Ashley Mooney
Global Crisis
October 2015
Imperialistic Racism
Imperialism is nearly unheard of today, because historically it emerges from and promotes racist ideologies. Though some would argue the practice is progressive, the accomplishments of Imperialism are enormously out-weighed by the damage it has done. Often it resulted in the deaths of innocent people, occasionally millions, as was the case in the Congo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the early Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. Rudyard Kipling and President Roosevelt are two individuals who thought of Imperialism as an act of servitude. However, two other men, King Leopold and Christopher Columbus have single-handedly proven the horrid circumstances that
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Both capitalized on the influence of Christianity. Columbus imposed Christianity upon the natives as immediately as he arrived in America and used it to manipulate them. Similarly, Leopold pushed Christian missionaries into the Congo to keep control over the natives and keep up the humanitarian façade. Both exploited the natural resources, victimized the natives and were successful in their endeavors. Being white, and believing this to be the superior race, helped them support and legitimize authority over the non-whites. Where there has been imperialism, racism has permitted it.
While King Leopold had successfully convinced nearly the entire world for some time that he was a philanthropist, helping to improve the conditions of the Congo and the lives of its people, he was orchestrating an intricate slave trade system and ultimately the murder of an estimated 10-13 million people, approximately 50% of the population . Majority of the people who perished in the Congo were slaughtered, victims of disease or avoidable malnutrition, or were worked to the point of death. These figures are far from perfect. There has been quite a lot of debate about the true number of people who died under Leopold’s authority, though most agree somewhere near 8-10 million. The fact alone that the total is unclear is testament to the lengths Leopold, his soldiers and workers took to conceal the truly hellish conditions inflicted upon the Congolese
At the turn of the century, America and the views of its people were changing. Many different ideas were surfacing about issues that affected the country as a whole. The Republican Party, led by William McKinley, were concentrating on the expansion of the United States and looking to excel in power and commerce. The Democratic Party at this time was led by William Jennings Bryan, who was absorbed in a sponge of morality and was concerned with the rights of man. The nation’s self-interest was divided into different ideas between the two parties. At this time imperialism and anti-imperialism were the dominant topics regarding America’s destiny.
In my point of view, the colonial period shifted the balance previously present throughout the world, in which imperialism had less relevance in everyday lives. Before the colonial period, the natives living in the Americas and the Caribbeans, mainly had internal fighting or conflicts between rival tribes. While in Europe, the most tension occurred between major empires competing for trade, land, recourses, and wealth. However, once the Europeans began colonizing America, both of the worlds collided in a massive fight for sovereignty and wealth. This can be seen in each country's colonization of America. In the French colonization, the colonist traded advanced weaponry to the Huron tribe for fur and strong alliances. Consequently, the natives
By providing an in-depth analysis of what really occurred with Leopold and his exploitative proprietorship of the Congo “Free” State, Hochschild cogently convinces readers that beneath all of Europe’s coaxing and flattery about their imperialism, there is an underlying nature of terror and an almost inescapable and pervasive essence of death and slavery. Hochschild perfectly depicts the drama arising from the deceitful manipulations, courageous resistances, and uncut greed into an enthralling piece of literature. Not only does Hochschild use the perspectives of Europeans, but he tells the untold truths of the natives in their abysmal states, having to face inevitable horrors and atrocities. The reader experiences the magnitude of effects that resulted in this imperialism, which may still last in modern-day Africa. Hochschild’s persuasion perfectly captures what it is that he wants the readers to take in the most: that Leopold’s imperialism of the Congo did not only affect Europe and himself. Separating from the common curriculum of history class, Hochschild doesn’t want to tell the readers that imperialism led to European nations gaining more markets, population, and raw materials: he wants the reader to understand that this all came at a cost. This imperialism led to the deaths of ten million natives in the Congo alone. This imperialism led to brutal torture of the
Imperialism makes the United States of America the ideal nation to be a part of and live in. Imperialism would help the United States dominate the countries in Europe, Asia, and South America which would prevent any one to ever attack against or threaten America because they would all be under our control. The US saw that Europe was imperialism and thought that they were becoming successful. America also needed access to get materials from the global trade. Also as the United States were struggling during the depression and needed to get more raw materials like rubber and oil they were forced to look across seas to find it. And one way to gain those materials would be to take over those countries to gain access to the materials. With access
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild explains the lead up to and the establishment of the Congo Free State under Belgium. Hochschild does so through many accounts of the life going on inside the Congo during the exploration of the Africa and the beginning of an established government in the Congo. The death toll during Leopold’s reign could have reached over 10 million before the Belgium government would take the Congo away from the out of control Leopold. This could make the Leopold’s Congo one of the worst genocides in human history. Unfortunately there was no basis for recording the murders by Leopold’s officers, so we will never know the exact figure of the death toll.
Imperialism is a recurring theme in the history of the world. Stronger countries see themselves as superior to other societies and believe their ways are right. They force religion, government, and practices on countless foreign lands. At the very end of the nineteenth
Malcolm X, a human rights activist and an outstanding black nationalist, once said “Western interests: imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, racism, and other negative -isms.” Malcolm said this to explain that imperialism brought many conflicts with the natives of the un-imperialized countries. Imperialism is when a nation or nations take control on another nation which their own motives. Imperialists stole land, resources, and abused the natives. Although some people believe imperialism brought wealth and power through raw materials during and after the industrial revolution, it is actually true that imperialism was not beneficial for the world because it forced natives into slavery which also caused a loss of power, land and remembrance of the native’s true culture.
The start of a country we know today as America was started with a few different ideologies. One of them is a new start away from Britain and the other was the continued encroachment against the native population. It started off with the need of survival and it continued until the destruction of an entire people and culture was nearly complete. Soon, after the civil war Americans began pushing west in the name of “manifest destiny, the belief that the United States had a ‘God-given’ right to aggressively spread the values of white civilization and expand the nation from ocean to ocean” (Roark 14). This is the start of American imperialism that lasted over a century, during the time; genocides and countless death are milestones in America’s quest for dominance. I am defining American imperialism is the policy expand one’s influence through economic, democratic or military force with the belief of the benefit to the country. American imperialism plays in important role through history as the cause of not only the genocides of the Native Americans, but the ultimate cause of the holocaust and even racism.
American international influence began with James K. Polk’s application of Manifest Destiny to the Mexican American War, and later to the purchase of Alaska by Seward, who also invoked the Monroe Doctrine to force France out of Mexico. Increased nationalism aAmerican international influence began in 1823 with the Monroe Doctrine, which warned Europe that America would not tolerate colonization in the Western Hemisphere. It continued with James K. Polk’s application of Manifest Destiny to the Mexican American War, and later with purchase of Alaska by Seward, who also invoked the Monroe Doctrine to force France out of Mexicond production capacity during the last quarter of the nineteenth century led American businesses to look for new markets. This expansion of trade soon required United States economic and military dominance over weaker nations in the form of imperialism. This was
What is American Imperialism? It is the influences that the United States makes on other countries. Some of the influences are economics, military, and culture. Expansionism is conquering those countries and taking over the land. Without imperialism and expansionism, our county would not be as big and productive as it is in today 's society.
Imperialism was a distorted inhumane way of the ruling of a country to transport goods and other needs. The African tribes were put through the most barbaric conditions known to man. And due to these conditions, the African society was changed forever. One of the many jobs the people of the Congo had to complete was extracting rubber from trees and bringing it back to the Europeans to sell it because many people around the world wanted to build products
Imperialism in history has key ideas that exist to help characterize itself. Economic incentive is seen through the production of rubber in Africa. Countries basically enslaved the native African
Imperialism is shown in the most unexpected places. Rudyard Kipling shows this in the multiple stories in his book The Jungle. Mowgli’s Brother is a story that tells how a boy named Mowgli became a member of a wolf pack. The characters in the Jungle Book show British for British rule, British for Indian rule, Indian for Indian rule, and Indian for British rule. Imperialism is shown with people coming into a group with out any warning, people wanting to rule and do what ever they want, and people voting for someone to be in a group.
The argument for imperialism was brought out in, “The White Man’s Burden,” the poem expressed that the other races were inferior to that of a white man. The poem suggests that white man being superior needed to show how the other people were supposed to live. They argued that imperialism was a reason for how they treated other people, and the low quality of treatment that they were forced to endure. While we still have instances of white men decided that we are inferior to other nations and we must
Around this time, the more significant countries in Europe like England, France, Germany, and others believed that they were superior to the “savages” in Africa. The Europeans thought this because the Africans were not as organized as they were and did not really have an overruling government. And the Europeans saw this and took advantage of the possibility for the increase in economic markets and power. For as long as imperialism has been an action people have called the country performing these actions greedy. But the countries with the imperialist mindset see it a different way. Those countries see it as they are helping out the savages. Those countries think they are helping because these people are helping to civilize the savages, and make them more like