermination of the original local culture.

With all this, Western European colonialism became a powerful lever for the development of the world economy. The colonies ensured the accumulation of capital in the metropolises, creating new markets for them. As a result of an unprecedented expansion of trade, a world market emerged; the center of economic life moved from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Old World port cities such as Lisbon in Portugal, Seville in Spain, Antwerp and the Netherlands became powerful centers of trade. Antwerp became the richest city in Europe, in which, thanks to the regime of complete freedom of transactions established there, large-scale international trade and credit transactions were carried out.

33.Formation of the colonial system and modernization of the civilizations of the East in the 19th century.

The countries of Europe, having carried out modernization, received enormous advantages compared to the rest of the world, which was based on the principles of traditionalism. This advantage also affected the military potential. Therefore, following the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, associated mainly with reconnaissance expeditions, colonialist expansion to the East of the most developed countries of Europe began already in the 12th-13th centuries. Traditional civilizations, due to the backwardness of their development, were not able to resist this expansion and turned into easy prey for their stronger opponents.

At the first stage of colonization of traditional societies, Spain and Portugal were in the lead. They managed to conquer most of South America. In the mid-18th century, Spain and Portugal began to lag behind in economic development and were relegated to the background as maritime powers. Leadership in colonial conquests passed to England. Since 1757, the trading East

The Indian English Company captured almost the entire Hindustan for almost a hundred years. Active colonization by the British began in 1706 North America. At the same time, the development of Australia was underway, to whose territory the British sent criminals sentenced to hard labor. The Dutch East India Company took over Indonesia. France established colonial rule in the West Indies as well as in the New World (Canada).

African continent in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Europeans developed only on the coast and were used mainly as a source of slaves. In the 19th century, Europeans moved far into the continent and by the middle of the 19th century, Africa was almost completely colonized. The exceptions were two countries: Christian Ethiopia, which showed staunch resistance to Italy, and Liberia, created by former slaves immigrants from the United States.

In Southeast Asia, the French captured most of Indochina. Only Siam (Thailand) retained relative independence, but a large territory was also taken away from it.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was subjected to strong pressure from the developed countries of Europe. The countries of the Levant (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), which were officially considered part of Ottoman Empire During this period, they became a zone of active penetration by Western powers - France, England, Germany. During the same period, Iran lost not only economic, but also political independence. IN late XIX century, its territory was divided into spheres of influence between England and Russia. Thus, in the 19th century, almost all countries of the East fell into one form or another of dependence on the most powerful capitalist countries, turning into colonies or semi-colonies. For Western countries, colonies were a source of raw materials, financial resources, labor, as well as sales markets. The exploitation of the colonies by the Western metropolises was of a cruel and predatory nature. At the cost of merciless exploitation and robbery, the wealth of the Western metropolises was created and the relatively high standard of living of their population was maintained.

Initially, European countries did not bring their characteristic political culture and socio-economic relations to the colonies. Faced with the ancient civilizations of the East, which had long ago developed their own traditions of culture and statehood, the conquerors sought, first of all, their economic subjugation. In territories where there was no statehood at all or was at a fairly low level (for example, in North America or Australia), they were forced to create certain state structures, to some extent borrowed from the experience of the metropolises, but with greater national specifics. In North America, for example, power was concentrated in the hands of governors who were appointed by the British government. The governors had advisers, usually from among the colonists, who defended the interests of the local population. Self-government bodies played a major role: the meeting of representatives of the colonies and the legislative bodies - the legislature.

In India, the British did not particularly interfere in political life and sought to influence local rulers through economic means of influence (enslaving loans), as well as providing military assistance in internecine struggles.

Economic policies in various European colonies! was largely similar. Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, and England initially transferred feudal structures to their colonial possessions. At the same time, plantation farming was widely used. Of course, these were not slave-owning plantations of the classical type, as, say, in Ancient Rome. They represented a large capitalist economy working for the market, but using crude forms of non-economic coercion and dependence.

Many of the consequences of colonization were negative. A robbery was taking place national wealth, merciless exploitation of the local population and poor colonists. Trading companies brought stale consumer goods to the occupied territories and sold them at high prices. On the contrary, valuable raw materials, gold and silver, were exported from colonial countries. Under the onslaught of goods from the metropolises, traditional oriental crafts withered, traditional forms of life and value systems were destroyed.

At the same time, eastern civilizations were increasingly drawn into the new system of world relations and came under the influence of Western civilization. Gradually, the assimilation of Western ideas and political institutions took place, the creation of capitalism; what economic infrastructure. Under the influence of these processes, traditional Eastern civilizations are being reformed.

A striking example of changes in traditional structures under the influence of colonialist policies is provided by the history of India. After the dissolution of the East India Trading Company in 1858, India became part of the British Empire. In 1861, a law was passed on the creation of legislative bodies - Indian Councils, and in 1880 a law on local self-government was adopted. Thus, the beginning was laid for a new phenomenon for Indian civilization - elected bodies of representation. Although it should be noted that only about 1% of the Indian population was eligible to participate in these elections.

The British made significant financial investments in the Indian economy. The colonial administration, resorting to loans from English bankers, built railways, irrigation structures, and enterprises. In addition, private capital also grew in India, which played a major role in the development of the cotton and jute industries, and in the production of tea, coffee and sugar. The owners of the enterprises were not only the British, but also the Indians. 1/3 of the share capital was in the hands of the national bourgeoisie.

Since the 40s of the 19th century, the English authorities began to actively work to form a national “Indian” intelligentsia in blood and skin color, tastes, morality and mentality. Such intelligentsia was formed in colleges and universities in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and other cities.

In the 19th century, the process of modernization also took place in the countries of the East that did not directly fall into colonial dependence. In the 40s of the 19th century, reforms began in the Ottoman Empire. The administrative system and the court were transformed, and secular schools were created. Non-Muslim communities (Jewish, Greek, Armenian) were officially recognized, and their members received access to public service. In 1876, a bicameral parliament was created, which somewhat limited the power of the Sultan; the constitution proclaimed the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. However, the democratization of eastern despotism turned out to be very fragile, and in 1878, after Turkey’s defeat in the war with Russia, a rollback to its original positions occurred. After the coup d'etat, despotism reigned again in the empire, parliament was dissolved, and the democratic rights of citizens were significantly curtailed.

In addition to Turkey, only two states in Islamic civilization began to master European standards of living: Egypt and Iran. The rest of the vast Islamic world remained subject to the traditional way of life until the middle of the 20th century.

China has also made certain efforts to modernize the country. In the 60s of the 19th century, the policy of self-strengthening gained widespread popularity here. In China, industrial enterprises, shipyards, and arsenals for the rearmament of the army began to be actively created. But this process has not received sufficient impetus. Further attempts to develop in this direction with great progress

rebellions resumed in the 20th century.

Japan advanced the furthest among the Eastern countries in the second half of the 19th century. The peculiarity of Japanese modernization is that in this country reforms were carried out quite quickly and most consistently. Using the experience of advanced European countries, the Japanese modernized industry, introduced a new system of legal relations, changed the political structure, the education system, and expanded civil rights and freedoms.

After the coup d'état of 1868, Japan underwent a series of radical reforms called the Meiji Restoration. As a result of these reforms, feudalism was ended in Japan. The government abolished feudal appanages and hereditary privileges, the daimyo princes, turning them into officials who headed provinces and prefectures. Titles were preserved, but class distinctions were abolished. This means that, with the exception of the highest dignitaries, in terms of class, princes and samurai were equal to other classes.

The land became the property of the peasants for ransom, and this opened the way for the development of capitalism. The wealthy peasantry, freed from the rent tax in favor of the princes, was given the opportunity to work in the market. Small landowners became poor, sold their plots and either turned into farm laborers or went to work in the city.

The state took over the construction of industrial facilities: shipyards, metallurgical plants, etc. It actively encouraged merchant capital, giving it social and legal guarantees. In 1889, Japan adopted a constitution that established a constitutional monarchy with greater rights for the emperor.

As a result of all these reforms, Japan has changed dramatically in a short period of time. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Japanese capitalism turned out to be quite competitive in relation to the capitalism of the largest Western countries, and the Japanese state became a powerful power.

Topic: “The formation of the colonial system, the influence of colonialism on the development of Europe”

Specialty 02/18/09. Oil and gas processing.

Performed):

Student group gr.

Checked by the teacher
stories:

Volgograd
2016

1.1Formation of the colonial system in the world………………………….3-7

1.2.Types of colonies……………………………………………………….……8-10

1.3.Features of colony management………………………………….11-16

1.4.The collapse of the colonial system and its consequences……………...…….17-25

List of references………………………………………………………...26

Application

Formation of the colonial system in the world.

The countries of Europe, having carried out modernization, received enormous advantages compared to the rest of the world, which was based on the principles of traditionalism. This advantage also affected the military potential. Therefore, following the era of great geographical discoveries, associated mainly with reconnaissance expeditions, already in the 17th-18th centuries. colonial expansion to the East of the most developed countries of Europe began. Traditional civilizations, due to the backwardness of their development, were not able to resist this expansion and turned into easy prey for their stronger opponents. The prerequisites for colonialism arose in the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, namely in the 15th century, when Vasco da Gama discovered the route to India and Columbus reached the shores of America. When encountering peoples of other cultures, Europeans demonstrated their technological superiority (oceanic sailing ships and firearms). The first colonies were founded in the New World by the Spaniards. The robbery of American Indian states contributed to the development of the European banking system, the growth of financial investments in science and stimulated the development of industry, which, in turn, demanded new raw materials.

The colonial policy of the period of primitive accumulation of capital was characterized by: the desire to establish a monopoly in trade with conquered territories, the seizure and plunder of entire countries, the use or imposition of predatory feudal and slave forms of exploitation of the local population. This policy played a huge role in the process of primitive accumulation. It led to the concentration of large capital in European countries based on the robbery of colonies and the slave trade, which especially developed from the 2nd half of the 17th century and served as one of the levers for turning England into the most developed country of that time.

In enslaved countries, colonial policies caused the destruction of productive forces, delayed the economic and political development of these countries, and led to the plunder of vast areas and the extermination of entire peoples. Military confiscation methods played a major role in the exploitation of the colonies during that period. A striking example of the use of such methods is the policy of the British East India Company in Bengal, which it conquered in 1757. The consequence of this policy was the famine of 1769-1773, the victims of which were 10 million Bengalis. In Ireland, during the 16th-17th centuries, the British government confiscated and transferred to English colonists almost all the lands that belonged to the native Irish.

At the first stage of colonization of traditional societies, Spain and Portugal were in the lead. They managed to conquer most of South America.

Colonialism in Modern Times. With the transition from manufacture to large-scale factory industry, significant changes occurred in colonial policy. The colonies are economically more closely connected with the metropolises, turning into their agrarian and raw materials appendages with a monocultural direction of agricultural development, into markets for industrial products and sources of raw materials for the growing capitalist industry of the metropolises. For example, the export of English cotton fabrics to India increased 65 times from 1814 to 1835.

The spread of new methods of exploitation, the need to create special bodies of colonial administration that could consolidate dominance over local peoples, as well as the rivalry of various layers of the bourgeoisie in the metropolises led to the liquidation of monopoly colonial trading companies and the transition of captured countries and territories under the state administration of the metropolises.

The change in the forms and methods of exploitation of the colonies was not accompanied by a decrease in its intensity. Enormous wealth was exported from the colonies. Their use led to accelerated socio-economic development in Europe and North America. Although the colonialists were interested in increasing marketability peasant farm in the colonies, they often supported and consolidated feudal and pre-feudal relations, considering the feudal and tribal nobility in the colonized countries as their social support.

With the beginning of the industrial era, Great Britain became the largest colonial power. Having defeated France during a long struggle in the 18th and 19th centuries, she increased her possessions at her expense, as well as at the expense of the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Great Britain conquered India. In 1840-42 and together with France in 1856-60, she waged the so-called Opium Wars against China, as a result of which China imposed beneficial treaties on itself. She took possession of Hong Kong (Hong Kong), tried to subjugate Afghanistan, captured strongholds in Persian Gulf, Aden. The colonial monopoly, together with the industrial monopoly, ensured Great Britain's position as the most powerful power throughout almost the entire 19th century. Colonial expansion was also carried out by other powers. France subjugated Algeria (1830-48), Vietnam (50-80s of the 19th century), established its protectorate over Cambodia (1863), Laos (1893). In 1885, the Congo became the possession of the Belgian King Leopold II, and a system of forced labor was established in the country.

In the middle of the 18th century. Spain and Portugal began to fall behind in economic development and how the sea powers were relegated to the background. Leadership in colonial conquests passed to England. Beginning in 1757, the English East India trading company captured almost the entire Hindustan for almost a hundred years. In 1706, active colonization of North America by the British began. At the same time, the development of Australia was underway, to whose territory the British sent criminals sentenced to hard labor. The Dutch East India Company took over Indonesia. France established colonial rule in the West Indies as well as in the New World (Canada).

African continent in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Europeans developed only on the coast and were used mainly as a source of slaves. In the 19th century Europeans advanced far into the continent and by the middle of the 19th century. Africa was almost completely colonized. The exceptions were two countries: Christian Ethiopia, which showed staunch resistance to Italy, and Liberia, created by former slaves immigrants from the United States.

In Southeast Asia, the French captured most of Indochina. Only Siam (Thailand) retained relative independence, but a large territory was also taken away from it.

By the middle of the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire was subjected to strong pressure from the developed countries of Europe. The countries of the Levant (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), which were officially considered part of the Ottoman Empire during this period, became an area of ​​active penetration by Western powers - France, England, Germany. During the same period, Iran lost not only economic, but also political independence. At the end of the 19th century. its territory was divided into spheres of influence between England and Russia. Thus, in the 19th century. Almost all countries of the East fell into one form or another of dependence on the most powerful capitalist countries, turning into colonies or semi-colonies. For Western countries, colonies were a source of raw materials, financial resources, labor, as well as sales markets. The exploitation of the colonies by the Western metropolises was of a cruel and predatory nature. At the cost of merciless exploitation and robbery, the wealth of the Western metropolises was created and the relatively high standard of living of their population was maintained.

Colony types

According to the type of management, settlement and economic development in the history of colonialism, three main types of colonies were distinguished:

· Resettlement colonies.

· Raw material colonies (or exploited colonies).

· Mixed (resettlement and raw materials colonies).

Migrant colonialism is a type of colonization management, the main goal of which was to expand the living space (the so-called Lebensraum) of the titular ethnic group of the metropolis to the detriment of autochthonous peoples. There is a massive influx of immigrants from the metropolis into resettlement colonies, who usually form a new political and economic elite. The local population is suppressed, displaced, and often physically destroyed (i.e., genocide is carried out). The metropolis often encourages resettlement to a new place as a means of regulating the size of its own population, as well as using new lands to exile undesirable elements (criminals, prostitutes, rebellious national minorities - Irish, Basques and others), etc. An example of a modern settler colony is Israel.

Key points When creating resettlement colonies, there are two conditions: low density of the autochthonous population with a relative abundance of land and other natural resources. Naturally, settler colonialism leads to a deep structural restructuring of the life and ecology of the region in comparison with resource (raw materials) colonialism, which, as a rule, sooner or later ends in decolonization. There are examples in the world of mixed migrant and raw materials colonies.

The first examples of a mixed-type settler colony were the colonies of Spain (Mexico, Peru) and Portugal (Brazil). But it was the British Empire, and after it the USA, the Netherlands and Germany, that began to pursue a policy of complete genocide of the autochthonous population in the newly conquered lands in order to create homogeneously white, English-speaking, Protestant settler colonies, which later turned into dominions. Having once made a mistake regarding the 13 North American colonies, England softened its attitude towards the new settler colonies. From the very beginning they were granted administrative and then political autonomy. These were the settler colonies in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But the attitude towards the autochthonous population remained extremely cruel. The Trail of Tears in the USA and the White Australia policy in Australia gained worldwide fame. No less bloody were the reprisals of the British against their European competitors: the “Great Trouble” in French Acadia and the conquest of Quebec, the French settler colonies of the New World. At the same time, British India with its rapidly growing population of 300 million, Hong Kong, and Malaysia turned out to be unsuitable for British colonization due to their dense population and the presence of aggressive Muslim minorities. In South Africa, the local and newcomer (Boer) populations were already quite large, but institutional segregation helped the British carve out certain economic niches and land for a small group of privileged British colonists. Often, to marginalize the local population, white settlers also attracted third groups: black slaves from Africa in the USA and Brazil; Jewish refugees from Europe in Canada, farm laborers from countries of Southern and Eastern Europe who did not have their own colonies; Indians, Vietnamese and Javanese coolies in Guiana, South Africa, USA, etc. The conquest of Siberia and America by Russia, as well as their further settlement by Russian and Russian-speaking settlers, also had much in common with settler colonialism. In addition to the Russians, Ukrainians, Germans and other peoples took part in this process.

As time passed, the settler colonies transformed into new nations. This is how the Argentines, Peruvians, Mexicans, Canadians, Brazilians, Americans of the USA, the Creoles of Guiana, the Caldochs of New Caledonia, the Breyons, the French-Acadians, the Cajuns and the French-Canadians (Quebecs) arose. They continue to be connected with the former metropolis by language, religion and common culture. The fate of some settler colonies ended tragically: the Pied Noirs of Algeria (Franco-Algerians), since the end of the twentieth century, European settlers and their descendants have been intensively leaving the countries of Central Asia and Africa (repatriation): in South Africa their share fell from 21% in 1940 to 9%. in 2010; in Kyrgyzstan from 40% in 1960 to 10% in 2010. In Windhoek, the share of whites fell from 54% in 1970 to 16% in 2010. Their share is also rapidly declining throughout the New World: in the United States it fell from 88% in 1930. to about 64% in 2010; in Brazil from 63% in 1960 to 48% in 2010.