It was a dual phenomenon: it had pernicious effects for the societies that suffered it and wonderful effects for the colonizers. In both cases, deep and lasting, until explaining what each one is today, in the 21st century. A sum of resources and cheap labor, destruction of cultures and languages, creation of racial hierarchies, violence, wars, torture, diseases, marginalization, artificial borders and money, a lot of money. Only for some.
On this December 14, the United Nations commemorates to remind the world of what cannot be repeated and yet still occurs: direct remains of the colonial past remain and new ways of applying it are added, without the need for a unilateral property title. More subtle, just as effective. This year, on December 5, the one that establishes this day was approved, which “reaffirms the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, emphasizing the need to quickly and unconditionally put an end to colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.”
Was something like this necessary or is it something from another century? The UN is clear: more than 60 years after the adoption of , which opened the doors to the decolonization of the planet, “colonialism in its various forms continues to exist, which undermines the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and has repercussions on social, cultural and economic development.” Therefore, eradicating it is “a fundamental priority for the United Nations” and the
According to the organization of nations, there are currently 17 “Non-Autonomous Territories”, as it calls them, that is, colonies, where less than two million people still live under the administration of colonial powers. They are formally defined in Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter as “territories whose people have not yet achieved full self-government.”
These spaces enjoy a certain level of local self-government, but final authority on crucial matters such as defense and foreign policy rests with the administering power. The metropolis, as they said in the 20th century.
In the cases that still remain, there are two that affect Spain: the and .
The main administrative powers and their territories are:
AFRICA
- Western Saharaon the list since 1963. With 266,000 square kilometers and 612,000 recognized inhabitants. Morocco wants to add it to its territory, but the , which abandoned it in 1975.
ATLANTIC AND CARIBBEAN
- eelrecognized since 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. Of 96 square kilometers and 15,899 inhabitants.
- Bermudalisted since 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. 53.35 square kilometers and 63,982 residents.
- British Virgin Islandssince 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. 153 square kilometers and 33,595 neighbors.
- Cayman Islandssince 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. 264 square kilometers and 71,105 residents.
- Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands)also since 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. Extension of 12,173 square kilometers and 3,662 inhabitants.
- Montserratsince 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. Of 103 square kilometers and 4,433 residents.
- Saint Helenasince 1946 on the UN list. Metropolis: United Kingdom. 310 square kilometers and 5,146 neighbors.
- Turks and Caicos Islandssince 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. 948.2 square kilometers and 49,309 inhabitants.
- United States Virgin Islandsnon-autonomous territory since 1946. Metropolis: USA. Of 352 square kilometers and 105,413 registered.
EUROPA
PEACEFUL
- Samoa Americanasince 1946. Metropolis: USA. 200 square kilometers in area and 49,710 people.
- French Polynesiafrom 1946-1947 and since 2013. Metropolis: France. 3,600 square kilometers in area and 279,550 residents.
- Guamsince 1946. Metropolis: USA. 540 square kilometers and 153,836 inhabitants.
- New Caledonia1946-1947 and since 1986. Metropolis: France. With an area of 18,575 square kilometers and 268,500 residents.
- Pitcairnsince 1946. Metropolis: United Kingdom. 35.5 square kilometers and just 42 inhabitants.
- Tokelausince 1946. Metropolis: New Zealand. 12.2 square kilometers and 1,647 people registered.
Map of the Non-Autonomous Territories, as of December 2025.
The new forms
Beyond the territories listed by the UN, numerous academics and analysts use the term “neocolonialism” to describe contemporary forms of control of territory and resources. This type of influence does not imply a direct territorial occupation, but is manifested through various means, starting with economic control, through which more powerful countries exert a dominant influence over the economies of less developed nations. That Equatorial Guinea or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two of the poorest countries in the world, are also two of the places with the largest amount of oil reserves on the entire African continent speaks for itself. Today the big fight is for the.
Of course, political influence, intervention or pressure to align a country’s bets or actions with the interests of an external power is also undeniable. We all have several names in our heads, from the US to Russia, including China.
In the case of cultural dominance, the UN warns of the imposition of cultural norms, values and languages of dominant powers. He is not opposed to the spread of behavioral tendencies in a globalized world, because that would be opening doors to the countryside, but rather how the powerful annihilate those who are not.
Finally, there is also talk of “settler colonialism”, a continuous process in which a colonizing population settles and displaces the indigenous population, which has been applied to various conflicts around the world. Israel and Palestine is the case that attracts the most headlines, but not the only one, because those of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are very controversial – in another dimension – where indigenous peoples denounce subjugation; Taiwan, with its history of nationalist colonization by mainland China, and territories such as Puerto Rico, in resistance against contemporary colonial structures.
To understand that the colonizing mentality has not disappeared, but rather has been transformed, there are today reference authors such as the Belgian historian, author of Congo o Revolutionwhich exposes that neocolonialism is not only a historical phase but “a continuation of the dynamics of colonial power, which demands new forms of responsibility and understanding, especially as former colonies emerge as global actors and face new forms of dependence, such as economic or ecological.”
“We fight against the symbols of the injustices of the past while accepting the structures of the injustices of the present,” he summarizes. And it places emphasis on the so-called “postcolonial justice”, which includes the request for forgiveness and reparation to the victims of that massive colonization decades ago, a digestion that nations such as Belgium itself, the Netherlands or France are only recently undertaking. Now, French President Emmanuel Macron even says that colonism was a “crime against humanity”, as he said six years ago referring to Algeria.
For all this, we still need days that remind us of the past and warn us of the present. This Sunday is one of them.
