Essay on Colonialism and Imperialism - The White Man's Burden

Resources,they carry a country financially.A big driving force for imperialism at the time was resources,and Africa just so happened to have an abundance of them.Ranging from diamonds to slave labour ,Africa was a gold mine in the eyes of the Europeans.Proof of this is the

After the civil war, United States took a turn that led them to solidify as the world power. From the late 1800s, as the US began to collect power through Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, debate arose among historians about American imperialism and its behavior. Historians such as William A. Williams, Arthur Schlesinger, and Stephen Kinzer provides their own vision and how America ought to be through ideas centered around economics, power, and racial superiority.

European domination in Africa began because the Portuguese wanted to establish a faster route to India. Yet, when the Portuguese arrived they began to set up a trade of gold, slaves and ivory. The Europeans pretended to be Christian humanitarians and attempted to convert the Africans to Christians. They used god to justify their mistreatment of the natives. Many of the natives did convert to Christianity and accepted the Europeans mistreatments. The Europeans set up port cities on the African coast in order to help their ships on their journey to India. At the port cities, they could stop, rest, and replenish their supplies.

Europeans were able to colonize Africa because of the many advantages they had over them. Firstly, the Maxim gun had been acquired. This was the first automatic machine gun to be produced. The Europeans were able to travel much more easily due to the steam engine.

     There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons may be that Europeans believed that the

From 1880 to 1914, Industrial European countries favored the idea of Imperialism in African colonies which motivated them to acquire resources, riches, and territory which eventually led them to seemingly have an attitude in which their race was superior. Even before Imperialism became popular, England had colonies such as the American Colonies which spread their ethnicity and race as well as their power. Europeans countries began to comprehend and understand that they could use the resources for their operations and expansion toward their country. The De Beers Mining Company was a prime example of how Imperialism allowed European countries to obtain resources and territory which made them stronger and richer. Africa was the motherload,

In the 19th century Europe underwent imperialism, Europe wanted to take control of different continents one of which was Africa to gain power, civilize the African people and grow the economy of Europe. With intentions to help, the Europeans moved to Africa in order to get the resources that were grown there forcing the Africans native to those regions to move to North and South America (Document 9). By 1885 the amount of people living in Africa had increased due to the amount of Europeans (Spielvogel and McTighe 234). The Europeans took resources and goods from Africa to sell and increase their capital. These reasons changed the way of life for the Africans making them adapt to the changes without being able to fight back. While imperialism

From: Romesh Dutt, The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule Englishmen…have given the people of India the greatest human blessing – peace. They have introduced Western education. This has brought an ancient and civilized nation in touch with modern thought, modern sciences and modern life. They have built an administration that is strong and efficient. They have framed wise laws and have established courts of justice.

The indigenous people of Africa suffered many setbacks, when the Europeans arrived. When the Europeans arrived in Africa they made the indigenous people feel inferior, lack self-confidence, and be stripped of their responsibility. As shown by Document 2, when it says, “...convince us that our civilization was nothing less than savagery, thus giving us complexes which led to our being branded as irresponsible and lacking in self-confidence.” Some people may agree, that this seems like something out of a genocide. Originally the indigenous people of Africa were supposed to be cheap labor. However, this soon changed when the Europeans enslaved the African people. This is portrayed in Document 6, when it says, “...Beneath the noonday sun, My brother was strong…” By doing this they stole all of the human rights from the Africans, who had done nothing wrong. This is shown in Document 3, when it says, “Whereas fundamental human rights...are denied to Africans.” During this extremely horrific time in African history men were worked to death, and women were raped. This is found in Document 6, when it says,”The White Man killed my father,My father was proud, The White Man seduced my mother, My mother was beautiful.” This shows the negative effects are much worse for the Africans, than for the Europeans. But, there are some positives in this dark hour. When the Europeans arrived in Africa, they provided the

The Europeans all scrambled to colonize Africa for t’s raw materials and land. THey had justified it as the White Man’s burden. They believed that is was their responsibility as a more developed race to help Africa catch up in technology, government, economics etc. Rhodes even said, “-and that the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” (Doc, 1) With this mindset, Europeans colonized Africa and started to export raw materials such as rubber, diamonds, gold, palm oil etc. White man’s burden led to Imperialism because they thought taking over other countries was the only to help them move forward. In doing so, they also spread their power and influence throughout the world. The White man's burden was also accompanied

For cultural and ideological reasons, imperial nations believed that their values and beliefs were superior to anyone else’s. A huge concept of New Imperialism was the European “civilizing mission”. In general, Europeans think they’re doing a good deed by imposing their beliefs onto the inhabitants of Africa. As King Leopold II stated, “Our refined society attaches to human life (and with reason) a value unknown to barbarous communities” (King Leopold II, 222). Since the Africans were “inferior” to Europeans,

needed on the European home front. Imperialism provided a way in which unemployed laborers could obtain jobs and/or riches. Not all motives for imperialism were greedy and self-motivating however. The earnest desire of some to help civilize and Christianize natives was the utmost reason for imperialism.

     Throughout American History the U.S. has sought to expand its boundaries. This need increased greatly during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century with the start of the industrial revolution. This Expansion was a big departure from earlier attempts to expand the boundaries of the U.S. The needed for Natural resources forced the U.S to look for places that could supply them with the natural resources they needed and markets where they could sell their goods in. The need to imperialize caused the U.S. to look to foreign places to gain resources to better the nations industries.

However, some westerners actually genuinely thought that they should help and westernize the inferior countries of the world. The British went into Africa, thinking that it was their duty to spread their advances of medicine, law, western civilization, and the Christian religion. This was proved to be embraced in the "anthem of imperialism," called the White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling. He expressed in the poem that the duty of the "white man" was to teach and help the people who they cast the inferior rank to. However, it is hard to believe that this was Britain's most important goal in their imperialism.

The work of African slaves in the Americas, due to economic reasons, contributed to the economic development of the Americas, and although it resulted in corruption and depopulation in Africa, it benefitted African trade and markets. In need of a cheap labor force to mine important products such as gold and silver and gain profit from them as well, several political powers such as Spain turned to Africa for slaves because “the work [was] hard and the Spaniards [were] not willing to the the work, Natives who [had] become Christians [were] not allowed to be forced to do the work because the Emperor freed them.” (Doc.1) Countries like Spain needed to economically profit from their colonies in the Americas and their gold and silver mines, along with plantations for sugar and coffee, and for this, they needed a cheap and profitable labor force, which the Africans provided for them. In exchange for manufactured goods that were not found in Africa, which was useful and economically beneficial for African markets and merchants, African merchants and rulers traded captured Africans to the Americas. Although the Atlantic Slave Trade resulted in major depopulation for Africa, it showed some economic benefits in Africa for some time because merchants blinded by greediness complied with the capturing and brutal treatment of Africans for the Europeans colonies in the Americas. This introduced manufactured goods, such as guns, to African markets, which resulted in the success of merchants