The first decades of the 20th century are those witnessing the largest expansion of colonial Empires as a result of uninterrupt series of conquests begun in the XVI century. Western Europe dominion on other continents, as well as involving a large number of peoples, also strongly influenced the genesis of the contemporary world. This happened both by imposing new political systems and new economical and cultural relationships over those peoples submitted to colonization and by representing an important mass experience for those countries who imposed them. An experience which fitfully influenced not only the relationships among the States which acquired new extra European possessions, but also their institutions and their approach to public opinions and problems brought about by the otherness of the dominated.
We shall examine the development of concepts and ways connected to the colonial experience and pay full attention to the downward phase of the Italian Empire, so aiming at providing a means of critical reflection on how far has this phenomenon affected History in the XX century and its share in the present.
