Settler Colonialism Essay

European colonialism has a lasting legacies on many African countries. European colonialism started in the late 1900’s and continued until after World War II. Colonialism is a system in which one country takes control of the political and economic affairs of another nation, and imposes policies to control another nation. In the 17th century colonizing parts of Africa became popular European countries. In the year 1677, France colonized their first African country, Senegal. Specifically, an area called Saint Louis. France was most interested in Senegal for their easy access to the Gambia river to increase access to trade routes. During this time France and Britain were fighting over African countries that had easy access the Gambia river.. Earlier, 1638 the french established trade routes in Senegal. (historyworld.net). Later, 1677 France was able to seize Senegal for the Dutch which made Senegal France 's first colonized county. European nations decided to colonize the rest of Africa during the Berlin Conference that took place. Between 1884-1885 Europeans carved up part of Africa and claimed them as their own. Senegal has a reputation of being one of the better treated legacies of colonial power. However, there are still legacies of colonial power which shapes how Senegal is today.

During the 1600-1700s, a typical colonial planter felt there were problems with equality under the the British government, while they simultaneously disregarded the views of slaves and indentured servants, and American Indians. Colonial planters felt exploited by the British government. The document, “The Propriety of Colonial Subordination, a British View, 1726”, stated how Britain strongly condemned the “English plantations in America” in their defiance to the Crown. In 1764, the British enforced the Currency Act taking colonial currency out of circulation as a way to stronger enforce mercantilism. This angered the planters because they feared an increase of taxes and that they would not be able to pay their loans without paper money. Colonists were

Who we are and how we are treated as children is directly correlated to who we will become as adults. Spoken by Lyndon B. Johnson, “Until Justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.” These words are echoed throughout the educational system that is put in place today. Jonathan Kozol, an award-winning writer and public lecturer who focuses on social injustice in the United States, reverberates these words in his article, “From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”. Kozol proves his mastery in persuasion by the facts he provides and the personal anecdotes from teachers and students.

The Age of Imperialism was an age of colonization for European countries. It began in the mid-1800s and ended in the early twentieth century. The most powerful countries of Europe raced to conquer and change the government, economic system, and social ways of Asian and African territories. But imperialism wasn 't wonderful, especially for the colonies. Innocent people were enslaved, forced to work all day long under no other options. Resources were exploited, stolen from people who couldn 't defend themselves from powerful new European weapons. Valuable cultures diminished as foreign lands took over and changed intriguing and unique languages and religions. Sickness spread to natives who hadn 't built up the immunity to deadly diseases.

The theoretical concepts that was helpful ware “Part E: Race and Colonialism”, this section was an eye opener to the realities aboriginal people endured in colonial and post colonial times. However, to be more specific the topics on Aboriginal Social Work Education in Canada: Decolonizing Pedagogy for the Seventh Generation, writer by Raven Sinclair helped me see these realities more in depth. For instance, in the first page of the article Sinclair reminds us that 150 – 300 children were lost in British Columbia through child welfare. (2004)

New Imperialism was the third wave of colonial expansion, precursored by Catholic colonialism in the sixteenth century and Mercantile colonialism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As the nineteenth century began, it became apparent that Europe and the United States were the dominant forces of the world, and that they were in control of defining global society. Proponents of New Imperialism believed that modern expansionism was necessary for economic, political, and cultural purposes that would benefit their own country. Furthermore, proponents also believed that colonization would modernize and incite progress in the civilizations outside of Europe and the United States. Nonetheless, New Imperialism established deep lines of contempt regarding Western power, marked with violence, throughout the world. Therefore, New Imperialism was a paltry act done by the Western world which seems to have produced little benefit.

The industrialization and the great technological development of Europe, especially at the time of the second industrial revolution, the generation of the world in two large groups: the industrialized countries and the non-industrialized industrialists. The former ended up imposing themselves on the latter, who remained under their direct or indirect dependence. Industrial Europe, thanks to its demographic vitality, its industrial, technical, commercial and financial superiority imposed its economic model, its values, ideals and its culture to a large part of the world.

The political cartoon and poem both called “The White Man’s Burden” portrays how imperialism was viewed by white man. Both sources portray the hard work the white men have to do to help improve the other cultures. In the political cartoon there are two white men dressed in American clothes that are holding a basket of individuals that are Japanese and Native Americans. The white men are holding a basket up a hill with no reward at the top of the hill; which explains that imperialism benefits others. Similarly to the political carton, the poem also describes that imperialism as working for the benefit of others. “To seek another’s profit, and work another’s gain,” quote from the poem “White Man’s Burden”. This specific line from the poem says

One of the main focus points in European colonization was to further their economic order by using abundant recourses that were found far from the home land. They looked to gain power and produce wealth. In order to reach these goals, Europeans directed cultural change among the indigenous people and justified their actions by claiming it was “God’s work”. However, with all of these changes came diverse reactions from the native people. In the beginning they were eager to build relationships, however after time passed many considered them as sons from the devil.

Governments or countries control people by education, local officers, and networking. They invite people from small villages to larger towns for “better” education. They use this education to influence people into their line of thinking. They also send their men to villages to be the ruler over them. They begin to spread their culture onto the local people by talking about their beliefs.

Metropolitan areas exhibit an amazing diversity of features, economic structures, amounts of infrastructure, historic roots, patterns of development, and degrees of conventional planning. Yet, lots of the problems that they deal with are strikingly acquainted. For example, as metropolitan areas grow, they grow to be increasingly diverse.

The North and South Americas were colonized by the Europeans in the fifteenth century, while Africa and Asia became imperialized in the eighteenth century. Colonization is taking full control of each region, establishing a code of behavior for the colonized. With colonization, there is a belief of the Europeans that the native peoples of the land are capable to govern themselves, or profit from any resources, therefore, occupation of Africa began the Europeans are governing for them. Berlin Conference started by Bismarck to divide Africa. The Europeans divided Africa into fifty irregular countries, causing cultural problems between each country. Asians and African were not invited due to that the Europeans felt like they are not needed. The African countries were divided up by the Europeans and almost fully controlled by them. Europeans needed resources from the Africans states. Most of the African and Caribbean colonies served as plantation settlements, growing crops, which contained resources of economic value in the trade market. The setting of Chinua Achebe’s terrific novel takes place in the nineteenth century Nigeria. That being said, the main character, Okonkwo, experiences the dramatic cultural changes of the Igbo’s cultural identity from the precolonial as well as post- colonial era as a result from European colonization. Some, like Okonkwo, furiously rejected to adhere to the new code of behavior of westernizing the Igbo tribe he used to traditionally rule himself.

Thomas Jefferson and Robert Coram both had different plans for education in colonial America. Jefferson was the most well known advocate for education while Coram was the least famous devisor of educational plans. Jefferson, as we all know, wrote the Declaration of Independence and later became the third President. Robert Coram was a young man who worked for a Republican newspaper in Delaware. He based most of his plan on the works of Noah Webster, who was a supporter of public schools.

There had been gradual shifts and developments taking place in the interpretation of bible. Postcolonial and other contextual readings were developed to seek the liberation for the people who were in struggle. Postcolonial reading seeks the colonial and anticolonial policies in the bible. In this thesis, the exilic prophet second Isaiah’s monotheistic claims were read in in a postcolonial optic. As an exilic prophet, claims of Second Isaiah were mainly from the colonial period and he was a victim of colonization. Postcolonialism and its theoretical frames were discussed in this chapter.

The institution of colonial governance differed between the different empires. The French ruled their colonies with French administrators. France’s use of direct rule was used to enforce submission of their African subjects. France did not take into consideration any traditional concepts previously held in their colonies and appointed chiefs whom they believed would be loyal to France. France had direct rule over their colonies, passing and enforcing laws to benefit the French empire. The British used a system of indirect rule by appointing local African leaders who would then be forced to follow British laws within the colony.