In recent years, anti-immigration rallies and political movements have gained momentum across Europe. Protesters march through streets, bearing slogans about protecting borders and preserving national identity. Yet these demonstrations reveal a striking historical irony: the same European nations that once aggressively expanded across the globe, claiming foreign lands and resources as their own, now express outrage at the arrival of migrants on their shores. This article examines this contradiction by exploring Europe’s colonial past and its contemporary stance on immigration.
The Colonial Legacy of European Powers
British Empire
Once spanning nearly a quarter of the world’s land surface, the British Empire left an indelible mark on its colonies. In Kenya, during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1960), British authorities established detention camps where thousands of Kenyans suffered torture, starvation, and death. Historical records indicate that approximately 150,000 Kenyans were held in these camps, with thousands dying from disease, malnutrition, and abuse.
The British colonial administration in India oversaw multiple famines, including the Bengal Famine of 1943, which claimed approximately three million lives while food supplies were diverted to support the war effort. Throughout the Caribbean, British plantations depended on the brutal enslavement of millions of Africans who were forcibly transported across the Atlantic.
German Colonialism
Though briefer than other European colonial projects, German colonialism was particularly brutal in Southwest Africa (now Namibia). Between 1904 and 1908, German forces committed what historians recognize as the first genocide of the 20th century against the Herero and Nama peoples. After a rebellion against colonial rule, German General Lothar von Trotha issued an extermination order that resulted in the deaths of approximately 80% of the Herero population and 50% of the Nama population through massacres, forced marches through the desert, and concentration camps where prisoners were subjected to medical experiments, starvation, and forced labor.
French Colonial Empire
France’s colonial presence stretched across North and West Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. In Algeria, France’s 132-year occupation (1830-1962) resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Algerians through military campaigns, forced displacement, and systematic destruction of local agriculture, leading to famine. The French introduced the policy of “regroupement” during the Algerian War of Independence, forcing over two million Algerians into concentration camps.
In Haiti, French plantation owners instituted particularly brutal slavery practices that worked enslaved people to death while extracting enormous wealth from the colony. After Haitian independence, France demanded crippling reparations from Haiti for the “property” (enslaved humans) they had lost, creating a cycle of debt that handicapped Haitian development for generations.
Portuguese Empire
Despite its relatively small size, Portugal established one of the longest-lasting colonial empires, particularly in Africa. In Angola and Mozambique, the Portuguese employed forced labor systems that were slavery in all but name. The forced cultivation of cotton and other cash crops led to widespread famine as farmers were prevented from growing food. When independence movements emerged in the 1960s, Portugal waged brutal counterinsurgency campaigns resulting in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths.
Dutch Colonial Rule
The Dutch East India Company established colonial rule across parts of Asia, with particularly devastating consequences in Indonesia. On the island of Banda, the Dutch virtually eliminated the native population in their quest to control the lucrative nutmeg trade. Throughout Indonesia, the Dutch implemented the “Cultivation System,” forcing farmers to devote a percentage of their land to export crops, leading to widespread famine and destitution.
Belgian Congo
Perhaps the most notorious example of colonial brutality occurred in the Congo Free State, personally owned by King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885 to 1908. Under Leopold’s rule, the native population was subjected to systematic terror to extract rubber and other resources. Workers who failed to meet rubber quotas faced mutilation, with soldiers collecting severed hands as proof they had punished those who resisted. Estimates suggest the population of the Congo was reduced by half during this period, with approximately 10 million deaths attributed to Leopold’s regime.
The Columbian Exchange and Indigenous Genocide
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, he initiated what would become one of history’s largest demographic catastrophes. The Taíno people, who initially welcomed Columbus, were quickly subjected to brutal labor practices, sexual violence, and outright murder. Within decades, their population had collapsed from hundreds of thousands to near extinction. Similarly, the Carib and Arawak peoples faced systematic extermination as Spanish colonizers established control over the Caribbean islands. Columbus himself wrote of taking indigenous people as slaves and brutally suppressing resistance. European diseases, for which indigenous populations had no immunity, compounded the deliberate violence, creating a demographic collapse throughout the Americas that some scholars estimate reduced the indigenous population by up to 90%.
The Profound Irony of Uninvited Arrivals
The African Perspective: Unwelcome European Arrivals
Consider the profound irony of today’s anti-immigration protests from the perspective of an African leader in the 15th, 16th, or 19th century. Without warning or invitation, strange ships appeared on the horizon, carrying pale-skinned foreigners who spoke unintelligible languages. These Europeans arrived with no passports, no visas, no permission—yet they did not present themselves as humble visitors or refugees seeking shelter.
Instead, these uninvited guests planted flags, claimed the land for distant monarchs, and began constructing fortresses. When local leaders protested this intrusion, they were met with superior weaponry and a complete dismissal of their sovereignty. European arrivals did not assimilate to local customs or learn local languages—they imposed their own, often at gunpoint. The King of Kongo, Nzinga Mbemba (later baptized as Afonso I), wrote desperately to the King of Portugal in the early 16th century:
“Sir, Your Highness should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways… so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated… They grab them and get them to be carried away to be sold… There are many traders in all corners of the country. They bring ruin to the country. Every day, people are enslaved and kidnapped, even nobles, even members of the king’s own family.” His pleas were ignored as Portuguese traders continued to depopulate his kingdom for profit. Today’s European nations, which once refused to recognize borders or sovereignty when it suited their purposes, now treat their own borders as sacred and inviolable.
Caribbean Disruption: From Peace to Terror
The irony is equally stark when we consider the Caribs, Arawaks, and Taínos of the Caribbean islands. These societies existed in relative balance with their environment for centuries before European contact. Bartholomew Las Casas, who initially participated in the conquest before becoming its critic, documented how peaceful existence was violently disrupted: “Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches in a very brief time and thus rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits.”
The Europeans who arrived uninvited in the Caribbean did not request asylum or apply for residency permits. They seized land, enslaved populations, and established extractive economies designed to benefit their home countries. Contemporary European protesters who fear their culture will be overwhelmed by newcomers might reflect on the Taíno experience—a culture virtually erased within decades of European contact.
The Generational Echo: Children of the Colonized Return
Perhaps the most pointed irony lies in the identity of many modern migrants to Europe. They are often the direct descendants of people who lived under European colonial rule. Having had European languages, educational systems, religious practices, and economic models forced upon their societies for generations, they now seek opportunities in the very nations that once claimed their homelands.
A Senegalese migrant arriving in France speaks French because France ruled Senegal for centuries. An Indian family in Britain may practice Christianity, introduced by British missionaries. Congolese refugees in Belgium carry the scars of a colonial system designed by a Belgian king. These are not random connections but direct consequences of historical actions. When Europeans protest against the arrival of these migrants, they are effectively saying, “We had the right to go to your lands uninvited, to extract wealth, to impose our ways, but you do not have the right to come to our lands, even when fleeing situations our ancestors helped create.”
The very trade and transportation networks that bring migrants to Europe were often established to facilitate European access to colonial resources. The wealth differentials that drive economic migration were substantially created through centuries of unequal exchange. Even the geographic knowledge many Europeans have of Africa or Asia comes from maps drawn by European explorers who were documenting lands for potential exploitation.
Modern Migrations and Historical Amnesia
The current migration patterns that European protesters rally against are inextricably linked to this colonial history. Many migrants come from former colonies where European powers disrupted traditional economies, drew arbitrary borders that ignored ethnic realities, extracted natural resources, and left behind political instability. The wealth of modern Europe was built in significant part on resources extracted from these same regions now producing migrants.
Moreover, many European nations actively recruited workers from former colonies during the post-WWII economic boom, creating migration pathways that continue to shape demographic patterns today. Countries like France, the UK, and the Netherlands have substantial populations from their former colonies who came at the direct invitation of European governments facing labor shortages.
The Irony of Contemporary Anti-Immigration Sentiment
The historical amnesia evident in European anti-immigration rhetoric is striking. Those who demand that migrants “stay in their own countries” overlook the fact that Europeans did not “stay in their own countries” for centuries. Those who fear cultural changes forget how European colonizers systematically attempted to eradicate indigenous cultures worldwide through missionary activities, banned languages, and forced assimilation.
European colonial powers extracted incalculable wealth from their colonies through resource extraction, slave labor, unequal trade relationships, and direct taxation. This wealth transfer helped build the prosperous modern European states that now attract migrants seeking better opportunities. The stability and prosperity that make Europe desirable to migrants were built in part through the destabilization and impoverishment of the very regions from which these migrants now come. Furthermore, current patterns of migration pale in comparison to the demographic impact Europeans had on colonized regions. While immigration to Europe has increased in recent decades, it represents a fraction of the European migration to other continents during the colonial era, when millions of Europeans settled in the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa.
The protests against immigration across Europe represent a profound historical irony. The descendants of nations that once claimed a divine right to occupy foreign lands now express outrage at foreigners entering their territories. Countries that extracted vast wealth from colonies now complain about the economic burden of migrants. Societies that imposed their cultures around the globe now fear cultural changes from newcomers.
When European protesters march against immigration, they unwittingly mirror the position of countless indigenous leaders who once stood on shores watching European ships arrive, wondering what these strangers would bring. The difference is that those indigenous leaders often had legitimate reason to fear, as history would prove. Today’s European nations face no comparable existential threat from migration, yet they respond with greater alarm than their resources and stability would warrant.
This historical context does not dictate what immigration policies European nations should adopt today. However, it does suggest that the conversation about migration would benefit from greater historical awareness and acknowledgment of the connections between Europe’s colonial past and today’s migration patterns. The current movement of people to Europe is, in many ways, the echo of a much larger movement of Europeans around the world—one that fundamentally reshaped societies and continues to influence global patterns of wealth, power, and migration to this day.