The history of colonization of Western countries is the history of suffering, blood and tears of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Everywhere the colonizers went, they were accompanied by killing and plundering, causing incalculable harm to the colonial people. Many colonial peoples wanted independence from colonial masters.
After World War II, the colonies had their own sense of nationality and sovereignty, and became independent from colonial powers such as Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal.
I. Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, located in the eastern part of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, includes the island of Puerto Rico and the small islands of Vieques and Culèfra. Puerto Rico was nominally part of the United States, Puerto Ricans also had United States nationality, but the United States had not included it in its territory, Puerto Ricans could not participate in United States presidential elections, and there was no member of its own in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, and Puerto Rico could only elect a non-voting United States House of Representatives commissioner. Puerto Rico is a free association of the United States and does not have state rights.
In 1508, after the Spaniard J. Ponce de León came to the island of Puerto Rico, he established a settlement in Puerto Rico. In 1509, Puerto Rico officially became a Spanish colony. After being enslaved by the Spaniards, Puerto Rico's indigenous people were forced to work for the Spaniards on farms and gold mines, and many died of overwork and malnutrition, or from infectious diseases brought by the Spaniards.
In 1511, Puerto Rico's indigenous peoples revolted under the leadership of Ibana, but it was quickly suppressed by the colonial authorities, and 60,000 Indians were slaughtered. After that, the Indians organized many uprisings, but they were suppressed by the Spanish authorities. At the same time, after the oppression and killing of the colonists led to a sharp decline in the local natives, the Spaniards transported blacks from Africa to replace them. African blacks brought epidemic diseases such as smallpox, which killed a large number of Indians and caused great harm to Indians.
In 1588, Spain's Armada was defeated by the English navy, and Spain took the lead, and England replaced it as the sea hegemon.
In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out between the United States and Spain in order to compete for colonies around the world. After Spain's defeat, Cuba and Puerto Rico were ceded to the United States, and the Philippines sold them to the United States at a low price. At this point, Puerto Rico became a colony of the United States. In 1917, in order to annex Puerto Rico, the United States passed the Jones Act, imposing "United States citizenship" on the Puerto Rican people.
Puerto Rico did not want to be a colony of Spain or the United States. In 1937, Puerto Ricans, led by P. Alvesu Campos, revolted to independence from the United States, but was immediately suppressed by the United States. In 1950, Puerto Ricans had revolted and proclaimed the Republic of Puerto Rico, but it had been suppressed by the United States only a day later.
In order to appease the Puerto Rican people, the United States had granted Puerto Ricans the status of free association and allowed Puerto Ricans self-government, but Puerto Rico had no foreign affairs, defense, customs and other departments, and was not an independent sovereign country.
After World War II, the United States became the world's number one power, established a relatively complete welfare system, and the people lived a good life, which made many people in developing countries dream of becoming Americans.
Puerto Rico did not have abundant oil, natural gas and other resources, nor did it have its own advantageous industries, and if it separated from the United States and did not have financial subsidies from the United States, it would soon become a backward poor country and its standard of living would plummet. United States citizenship was something that many people in Latin America dreamed of, and Puerto Ricans already had United States nationality and were naturally reluctant to give it up easily.
In order to maintain their current affluent life, Puerto Ricans not only did not want independence, but also held referendums to join the United States and become the 51st state of the United States. In order to avoid Puerto Rico becoming its own heavy burden, the United States simply refused.
II. Aguinena
The current Republic of Aguina, Suriname and French Guiana, originally the same country, all belonged to Aguina. At one time, Arguna was a sweet potato, inhabited by Indians, and colonists such as Spain, Britain, France, and the Netherlands repeatedly competed for Guagona.
In the end, Argina was divided into three, with England, France and the Netherlands each taking part.
After World War II, British Argyana became independent from Britain and established the Republic of Argenena. After independence, Aguina has been a relatively poor and backward country, and its economy is dominated by primary product production, with bauxite, sugar and rice being the three pillars of its economy. In 2019, Agueina began to produce oil and its economy grew rapidly. In 2020, GDP per capita was $6,953. In 2021, GDP per capita grew by $9,644, while the UK's per capita GDP was $47,203, several times that of Argyanas.
Dutch Agueina (Suriname), which gained autonomy from the Netherlands after World War II, but defense and foreign affairs remained in the hands of the Dutch government.
Dutch Aguina can receive a large amount of funding from the Dutch government every year for road construction, schools, hospitals, and welfare for the people, which allows Surinamese people to live a good life, and also makes Surinamese people "happy" and unwilling to separate from the Netherlands.
After not being able to get free resources from Suriname, cheap labor, and being struck with a lot of wool every year, the Netherlands was not happy and wanted to throw away the burden of Suriname. Suriname did not want independence, but the Netherlands insisted on letting him become independent, and eventually the Netherlands paid Suriname 3.5 billion guilder "breakup fee", and Suriname reluctantly became independent. Suriname has no industrial industry of its own, nor rich resources, and the locals are not optimistic about the future of Suriname, and before the official breakup between Suriname and the Netherlands, Suriname's wealthy, elite, and skilled talents immigrated to the Netherlands. At the same time, they also take wealth, technology and management with them.
After independence, Suriname lacked its own source of income, and soon became a poor country, and the standard of living of the people fell to a low point.
In 2021, the per capita GDP of the Netherlands was as high as $58,292, while Suriname was only $4,681, less than a fraction of the Netherlands. If Suriname does not become independent from the Netherlands, it can receive a lot of financial grants from the Dutch government every year and can maintain a relatively prosperous life.
Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine to take.
With the two negative textbooks of Suriname and Argene, French Argyana learned wisely and was not willing to become independent from France.
After the French occupied French Argenea, many people moved to Aghena in order to achieve the goal of permanently occupying Argenea. At the same time, France allowed French immigrants to intermarry with local natives, which led to many French people in Agyana , or descendants of the French, who recognized themselves as French. In addition, after the French occupation of Aguinea, many exploited and oppressed the local people, and built infrastructure for Aguena, so that the people of French Agueina had a very good impression of France, rarely rebelled against France, and the desire for independence was not strong.
Now Argenea, because of its back to the big tree of France, has a per capita GDP of up to 18,000 US dollars, surpassing Brazil, Argentina and other countries, and can also enjoy various benefits of France, which makes them unwilling to be independent at all. France could only turn Argyana into its own overseas province.