The Effects of Imperialism Essay Example

Imperialism was a major part of everyone's ancestors' past.  Learning about the true effects of imperialism and how natives of the imperialized land reacted to being colonized is very important.  Imperialism caused consequential issues for all colonized parties because colonists stole natives raw materials and territories, they demanded their cultures onto the natives, and they were murderous attacking the natives causing death.  Thus leading to the Natives not complying with loyalty and standing up for their civilization. Learning about the past is mandatory for learning about the current society today and how it came to be.

When Europeans traveled to different parts of the world they brought with them their viewpoints that damaged the natives' lives.  In the philippeans the europeans brought the inequality of gender.  Clemencia Lopez (An Activist in the Philippine Struggle for Independence) says “Our women are regarded as the equals of our men… Long prior to the Spanish occupation, the people were already civilized, and this respect for and equality of women existed” (Source 2)  The europeans took that away from them making new rules and regulations about women's rights. She responds to the Spanish that colonized them by protesting. She later says “in the name of the Philippine women, I pray the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association does what it can to remedy all this misery and misfortune in my unhappy country” (Source 2).  This shows that she is rejecting their culture and trying to solve this systematic problem non violently.  She further proves this by saying “You ought to understand that we are only contending for the liberty of our country, just as you once fought for the same liberty for yours.” (Source 2) reasoning with the Spanish colonists.  Another point of view we can see this in is North America during the trail of tears when natives were forced out of their land because of them being an ‘inferior’ race.  With Prior knowledge we can assume of course the Natives didn’t have this same mind set of inferior races based on their kindness to the Pilgrims that needed their help during the winter after arriving. Reverend Evan Jones mentions about “the ruin they bring upon my native country” (Source 3b)  showing that even though they were forced out of their homes and land they kept in their mind that it was wrong and they didn’t deserve this but sadly were forced to comply.  Which furthermore proves the cause of imperialism was them imposing their viewpoints onto the indiginous people of that land but shows that these natives fought back peacefully.

Hook.  imperialism caused economies of native lands and economies to be ruined by taking resources for their own benefit.  This can be seen in India where the British imperialized them by taking hold of their natural resources and selling them back in Britain and profiting on the Indian natural resources themselves.  Mohandas Gandhi says “You English committed one supreme crime against my people. For a hundred years you have done everything for us. You have given us no responsibility for our own government.”  Although this can seem like they have less work to do, this is limiting the jobs needed for native Indian people that used to work doing such jobs that the British took from them.  “Thus the economic development of India was stopped and the growth of new industry was prevented… A typical colonial economy was built up. India became an agricultural colony of industrial England. It supplied raw materials and provided markets for England’s industrial goods. The destruction of industry led to unemployment on a vast scale… The poverty of the country grew. The standard of living fell to terribly low levels.” says Jawajarjaj Nehru, a journalist writing about the formation of India's economy.  India was seen opposing the British by peacefully showing that they do not support the English.  This can be shown when Mohandas Gandhi started a civil disobedience campaign against the British.   In another situation in East Africa the colonizers cut down trees to make houses and use them this caused their fruits and vegetables to dry out from lack of shade causing the village to starve.  Leon Clark says “(The Europeans) went to the trees that men cut down when they made more and more farms. Without trees to give shade the ground was hot and dry and food grew not well.” (Source 6)  The East Africans responded to this by working with the Europeans to get money to pay for food and send it back to their relatives still this wasn’t helpful because of the families that couldn’t get food, Leon Clark follows by saying “For even though many of our family had gone away to work for the Pink Cheeks, our numbers had increased and there was now no room for the land to rest and it was tiring. The food it grew was poor and there was not enough grown on it for all to eat.” (Source 6)  In this case the Africans got angry but left to work with them because of the problems the Europeans caused on their land making it not sustainable for them anymore.  

Learning about the true effects of imperialism and how natives of the imperialized land reacted to being colonized is very important. Thus leading to the Natives not complying with loyalty and standing up for their civilization. Imperialism caused economies of native lands and economies to be ruined by taking resources for their own benefit.  It is important to study history as history repeats itself.  It's our job to learn, improve and make a difference for the future.