Colony 2. A region politically controlled by a distant country; a dependency.

Observations on ‘Decolonization - Perspectives from Now and Then’, chapter 19: Colonial Formations and Deformations - Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

This chapter is of particular interest as it compares three colonized countries and comments on the ‘colonial legacies’ left behind:

'The nationalist point of view is that there is no such thing as a good colonial legacy, and therefore the contribution of imperialism to growth was zero, really minus-zero: for example, Korean historiography (South and North) sees anything good or useful deriving from Japanese colonialism as incidental to the ruthless pursuit of Japanese interests; even if a railroad from Pusan to Sinuiju is useful, a railroad built by Koreans, for Koreans, would have been better. Furthermore, without the Japanese, a native railway system would still have been built: Koreans assume that Japan aborted their drive for modernity, rather than merely distorting it' (page 278).

This is certainly supported by Angus Hamilton who in 1904 found conditions of Korean living to be far more superior than China and other Asian countries. 'Seoul was the first city in East Asia to have electricity, trolley cars, and water, telephone and telegraph systems all at the same time' (page 280).


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