Europe's colonial history was not only the center of many issues and controversies in the past, but even nowadays the effects of colonial domination remain. The belief that Europe has always had an exclusive historical supremacy which allowed it to colonise other countries and exploit their labour and resources is misplaced (Blaut, 1993). These assumptions cannot aid us in trying to understand crucial themes such as the spread of capitalism and religions, present ethnic and cultural tensions, and why there are such large social and economic differences between current developed countries and developing countries. We must understand the defining roles colonialism and imperialism played in the past when trying to make sense of the world as we know it today.
By examining the colonial past we can also begin to understand why there is such an extreme economic difference between the colonists and the colonised countries nowadays. Europe's industrialisation and the emergence of the present capitalist economic system that has come to dominate global trade and relations, was not a self-evident or inescapable process. Instead it was the result of European control and exploitation of colonies' resources and labour, during a very lengthy and violent period of time (Swanton, 2012, Lecture 6). A crucial factor in this is debt, or to be more precise, third-world debt; money that is owed by developing countries' to developed countries, companies or banks. In 2008 the total debt of all developing countries was $3.7 trillion, and every day $1.5 billion is paid on debt repayments by developing countries (King, 2010). The origins of this lie again in the colonial history. After most nations in Africa gained political independence around the 1960's, the populations expectations were high as they believed the new governments would finally be able to act in their interests, and not their former colonists. The reality however, was very different. Years of colonial exploitation had left most countries without sufficient infrastructure and weak economies. Many turned to former foreign rulers or industrialised countries for loans, which often came at very high interest rates or were invested in inadequate projects such as the Bataan nuclear power plant in the Philippines in the 1970's. The Export-Import Bank of the United States loaned a total of $900 million to the project, and the American construction company Westinghouse was contracted to build the plant. However, the initial cost of $500 million for the power plant went up to over $2.3 billion (King, 2010). After the construction it was deemed unsafe, as it was located near a fault line in an earthquake-prone zone, and days after the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986 it was decided that the plant was not to be opened. Yet the money still had to be repaid, and this economic burden lasted until 2007, when the Philippines finished repaying the debt. This example shows how due to the economic inequalities that resulted from colonialism and imperialism, countries that had generated large amounts of wealth could use the fact that the developing countries lacked experience in governing and had little financial leeway to their advantage. Susan George claims that "[…]the debt is such a powerful tool, it is such a useful tool, it's much better than colonialism ever was because you can keep control without having an army, without having a whole administration, you don't need to spend money on it, all the money comes to you […]" (2005, Interview with the Transnational Institute). All this helps us to understand the economic rift currently present between MEDCs and LEDCs and how it can be traced back to the colonial past.
Present issues, such as native populations demanding land rights or apologies for violent colonial injustices they had to endure, cannot be understood without examining the colonial past. If we take postcolonialism to "refer to processes by which communities benefiting from, formed through, or subjected by, colonialism come to terms with the fact and its aftermath" (Gooder and Jacobs, 2002) then we may begin to analyse the complex relationship between native populations, such as the aborigines in Australia, and the settler colonialists with whom they live together in modern Australia. Evidence suggests Aborigines had been living in Australia for around 70.000 years, yet when the British landed in 1788 they declared the land to be 'terra nullius' - land belonging to no-one (Reconciliaction Network, 2007). The Aborigines were dispossessed of their land, sometimes violently, and often children were removed from their families. In 1991 the Federal Government passed the Aboriginal Reconciliation Act, and in 1998 "sorry books" were opened for all non-indigenous Australians to write down their names or apologies for past wrongdoings, along with national "sorry days". However, this provokes feelings of "non-belonging" with the settler Australians, who feel that they should not legitimately be there due to their history, and an equal emotional sense of displacement for the aboriginal Australians who were removed from their families and land (Read, 2000 as cited by Gooder and Jacobs, 2002). This shows the burden of the colonial past on some nations, as conflict that erupted in the past still very much marks the present day life of both the indigenous people and the former colonisers. Gooder and Jacobs argue that the "indigene alone has the power to forgive" and only in doing so can restore an equal sense of belonging (2002: 212). In such situations it is vital to understand the history of a country, because if one is oblivious to past colonial conflict and struggles one cannot make sense of present-day situations and why there should be a sense of displacement and thus conflict within a country.
To conclude I would say that the colonial past can help us to understand the present in numerous different ways. It explains why and how the capitalist economic system spread across the world, as well as how Europe grew wealthy, not by chance, but due to the interactions, often violent, with its colonies. It also aids us in understanding the present third-world debt situation, which is a product of past colonial rule and shapes the lives of millions of people today in developing countries. Tensions between indigenous populations living alongside settlers nowadays in former colonies such as Australia, and the attempts of reconciliation and apologies are all part of the postcolonial aftermath that still influences present-day life. The colonial history is unquestionably a crucial part of the puzzle in understanding many current situations around the globe, and essential to anyone wishing to fully comprehend the world we live in today.
