reply response

Reply response to another classmates post: Min 150 words

1. The effects of imperialism and colonialism were both negative and positive for the people who lived in the countries being taken. The Europeans felt a moral obligation to the people that were identified as lower classes in India and Africa. In “The Black Man’s Burden” Edward Moren states, “In hewing out for himself a fixed abode in Africa, the white man has massacred the African in heaps.” The native people of India and Africa dreamed of a life of freedom and family. According to Rudyard Kipling, the people were to “seek another’s profit and work another’s gain.” The control of the Europeans over their lands brought opportunities for advancement and a better class of living until the people realized they had lost control over their own lands. The Black man struggles to find gratitude for the opportunities meant for improvement because he feels he is dying from exhaustion and abuse. The climate in Africa and the feeling of labor without fruit created a hopeless resentment for the Europeans and a sense of no relief for the African.

The invasion by the Europeans powers and the physical exhaustion imposed on the black man by work and abuse left the African man feeling like his soul was dying along with his body. The effects of imperialism and colonialism were viewed both negative and positive. The Europeans believed they were giving the “lower class” an opportunity for a better civilization and Christianity. The negative impacts of imperialism were not deliberate by the Europeans. They saw an opportunity to gain access to new resources and improve the lives of other people. The Europeans created opportunities for communication across long distances, transportation for goods and military personnel across millions of miles and relief from potentially fatal diseases such as Yellow Fever and Malaria.

2. I believe the primary motivator for imperialism centered around superiority and gaining control over countries that would give the Europeans to the most resources to increase their power and wealth. The Europeans were not selfish in their need to gain control over these territories. They brought opportunities for education for both men and women, the Quinine to relieve permanent symptoms from deadly illnesses and the steam-pump to filter water from swampy areas to other areas so they can clear the swampy areas.

3. The Europeans sought wealth and superiority through the control of the countries that would gain them the most access to to popular resources. This connects to Unit 2 because the Europeans control of India and Africa would increase the progress of these countries through the wealth and capitalism their access to these new resources would bring.

Hints of Social Darwinism from Unit 3 came into focus as the European powers were placed into positions of superiority as they gained control of Africa. The Europeans view the Africans as a lower class of people because of color and material wealth and access. The Europeans believed they needed to expose the lower classes to a better civilization to improve society.