Imperialism
Uploaded by obcd21212 on Jun 09, 2005
“New” Imperialism was beneficial to the imperial powers, but harmful to the colonized peoples because it left them politically, socially, and economically distraught. These colonized peoples were the Africans, Indians, Chinese, and the Japanese.
While the imperial powers in Africa prospered off of the raw materials of the land and slavery (economic values), the African natives suffered from political and economic situations. Politically, most African Empires were emerging through new military technology and religious inspiration. The African Empires were prospering through their own imperialism or domination of other civilizations in Africa. Yet, Western powers such as Britain, France, and Portugal scrambled for Africa. One situation in particular, is when the Zulu imperialist, Shaka, was embarking on imperial expansion, Portuguese invaders caused the Zulu imperialist to relocate peoples all across southern Africa. Economically, most African Empires flourished. They had new military technology and most importantly religious inspiration. The Egyptian Imperialists were probably the most extravagant. They modernized their Egyptian army along European lines, and expanded their control into western Arabia and Sudan. They borrowed money from European banks and continued their imperial expansion into other parts of Africa. But they soon regretted their actions because they found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy and it made them very vulnerable to European invasion. The Europeans finally took control of Egyptian finances and plunged the Egyptian Empire into to an international debt commission.
The British Imperialists used their own civil servants and created a new class of Western-educated Indians to help rule their Indian Empire. But, cultural interaction between the British and Indians caused reforms to emerge in Indian culture and society. British imperialism in India was harmful because it destroyed India’s most sacred traditions. The British Imperialists made sure that they did not interfere with local customs, but as their control increased, many people in Britain began to call for major social and cultural reforms in order to bring India the “benefits” of Western civilization. The reformers began to make certain that Indian practices were illegal. Indian practices such as suttee (suh-TEE), which is the ritual burning of widows on their husbands’ cremation fires was made illegal. Also, child marriages and the practice of killing unwanted children were made illegal. These cultural reforms made Indians lose their sense of culture and identity because these traditions have been handed down through their families for thousands of years.
While China was already facing economic and political challenges...