How did overseas colonies fare when separated permanently from the mother country?

by octopodesrex

I'm not sure of an example, America might not be a good example as it had other allies. What happened to colonies that did not get picked up by other nations?

cryptic_mythic

Well whose colonies? Besides the US there's the rest of the Americas, and if were talking European colonies there's huge differences between an English colony like Australia and a Dutch colony like South Africa