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The original was posted on /r/askhistorians by /u/WrongEarth4 on 2023-08-07 22:56:44+00:00.

It feels like most former colonial nations in the West are undergoing a bit of a Jacques Derrida-esque “deconstruction” - in that they are questioning the structures that have been built on the back of the suffering of the indigenous populations they colonized.

There does seem to be a sense of collective guilt in the populations of these nations, even if there is division over these issues.

Did historic colonial empires from the Ancient world or the middle ages ever have to wrestle with the morality of their conquerings of indigenous people (and even have to seek reconciliation with them)?