The process of granting independence to or withdrawing from a colonized territory, returning control to the indigenous population.
From de- (reverse) + colonization. This 20th-century term describes the reversal of European colonial expansion, particularly after World War II.
Decolonisation after 1945 was one of history's fastest geopolitical shifts—in just 30 years, the European empires that had ruled most of the world dissolved, redrawing the entire global map.
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